Are millennials the elite generation?
And: are people actually getting dumber?
Hello Beloved Nos,
This week, we unpack what makes a generation. From the Silent Generation to the Zoomers and beyond, are these groupings only useful to stir up competition and resentment? How did Gen Z become more conservative, more pessimistic AND more empathetic than their predecessors? We also explore recent research on a troubling trend of declining IQ scores. Does this back up an argument that millennials are the group most well-equipped for life in the modern age?
(Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Others)
Our guests this week are researcher Elizabeth M. Dworak from Northwestern University and Jean M. Twenge PhD, author of Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future. (Buy the book here.)
Related links
Dr. Dworak’s IQ research: Looking for Flynn effects in a recent online U.S. adult sample: Examining shifts within the SAPA Project
James Flynn’s TED Talk: Why our IQ levels are higher than our grandparents’
The New Yorker on Jean Twenge: Where Millennials Come From (2017)
Tom Wolfe for New York Magazine: The “Me” Decade (1976)
An interesting counterpoint, on Bobby Duffy’s “The Generation Myth”: It’s Time to Stop Talking About Generations
More on the Reverse Flynn Effect from New York Mag: A Theory of Dumb
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Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at (860) 325-0286