Human Intelligence is in Freefall, Leading to a Possible “Planet of the Apes” Future! By Brian Simpson

My argument begins with an article from NaturalNews.com, published on March 18, 2025, titled "Human Intelligence in Freefall: Study Links Cognitive Decline to Social Media and AI."

https://www.naturalnews.com/2025-03-18-human-intelligence-freefall-cognitive-decline-media.html

Authored by Lance D. Johnson, the piece asserts that human cognitive skills—reasoning, problem-solving, and attention spans—have been plummeting since the early 2010s, a trend coinciding with the rise of social media and passive visual content consumption. Drawing on data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and adult cognitive evaluations, it highlights a sharp decline in reading rates, numeracy, and critical thinking, particularly among young people. The article blames social media algorithms and AI tools for encouraging passive consumption, "atrophying" human intellect while machines grow smarter. This sets the stage for a dire extrapolation: if this cognitive freefall continues, humanity risks devolving into a state akin to Planet of the Apes, where apes outsmart a diminished human race!

The case for human intelligence in freefall is grounded in observable trends and supporting data beyond the Natural News piece. Since the 2010s, PISA scores—measuring 15-year-olds' abilities in reading, math, and science—have shown consistent drops across developed nations. A 2023 OECD report noted a global decline in reading proficiency, with U.S. students falling from 498 to 504 points between 2012 and 2022, a statistically significant dip. Adult evaluations, like those from the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study, reveal rising concentration difficulties among 18-year-olds since 2015, correlating with smartphone penetration hitting 85 percent in the U.S. by 2018. Reading for pleasure has cratered—Pew Research reported a drop from 28 percent of U.S. adults reading daily in 2011 to 19 percent by 2021—while screen time has soared, averaging 7.5 hours daily per Statista's 2024 data.

Social media and AI amplify this decline. Platforms like TikTok, with their 15-second dopamine hits, train brains for instant gratification, not sustained thought—neuroscience studies (e.g., Frontiers in Psychology, 2023) link such habits to reduced prefrontal cortex activity, the seat of reasoning. AI tools like ChatGPT, while powerful, offload cognitive effort; a Carnegie Mellon study (2024) warned that overreliance on AI for problem-solving erodes independent thinking, with students using AI scoring 12 percent lower on reasoning tests over a semester. The Natural News claim of "atrophying" minds aligns with this—humanity's intellectual muscle is weakening from disuse.

If this trend persists, the implications are catastrophic. The Flynn Effect—decades of rising IQ scores through the 20th century—has reversed since the 2000s, with a 2021 meta-analysis in Intelligence estimating a 0.2-point annual IQ drop in Western nations. Extrapolate this over decades: by 2050, average IQ could fall from 100 to 94, dipping into the low-normal range. By 2100, it might hit 85—borderline intellectual disability. This isn't just about test scores; it's about capacity. A society of distracted, unreflective minds loses the ability to innovate, govern, or resist smarter entities—be they AI or, speculatively, other species.

Enter the Planet of the Apes scenario. In Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel and its film adaptations, apes surpass humans after humanity's intellect collapses under complacency and technological stagnation. Today's parallel is eerily similar: as we cede thinking to machines, our cognitive edge dulls. Meanwhile, animal intelligence research advances—studies from the Max Planck Institute (2022) show chimpanzees mastering basic symbolic communication, and a 2024 Nature paper documents crows solving multi-step puzzles rivalling 7-year-old humans. If human IQ drops to 85 while apes, enhanced by genetic tweaks or environmental adaptation, reach functional parity (say, 70-80), the gap narrows. Add a century of AI-driven chaos—disrupting food chains, amplifying human laziness—and apes could exploit our decline, much as they do in fiction.

The path to this dystopia is already underway. Social media's algorithmic grip shortens attention spans—Microsoft's 2015 study pegged the average at 8 seconds, down from 12 in 2000—while AI outsourcing erodes problem-solving. Education systems, strapped for funds and leaning on tech, produce graduates less equipped for abstract thought; a 2023 U.S. Department of Education report found 35 percent of high schoolers couldn't solve basic algebra without calculators. Cultural shifts reinforce this—literacy's decline (National Endowment for the Arts, 2022) mirrors a preference for video over text, starving minds of deep analysis.

Down the track, this snowballs. A dumber populace elects dumber leaders, botching crises like energy or AI governance. Infrastructure crumbles as fewer grasp engineering or logistics—think Rome's fall, but faster. Apes, meanwhile, thrive in a world we've trashed; conservationists note their adaptability (e.g., urban macaques in Asia). If bioengineering or natural selection boosts their cognition—already plausible given gorilla tool-use observations (Science, 2020)—they could out manoeuvre a humanity too dim to notice.

Objection: Technology Will Save Us
Some argue AI will augment, not diminish, us. But augmentation requires active engagement—current trends show passive reliance instead. A 2024 Forbes piece on AI's "dark side" notes skill decay in AI-dependent workers, not enhancement. Tech's promise hinges on a smart baseline we're losing.

Objection: Human Resilience Prevails
Humans have overcome past challenges, true—but never with cognition itself eroding. Historical recoveries relied on sharp minds; a freefalling IQ undermines that resilience, leaving us uniquely vulnerable.

Objection: Apes Won't Catch Up
Sceptics say apes can't evolve that fast. They don't need to—our decline meets them halfway. Even without sci-fi leaps, their existing social intelligence (e.g., bonobo cooperation studies, 2023) could exploit a human race too distracted to dominate!

I joke in this piece, but this could well be how it ends if present trends are not reversed, with the appropriate metaphors.

Human intelligence is in freefall, driven by social media's brain-deadening churn and AI's seductive ease. The Natural News warning isn't hyperbole—data backs the slide, and the trajectory points to a world where we're not just outsmarted by machines but overtaken by apes we've underestimated! By 2100, if IQs hit 85 and apes edge toward 80, Planet of the Apes stops being fiction. We're not there yet—but every TikTok scroll and AI prompt nudges us closer to a simian-ruled dawn!