Brave New World Arrives 521 Years Early

Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel, set in year 2540, warned of what is now happening.
Brave New World Arrives 521 Years Early
By: George Noga – February 10, 2019

       This is the second in our Four Horsemen series about the convergence of four gigatrends. This part deals entirely with the hyper-concentration of IQ within the US population. It is longer than usual, but necessarily so. If you missed the first part last week, it is on our website: www.mllg.us. Next week is the third and final part.

         A sea change, begun 70 years ago, is transforming America in ways few know or understand. IQ, both low and high, is being evermore concentrated in different cohorts of the population. In Brave New World, the World State (government) controlled children’s IQ in hatcheries. Today we do the exact same thing – only voluntarily.

       Some fundamental truths about IQ are accepted by virtually all professionals and academics who specialize in that field. There is such a thing as IQ on which humans differ and which IQ tests measure accurately. IQ matches what people mean when they use terms such as smart and intelligent; it is stable throughout life, but not perfectly so. Properly designed and administered IQ tests are not biased against any group. Finally, and very importantly, IQ is between 40% and 80% heritable.

        Before the middle of the last century, intelligence was nearly randomly distributed throughout the population. A poor, uneducated laborer was just as likely to have an high IQ as someone educated and well-off. IQ rarely entered into the calculus for marriage. Then things began to change and the pace of change has accelerated.

###  High IQ students attending college soared from a low percentage to nearly 100%.

###  Elite colleges were transformed. By 1960 the average 1952 Harvard freshman would be in the bottom 10%; today, he/she would not even think to apply.

###  Bright kids from all groups and backgrounds were identified and sorted. Today any smart student can go to college and, if necessary, without paying.

###  The IQ of the non-college population, drained of all the brightest kids, tanked.

###  Educational partitioning was followed by occupational partitioning.

###  The market value of IQ skyrocketed and the income and wealth gaps between cognitive elites and others widened at an alarming rate.

###  Selective marriage, based on IQ, is now the norm and breeding between elites and others is rare. People want smart kids who can thrive in the world of the future.

      Brave New World has arrived 521 years early. Cognitive elites matriculate in different schools, work in different jobs and workplaces, earn vastly more income, accumulate greater wealth, think about religion differently, shop differently, reside in different cities and neighborhoods and school their children differently. Their culture and politics differ. They intermarry and have kids who are even more elite. We now have fourth generation elites, who know nothing of the lives of ordinary Americans.

       Cognitive elites don’t watch the same movies or TV shows, read the same books, eat the same foods, dine at the same restaurants, drive the same automobiles or vacation in the same manner or places as non-elites. They don’t even look the same due to different notions about diet, exercise, piercings, tattoos, dress and cosmetic surgery. They are healthier and have longer life spans. Their language, speech and grammar differ. They eschew the military and disdain hunting, fishing and firearms.

     Many elites don’t know even one Evangelical Christian or someone without a college degree or who lives in flyover land. They have little in common with non-elites from whom they differ as much as Huxley’s Alphas and Epsilons. They are two different groups sharing the same land and government. The greatest source of inequality in America today is not economic – it is cognitive and cultural.

     What does this auger for America’s future? How much longer will non-elites be content to earn a fraction of what elites earn? How much longer will non-elites be willing to risk their lives and their children’s lives in the police or military to defend a small segment of the population that disdains their service? How long will it be before non-elites, far greater in number, assert control through either the political process or other means? Finally, how long until non-elites demand DNA modification to equalize the IQ of their children with elites; what Pandora’s Box would that open?

        I don’t have answers to these questions, but I do know the cognitive divide is real and will soon become a chasm. It explains many things no one likes to talk about or even to acknowledge, i.e. it is a mokita. I also know that if this gigatrend continues on its present course, there will not be a happy ending – especially for elites.


Next is the startling conclusion of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.