HOMO MULTIFARIUS
Discussion of Potential Ramifications
By E. Eugene Ott
DECLINING AVERAGE LEVEL OF INDIVIDUAL INTELLIGENCE
Homo multifarius will possess much greater intelligence and command of knowledge than Homo sapiens. However, the average level of intelligence possessed by the individuals within Homo multifarius will decrease to levels below that of average Homo sapiens individuals!
The "dumbing down" of individuals appears to be counter to the idea that Homo multifarius will be an empowering of humanity. So why will individual intelligence decrease? The answer lies in the imbalance which currently exists between the benefits of multifarianism and the quality of the multifarian communications mechanism. The benefits of multifarianism are extensions of the same benefits accruing from the socialization of Homo sapiens. The power of organized humans is indisputable. This same power is driving humanity toward multifarianism. It is unstoppable. The power of the individual human is on an immutable course of decline. The speed at which humanity is being organized, homogenized, and compartmentalized is increasing exponentially. These human parameters are socially evolved; they are not restrained by the biological evolution process.
Human methods of communication are still constrained by biological evolution. It is true that we have made great advances in how we transmit information: print, telegraph, telephone, television, internet. Information can be transmitted at far greater speeds than it can be processed by the individual human. (Let us simply define "processing" as being input in a usable manner to the human mind.) Communication requires that information be processed by the individual human. Despite our TVs, cell phones, and computers we still input information to our brains using our biologically evolved methods of sight and hearing.
Communication and organization are the prime attributes of multifarianism. The quality of the communications mechanism determines the fate of individual intellect. If the communication mechanism does not improves proportionally with the level of organization, then social mechanisms (standards, procedures, regulations, etc.) will be used to correct the imbalance. These social mechanisms rely upon obedience rather than intellect. Consequently, individual intelligence is replaced by training.
The answer to the "dumbing down" dilemma is for humans to bypass the biological evolution process and engineer improvements to the communications mechanism.