I am a layperson in such things, but I just saw the news that the sub 2 hour marathon has been broken, and a thought popped in that reminded me of your post.
As we gain more knowledge of how things work with our bodies physically, we keep breaking records. Sure, the rate slows down and all that, but we do break them.
Our thinking power should really be the same. Better and better education, better diet to feed the brain, knowledge at our fingertips about anything. Ethics apart, we should, as a species be collectively roaring forward. In developing nations, education is right at the top and all that.
And then we get Trumpist Nazism. Where being dumb is celebrated. And we see it with the reformists too. The common theme is they want to drink "educated" libs tears. That somehow "smartness" = "smugness".
And that is really something from the communist dictator playbook of the 20th century. But the actual Nazis was about one race being superior in every way. But Trumpism is not. It's closer to Mao than the Austrian Corporal.
I have mentioned it a few times here how I compare Trump to Mao more than the Austrian. I think he is a Capitalist Mao.
I also think we keep forgetting of the advances we have made in very recent history. Universal suffrage democracy is only 100 years old, if that. Social media is really only 15 years old. AI a couple of years. And as the tech increases rapidly, it is also .......
... And I have ran out of steam. I have the idea in the noggin, but there is a couple of dots missing that were there, but gone now.
I will post anyway. I find many flat earthers and reformists to be really smart. They appear to choose to appear the opposite. That's where the dots are. It will come back to me.