This is probably a very real problem. Perhaps not biological IQ per se, but culturally Western populations have been dumbed down significantly over the past few decades.
This is actually my only objection to nuclear power: it requires a certain level of technical savvy in the populace to supply the engineers and technicians, which sadly our lawyer-ruled society does not appreciate.
Absolutely. No amount of lipstick can transform a pig into a prince[ss], but sadly GIGO still holds and the trash in the ether distracts and stupefies. That is, you can make a potentially smart person into a dumb one.
20 years ago, I was talking with a co-worker, the HR director in the company I used to work in back then. Her background was a PhD in horse breeding. We talked about topics such as this.
She said, based on her background with horses and by watching which of her friends had the most kids, she was not very optimistic about future generations.
From the stats, it looks like it is only the rich (7 digits) and the very poorest that currently have fertility above the replacement rate:
