The genes that predispose people to attain higher levels ofeducation have been in decline over the past 80 years, andresearchers are suggesting that they’re now under negativeselection, which could have a big impact on our species in thecoming centuries.
在過去80年里,人們選擇更高水平教育基因的傾向不斷下降,研究人員認為如今這種基因已處于負選擇,在接下來的幾百年里可能對我們?nèi)祟愡@個物種產(chǎn)生重要影響。
A study involving more than 100,000 people in Iceland found thatthose who carry the genes for longer education time were lesslikely to have a big family, which means the smartest people in theroom were actually contributing less to the
在冰島一個10萬人參與的研究顯示,攜帶“選擇更高水平教育基因”的人擁有一個大家庭的可能性更小,這也就是說,他們其中最聰明的人反而對冰島基因庫的貢獻較小。
"As a species, we are defined by the power of our brains. Education isthe training and refining of our mental capacities," said KariStefansson, CEO of Icelandic genetics firm deCODE, which ran thestudy. "Thus, itis
這項研究的發(fā)起人,冰島遺傳學(xué)公司deCODE的首席執(zhí)行官KariStefansson說“作為一個物種,我們的力量皆是大腦所賜,而教育則是鍛煉重塑我們心智的手段,因此探尋到底是什么原因使得基因庫中的在教育上花費更過時間的基因變得稀缺是很有意義的。”
To be clear, this does not necessarily mean that humans are gettingdumber - we’re going to need a whole lot more evidence to getanywhere near a conclusion like that.
并不能因此就說人類就變得越來越愚鈍——要證明這一點我們還需要更多的研究。
There’s also the fact that more people are getting access toeducation than ever before,so even if less educated people are having more offspring,non-genetic factors like more schoolscould
如今有更多的人能接受到教育,所以即使未受教育的人的后代更多,但更普及的學(xué)校教育也可以低效甚至掩蓋基因上的不足。
But if we look at the trend over the course of several centuriesinto the future - well beyond the proliferation of schools andtraining access - the researchers say it could have a significanteffect on our species in the long run.
但是如果我們設(shè)想這樣的趨勢發(fā)展數(shù)百年——教育和培訓(xùn)的普及程度已經(jīng)遠不能稱為影響因素的時候——研究人員稱這種趨勢就嚴重影響到人類這個物種的長久發(fā)展。
"It is remarkable to report changes ... that are measurable acrossthe several decades covered by this study," the study concludes."Inevolutionary time, this is a blink of an eye. However, if thistrend persists over many centuries, the impact could beprofound."
該項研究稱:“研究并統(tǒng)計接下來數(shù)十年的變化情況是非常重要的,在人類的進化史中,這也許只是一眨眼的功夫,但是如果這種趨勢持續(xù)了幾百年,影響則是十分深遠的。”
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