Algernon's law essentially says that biologically simple, major changes to human intelligence are very unlikely to have been strictly better in the ancestral en

Algernon's law essentially says that biologically simple, major changes to human intelligence are very unlikely to have been strictly better in the ancestral environment, or else they would have happened already. Let's look at Wikipedia's article on the Flynn effect and go down the list of major proposed causes: > Schooling and test familiarity / Generally more stimulating environment This one doesn't postulate an actual improvement in intelligence, though it might explain why the test scores are rising. > Nutrition Better nutrition has not been easy for most of human history, so this one is fine. > Infectious diseases Shifting childhood metabolic effort away from fighting off diseases is one of those tradeoffs mentioned in more detailed discussions of Algernon's law -- if you happen to be in a low-disease environment then, sure, that frees up resources for other things.