this post was submitted on 10 May 2026
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Probably not. In fact if you mean everyone gets smarter starting tomorrow but up til today we're in the same crappy world as always, that's probably a disaster. Yeah we have some sociopath criminals in high places, but lots more of them are in prison or doing really dumb things (there's a tv show about them, "world's dumbest criminals"). Now imagine they suddenly get a whole lot smarter. Everyone else also becoming smarter won't help that much.
If you mean human evolution somehow went on a different path making all humans smarter all the way back to prehistoric times, then it's harder to say, but it doesn't sound so great either.
Emotional intelligence isn't the answer either, for the same sorts of reasons. Maybe there's a separate thing called "wisdom" but there will always be gaps.
You might like HPMOR, a Harry Potter fanfic novel that philosophizes a lot about these types of questions. It's at hpmor.com. Warning, the main character is insufferable a lot of the time, especially near the beginning. So you might hate it, in which case feel free to quit after a few chapters.
For a more positive take, try the science novel "Protector" by Larry Niven.
I keep seeing this type of comment but people seem to ignore that everyone is increasing their intelligence. The malicious, and the benevolent.
I don't see that as helping much, at least without creating a horrible police state. Imagine thousands or millions of James Bond villains or other mad scientists running around and finding ways to evade detection. Making the cops smarter only goes so far.