The dangers of safety

J. Thompson analyzes the inexplicable fall of Norwegian IQ. I think of one possible cause: the extraordinarily high level of physical safety and quality of life achieved by that country. Too much comfort may have a deleterious impact on IQ.

When in the seventies I had to urgently leave Argentina, I went to the United States where I have relatives. Since I had much open credit in Lufthansa (bought in Nigeria, because there was nothing to buy using my excess nairas) I continued to Israel. I was amazed that people here was buying land and investing, while worldwide consensus was that Israeli victory was not "real" and the country could not survive long. I remember Moshe Dayan saying that the army was too small, he needed a million strong army (like the Swiss, he said) to provide minimal security. The population then was about 2 million.

I decided to stay and asked to change my status from tourist to immigrant. I was impressed by the pro-active attitude of the people, facing difficulties and having real achievements. "Don't worry, not everybody dies in the war", told me my uncle, a Colonel in the IDF. I reached the conclusion that Israelis would never allowed to become passive, complacent, lazy or drunk. I did not consider IQ as a variable and to this day I don't believe in the Flynn effect.