With so many of our needs and intellectual challenges already solved by technology, it's fair to wonder if our brains might be getting a little, well, soft.

Curiosity contributor Susan Sherwood took a look at what current research tells us about our collective IQ.

In the 2006 movie Idiocracy, a time traveler advances 500 years and discovers a society he does not expect. As the film’s narrator relates, "Most science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more civilized and more intelligent. But as time went on, things seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. A dumbing down. How did this happen? Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most and left the intelligent to become an endangered species." Could this be our future? Let’s see what the research says.

If we simply look at IQ scores, there is evidence that intelligence is increasing. The "Flynn Effect," named for New Zealand Researcher James Flynn, describes increasing IQ in many countries for the last 80 years. Problem solving and non-verbal reasoning skills show the greatest improvement. This is true in both developed and developing nations. All levels of intelligence are on the upswing, not just the very high or low [source: Wai & Putallaz]. These results are most likely caused by a combination of factors, including improved nutrition and widespread early schooling with an emphasis on problem solving. In addition, educational assessment is becoming more common; with greater experience, people are becoming better test-takers.

Other evidence seems, at first blush, alarming. The human brain is shrinking over time, as much as 10 percent in the last 30,000 years [source: Discovery News]. In animals, greater brain size is often equated with intelligence. However, instead of making us dumber, our more compact brain is able to process more efficiently. Because our bodies are smaller than some of our early relatives, such as Neanderthals, we can get by with less gray matter. Early man had to be smart to survive on a daily basis, but as we joined forces and formed societies, our brains adapted to allow the development of many new skills.

However, Dr. Gerald Crabtree, of Stanford University, views brain changes more negatively. He suggests that our ancient ancestors in Africa needed greater intelligence for survival, and intellectual advantages were passed down through evolutionary processes. Modern society has fewer natural dangers, so brains changed. Dr. Crabtree calculates that in the past 3,000 years there have been two or more mutations that have affected intelligence and emotions [source: Science Daily]. Compared to other body parts, the brain is more likely to undergo mutation. If we don’t need to be as intelligent as we once did, and our brains are relatively open to alterations, we may, in fact, be losing brainpower.

Clearly, the jury is still out on this subject. And if more information surfaces, will we have the intellectual capability to understand it and draw the correct conclusions? Maybe there’s hope; at the end of Idiocracy, we learn that time traveler Joe and his wife Rita "had three children, the three smartest kids in the world. [Joe’s new friend] Vice President Frito took eight wives and had a total of 32 kids. Thirty-two of the dumbest kids ever to walk the Earth. OK, so maybe Joe didn't save mankind, but he got the ball rolling, and that's pretty good for an average guy."