Is it possible a `Reverse Flynn Effect'? Consideration for new opportunities in the context of sustainability

Abstract

Recently, some evaluations of the workers' and students' abilities brought back to consider the negative (or reverse) Flynn effect. The reverse Flynn effect is an empirically confirmed decrease in the Intelligence Quotient since the 1990s. It has been proven to be related to environmental conditions only. Here, we consider this effect as an environmental consequence of the social and education conditions, considering it a possible resource, meaning the opportunity to reconsider the education pathway and the workers' training. To do so, in this paper, we develop a thermodynamic analysis of the information fluxes that enter the brain and the related stabilisation of the inflow of information itself. Moreover, we develop a thermo-economic analysis of the consequences of the reverse Flynn effect, pointing out the need to focus educational policies on the continuous stimulus of the use of reasoning and problem-solving-based education, to develop the processing capacity and foster the creative capabilities of young people, who build the backbone of the future workforce.