The genes¹ that predispose people to attain² higher levels of education have been in decline over the past 80 years, and researchers are suggesting that they’re now under negative selection, which could have a big impact on our species in the coming centuries.

在过去80年里，人们选择更高水平教育基因的倾向不断下降，研究人员认为如今这种基因已处于负选择，在接下来的几百年里可能对我们人类这个物种产生重要影响。

A study involving more than 100,000 people in Iceland found that those who carry the genes for longer education time were less likely to have a big family, which means the smartest people in the room were actually contributing less to the Icelandic gene pool.

在冰岛一个10万人参与的研究显示，携带“选择更高水平教育基因”的人拥有一个大家庭的可能性更小，这也就是说，他们其中最聪明的人反而对冰岛基因库的贡献较小。

"As a species, we are defined by the power of our brains. Education is the training and refining of our mental capacities," said Kari Stefansson, CEO of Icelandic genetics firm deCODE⁴, which ran the study. "Thus, it is fascinating to find that genetic³ factors linked to more time spent in education are becoming rarer in the gene pool."

这项研究的发起人，冰岛遗传学公司deCODE的首席执行官Kari Stefansson说“作为一个物种，我们的力量皆是大脑所赐，而教育则是锻炼重塑我们心智的手段，因此探寻到底是什么原因使得基因库中的在教育上花费更过时间的基因变得稀缺是很有意义的。”

To be clear, this does not necessarily mean that humans are getting dumber - we’re going to need a whole lot more evidence to get anywhere near a conclusion like that.

并不能因此就说人类就变得越来越愚钝——要证明这一点我们还需要更多的研究。

There’s also the fact that more people are getting access to education than ever before, so even if less educated people are having more offspring, non-genetic factors like more schools could counteract⁵ and even eclipse the effect.

如今有更多的人能接受到教育，所以即使未受教育的人的后代更多，但更普及的学校教育也可以低效甚至掩盖基因上的不足。

But if we look at the trend over the course of several centuries into the future - well beyond the proliferation of schools and training access - the researchers say it could have a significant effect on our species in the long run.

但是如果我们设想这样的趋势发展数百年——教育和培训的普及程度已经远不能称为影响因素的时候——研究人员称这种趋势就严重影响到人类这个物种的长久发展。

"It is remarkable⁶ to report changes ... that are measurable across the several decades covered by this study," the study concludes."In evolutionary⁷ time, this is a blink of an eye. However, if this trend persists over many centuries, the impact could be profound."

该项研究称：“研究并统计接下来数十年的变化情况是非常重要的，在人类的进化史中，这也许只是一眨眼的功夫，但是如果这种趋势持续了几百年，影响则是十分深远的。”