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ANNOTATION:
Flynn effect a result of relaxed evolutionary constraints?
I'd suggest a possible biological mechanism which might explain the Flynn effect: Average IQ was a result of an evolutionary equilibrium between the selective advantage of greater problem solving ability, and the selective disadvantages of mortality during childbirth due to large heads, and the very high energy consumption of the human brain.
Modern agriculture has relaxed the constraint imposed by high resting metabolism in the brain, Few people are going to starve to death in an advanced society just because their brains are consuming more energy. Quite the contrary, it might even be considered an evolutionary advantage, given the adverse health effects of obesity!
Modern medicine, on the other hand, has largely relaxed the constraint due to mortality during childbirth, thanks to C-sections. A child who has a significantly larger head at birth is NOT far more likely to kill him or herself, and mother, eliminating the gene combination which led to that larger head.
Punctuated equilibrum in motion. And note that this hypothesis is testable, by doing a gene frequency comparison between generations.
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