A much smarter human population will probably be morally, as well as cognitively, enhanced—the "evil genius" problem isn't necessarily a realistic one to worry about.

This is something I think I've noticed. If it is true, then why is it true? Some hypotheses:

• Smart people spend more time reading and less time watching movies and television shows - ethics in books are superior/are recalled better
• Smart people read the works of other smart people - only morally sound writing survives over time, so less exposure to unethical stuff
• Smart people are more likely to notice cognitive dissonance and more likely to do something about it in the event of being about to commit a questionable act
• Smart people spend more time thinking about their actions
• Smart people have more recall of bad things others have done to them and are unwilling to put others through similar situations
• Smart people spend more time considering the consequences of their actions

And, in the interest of the virtue of evenness (I could just be inventing ways to confirm my preconceptions, after all), some hypotheses about why smart people are less moral than non-smart people:

• Smart people are isolated and tormented as youngsters and this makes them cynical and bitter
• Smart people are "too far above" most people to empathize with them
• Smart people can overcome petty obstacles like "empathy" and "guilt"
• Smart people only care about the advancement of science, not what's actually good for people
• Thinking about ethics for too long makes you reject them all?

That second list was much harder to come up with than the first one. Here's hoping I'm just plain right, and that's the reason why.

Anyone want to do some science to figure out which, if any, of these guesses is true?