From a programmed reality perspective, it is not that we are getting more intelligent, but simply that our means to communicate with ourselves and others has increased exponentially. Compared to only 20 or 30 years ago, our ability to access and recall memory has changed drastically. In the program, we have always had imperfect memories. But now, in our digitized and connected society, our memories can be captured almost continuously. Perhaps soon, you will be able to "play back" your entire life if you wanted to. This allows us to reflect on things a great deal more than was possible, say in 16th or 17th centuries.

Take my "avatar" on this forum for example (the little picture shown next to my username). It is the Newtonian equation for gravity (you know -- Force of Gravity equals the gravitational constant times the mass of one object times the mass of the other, divided by the square of the distance between them). Only a few years ago, understanding that simple physics equation was something for only a few elite. And even if you ever did understand it, you didn't use it every day; you tended to forget it.

Today, you can just look it up on wikipedia and fairly quickly have a nice concise explanation to either help you learn or even to remind you about what it is and how it works. The concept of "expertise" is exactly like that: through being able to reflect back on things we learned in our youth, it became strengthened and we became experts. People who lived hundreds of years ago, did not have this immediate access to information and it took a lot longer to become experts on anything -- and there were fewer things one could have become an expert in.

So ... smarter yes. More intelligent? That is in the eye of the beholder.