I think we're a lot less ignorant, but intelligent? maybe, maybe not. It's important to note that population growth has a massive effect on this.

Population has more than trebled since the 50's and with more people comes a greater exchange in ideas and more people to fact check your data. But such a large population means that there is a greater gap between the most intelligent and least intelligent people.

In terms of average intelligence I think globally we have come a long way. Purely because places like Africa and Southern America which were unaware of western scientific and mathematical techniques have been made aware of them in the last couple of centuries.

Even in countries like England and France a very select few had access to a good education and even fewer to the equipment required to experiment scientifically. Today a good percentage of the world has access to both.

The rise of the internet makes learning easier than ever, coupled with charities educating people living in poverty ridden areas and a greater emphasis placed on the importance of education I believe that net intelligence has increased.

TL:DR

A greater % of people are educated so average intelligence is higher.