From Thermidor, The Center Cannot Hold: On The Decline Of Jordan B Peterson: Peterson may not realize it, but this position is only accelerating his own demise. His role in contemporary politics no longer serves a purpose. Now that his message has been received and rejected by the social justice crowd, what else does he… Continue reading Jordan Peterson’s Bland Conservatism

Interesting article from Quillette: Worry About Piety Contests, Not ‘Virtue Signaling’ Classifying virtue signaling is hard. There are perhaps four forms of virtue signaling: virtue signaling 1: signaling virtue with the intent of boosting one’s status (such as posting a tweet; re-tweeting) virtue signaling 2: signaling virtue but without intent of boosting one’s status (same… Continue reading Virtue Signaling and Purity Spiraling

Jordan Peterson on the power of writing: He says “if you can think and speak and write, you are absolutely deadly…It’s the most powerful weapon you provide someone with…those people you don’t want to have an argument with, they will slash you into pieces…” But the problem is this is one of those videos where… Continue reading Jordan Peterson on the power of writing

excellent article Exponential correlation of IQ and the wealth of nations Is it any coincidence high-IQ countries, high-IQ stocks, and high-IQ asset classes, going back decades, have outperformed low-IQ ones? Positive correlation between national IQ and GDP per capita: Note how they measure it by GDP per capita instead of total GDP. This is an… Continue reading Exponential correlation of IQ and the wealth of nations

Shared narratives are beliefs unique to smart people, that cross ideological/political divides. Shared narratives are a subset of ‘intellectualism culture’. Some examples: –Facts and accuracy precedes values –Correctness is more important than consensus –The general sense that society neglects its smart and talented, such as in public school –Revulsion of reductionist discourse that tries to… Continue reading Shared narratives: summary and examples

The Wealth, Intellectualism, and Individualism series, which describes how since 2008 society has been radically transformed socially, culturally, and economically, for both good [1] and bad, continues. Part 7 was published in January 2017, so it’s been awhile. The entire essay, at 15,000 words, was finished in late 2016, so some parts, such as about… Continue reading Wealth, Intellectualism, and Individualism, Part 8 (interlude)

The compelling case for working a lot less Even on a global level, there is no clear correlation between a country’s productivity and average working hours. With a 38.6-hour work week, for example, the average US employee works 4.6 hours a week longer than a Norwegian. But by GDP, Norway’s workers contribute the equivalent of… Continue reading The compelling case for working a lot less (if IQ is high enough)

This article by Bryan Caplan went slightly viral: The Flynn Effect vs. the Greatest Minds in History What do rising IQs really show? I remain undecided, but here’s an argument that strongly inclines me to pessimism. To wit: When I read the smartest thinkers from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, they seem roughly as… Continue reading The Flynn Effect vs. the Greatest Minds in History (analysis)

Even liberal magazine The Atlantic admits that Trump isn’t going anywhere: The Odds of Impeachment Are Dropping, thanks to strong support within his party: Among Republicans, Trump’s approval rating has held remarkably steady. The week Mueller was named, according to Gallup, Trump’s GOP support stood at 84 percent. In the days after Donald Trump Jr.… Continue reading Notes: The Odds of Impeachment Are Dropping

The tots, or as I call the alt-bimbos, are symptomatic of the alt-right and far-right being infected with democracy and majoritarianism. They are trying to superimpose western liberal values onto an ethno-nationalist framework, which is counterproductive, incongruous, and absurd. Second, as Roosh and others observe, the tots are merely regurgitating and appropriating concepts produced by… Continue reading Black pills and tots