Guided by the ‘correctness’ of our opinions

Scott’s article GUIDED BY THE BEAUTY OF OUR WEAPONS is going viral. He writes: Yet I have the opposite impression. Somehow a sharply polarized country went through a historically divisive election with essentially no debate taking place. As shown below, going as far back as 100 years, with the exception of FDR (everyone was united… Continue reading Guided by the ‘correctness’ of our opinions

Upward Mobility Linked to Genes

Another nail in the coffin for the blank-slate left: From psychologicalscience.org: Is Success in Our Genes?: When Belsky and colleagues analyzed measures of genetic variation and educational attainment, they found a link: A high polygenic score—an aggregate measure of variation across a person’s genome—predicted not only educational attainment, but other forms of success as well.… Continue reading Upward Mobility Linked to Genes

How To Predict, Part 2: The Downfall of the Popular IPO

Interesting article: The Downfall of the Popular IPO Guess which two stocks this blog recommended…yup…that’s right…Facebook and Ali Baba. The odds of choosing the best two tech IPO stocks out of all possible unique pairs, by pure chance, are about 1/50, so skill is probably involved. This blog has never recommended the other eight. In… Continue reading How To Predict, Part 2: The Downfall of the Popular IPO

And Fear No Darkness

This is going viral: And Fear No Darkness Despite its length, it’s not very convincing. It’s more like a belief than an argument. It’s just the author’s hunch based on some 4th turning ‘theory’ that there is a 50% chance there will be some sort of civilization-ending crisis in the 21st century. Falsifying it is… Continue reading And Fear No Darkness

Trump and Neocons

Libertarian-leaning pundits are complaining about Trump. Another Four Years Of Pointless War Under The Trump Administration On Military and Spending, It’s Trump Versus Trump Trump Is the Enemy of Neocons, But He’s Not Our Friend Is McCain Hijacking Trump’s Foreign Policy? Trump ran (or at least was perceived) as being anti-neocon, and his voters saw… Continue reading Trump and Neocons

Stocks vs. Real Estate Debate, Part 3 (answering objections)

It’s amazing how much discussion there is about personal finance…a thread about finance on Reddit’s Slate Star Codex thread got over 80 replies. In parts 1 & 2, I make an argument for owning real estate over stocks. I assume that someone, hypothetically, has a sum of money saved up (such as $40,000) or as… Continue reading Stocks vs. Real Estate Debate, Part 3 (answering objections)

Malcom Gladwell: poster child of mediocrity

Malcom Gladwell interviewed by Tyler Cowen of the Mercatus Center, appropriately titled Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity Gladwell says: So, if your problem is that you’re facing a series of stereotypes about how you are intellectually inferior, how you have a broken culture, how you have . . . I… Continue reading Malcom Gladwell: poster child of mediocrity

Jordan Peterson Discusses IQ

Jordan Peterson over past year has become something of a internet phenomena and celebrity, his videos watched by hundreds of thousands of fans and have thousands of up-votes and positive comments. He also has some interesting videos about IQ. The first video is spot-on: Politicians, both for the ‘left’ and the ‘right’, in terms of… Continue reading Jordan Peterson Discusses IQ

Shared Experiences

From the study of ‘intellectualism culture’, which is a branch of ‘social theory’, arises the concept of ‘shared narratives’, discussed on this blog many times already. Shared narratives are beliefs, areas of inquiry, and values held by–and unique to–high-IQ people that bring such individuals together regardless of political or socioeconomic backgrounds. But then there are… Continue reading Shared Experiences