Quote from: K-Dog on Jun 12, 2026, 10:51 AMI think I am a mere centurion.  One in a hundred.  The dirt on the bottom of a shoe.

Plenty smart enough,  and you have the added and VERY important quality of having CFS(Common Fucking Sense), which many very smart people lack.  1:100 puts your IQ at 135, which I would guess to be about right.  I come in at ~155 on Wechsler (most common), although I have tested higher on MABII.  I don't buy scores over 160 on any test, there aren't enough people who score that high to properly norm the test.

RE

Quote from: RE on Jun 11, 2026, 07:02 PMI make no claim of mastery of any topic, but I know a lot about many topics, make connections others don't and I can generally find solutions to problems other people find intractable.

I don't doubt this statement. I really liked your explanation of genes previously. Perhaps the only difference between us comes down to a peculiar characteristic.....an ability perhaps, as opposed to raw intelligence.

I make a claim of being a polymath only within a small set of topics, make connections others can't and I can generally find solutions to problems that other people find intractable. I then deliver a result. Results, as it turns out, can be quite lucrative. A small difference really, but on such small things can a life turn.

Quote from: REOn this particular topic, besides being  smart, I have a pretty thorough experience also both my own and acquaintance with others.  So I think I can justifiably say I present a well informed opinion.
RE

We are all older here, and have pretty thorough experience, on our own, and via acquitance with others. I would consider your opinion generally more informed than not (dependning on topic), yes. Particularly if the obvious biases are removed, but that can be done relatively easily, and they aren't as hard coded into your doom views as most.

I can present  well informed opinion. In my world it is mostly referred to as analysis. Sometimes I choose to make them more than well informed. Those are designed to be irrefutable. Such is science.

Quote from: K-Dog on Jun 12, 2026, 10:51 AMI think I am a mere centurion.  One in a hundred.  The dirt on the bottom of a shoe.

Did you think this before or after consuming mind altering hallucinogens?

I didn't have any trouble producing results back in the day.  I just didn't like the job.  I didn't like academia much either, I was just good at it.  Mainly, I didn't like the society, from the time I was old enough to have 2 sets of friends, the boys I played futbol on Ipanema Beach with from the favela and the boys I went to school with from the FSoA Embassy diplomatic corps.  I was already a socialist by the time I returned from Rio at 10.  I positively hated Nixon and Vietnam.  I've been disgusted by the politics, consumerism and the plastic world of Big Yellow Taxi my whole life.  So I dropped out of it and did what I liked.  I coached a lot of good gymmies along the way.  It was fun.


RE

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 12, 2026, 03:30 PM

Quote from: K-Dog on Jun 12, 2026, 10:51 AMI think I am a mere centurion.  One in a hundred.  The dirt on the bottom of a shoe.

Did you think this before or after consuming mind altering hallucinogens?

The fish oil has probably done more good for my thinking than anything else.  Upgraded cognitive abilities.  Send me the T-shirt.

Quote from: RE on Jun 12, 2026, 04:07 PMI didn't have any trouble producing results back in the day.  I just didn't like the job.  I didn't like academia much either, I was just good at it.

Oh...there are results, and then there are results. And me, I can't do academia. Research no problem, but academia is something else entirely. It is one of the reasons I find it so amusing when, based on results, they automatically think I am one of them. Doesn't take much to dupe them. 

Quote from: REI was already a socialist by the time I returned from Rio at 10.

Well now that is interesting. Did you know at that age the word for what you were, or did that come later.

Quote from: REI positively hated Nixon and Vietnam.  I've been disgusted by the politics, consumerism and the plastic world of Big Yellow Taxi my whole life.

Instilled by an early family life among the well off?

Quote from: RESo I dropped out of it and did what I liked.  I coached a lot of good gymmies along the way.  It was fun.
RE

We each measure our results in different ways. I never dropped out, arguably, I never entered anything to drop out of.

Quote from: K-Dog on Jun 12, 2026, 09:55 PM

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 12, 2026, 03:30 PM

Quote from: K-Dog on Jun 12, 2026, 10:51 AMDid you think this before or after consuming mind altering hallucinogens?

The fish oil has probably done more good for my thinking than anything else.  Upgraded cognitive abilities.  Send me the T-shirt.

I can't say I know who much about how to upgrade cognitive abilities, other than the usual, learn stuff, learn more stuff piled on top of the older stuff, and arrive somewhere you never expected. Once the pile is high enough, well, go ride a motorcycle to relax.

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 13, 2026, 06:09 AMWell now that is interesting. Did you know at that age the word for what you were, or did that come later.

You're joking, right?  I had a college level reading ability in the 4th grade.  I already knew the history of socialism in the FSoA, I knew about the union busting, the Pinkertons, the works.  You probably don't remember those years because you were still playing Cowboys & Indians and reading comic books, but the early 60s was the era of the Folk Music explosion with guys like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and of course Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Joan Baez.  In those days before Rock got so loud, you could still understand the lyrics and sing along.  By the time I was 5 at the Unitarian retreat Homestead in Upstate NY we would sit around the campfire and sing the songs.  I knew all the words by heart.  Here's a favorite with Joan singing one of Phil's masterpieces.


Here's Natalie Merchant singing Woody Guthrie.


I knew which side I was on before you could read.

RE

Quote from: RE on Jun 13, 2026, 10:32 AMYou're joking, right?  I had a college level reading ability in the 4th grade.  I already knew the history of socialism in the FSoA, I knew about the union busting, the Pinkertons, the works.  You probably don't remember those years because you were still playing Cowboys & Indians and reading comic books....

How amusing. No, I wasn't joking. Are you? A child reading at the college level isn't a big deal....maybe turning intelligence to political thought at that age is weirdly intellectual for a 4th grader. And of course I remember those years, while you were learning politics, I had a rifle in my hand hunting squirrels and rabbits. While you LEARNED...stuff...I...DID stuff. Food was very important in the holler. Knowing the forest, the animals, obtaining protein with a rifle and traps, etc etc.

I have always been amused back in old doomer times when folks went on endlessly about hunting and fishing as a solution to the collapse (pick any of your favorites you, or them, have proclaimed in this century that didn't happen) and people just seemed to not understand anything about old school self reliance. Maybe there are more around of you than you think, all interested in politics by the time they were 10 years old?

Quote from: REHere's a favorite with Joan singing one of Phil's masterpieces.
Here's Natalie Merchant singing Woody Guthrie.

I knew which side I was on before you could read.

Socialism isn't a side. It is a political concept. You might have known your politics before I could read, but I could feed a family of 3 and my grandmother before you fired your first rifle at summer camp.

"Each experience in your life was absolutely necessary in order to have gotten you to the next place, and the next place, up to this very moment."

I would venture that ultimately, our experiences and capabilities in life delivered unto us quite different results. 

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 13, 2026, 05:54 PMSocialism isn't a side.

What planet are you living on?

QuoteI would venture that ultimately, our experiences and capabilities in life delivered unto us quite different results. 

Yup. You ended up on the Dark Side as a Lord of the Sith, I ended up a Jedi Knight.



RE