Intelligence is often, wrongly, assumed to be a function of brain power. Thus psychologists attempt to measure intelligence of individuals, producing clearly nonsense results such as "this man is a genius but cannot remember his wife's bithday". In reality, intelligence is a function of a network of brains, each skilled at different aspects of problem solving, data collection, social economics, psychophysics, etc. It is the organization of the network, and especially its ability to dynamically adapt to changing problem spaces, which produces relatively faster and more accurate answers. As an aside it is worth noting that individuals in social species such as humans and parrots are not just incompetent by themselves, but they will, if kept in isolation for too long, actually go mad.

by pieterh

by pieterh

Urldumping is a form of clickfraud, but requires readers to switch context expensively before being able to discuss. The related term "pdfdumping" refers to the posting of long PDF documents without explanation. Both urldumping and pdfdumping are considered trolls, if done on lists used for discussion.

by pieterh

Racism has been described using long words but basically it depends on two things: the tendency to classify people into "them and us", and the need for self-promotion through the degredation of others. The first appears to be tied to imprinting at an early age, the second due to the fact that many people are pretty messed up. Racism presumably had some evolutionary value in the past. Today, the "them and us" imprinting can be prevented via culturally mixed high-quality education for children from ages 3 to 10.

It is worth noting that racism underlies large parts of Europe's immigration policy, which in broad terms says, "if you ain't white, get out of sight".

Not to be confused with preferential treatment which refers to "job or employment preference given to someone who is of the right race, ethnicity, or gender" as defined in the government's approved list of historically disadvantaged.

by pieterh

by pieterh

"I think, therefore I am", is a circular analysis. One thinks one thinks, therefore one thinks one is. However that proves nothing except our ability to construct linguistic slipknots. Having defined existence as the ability to think leaves us with the issue of defining "think". What seems more accurate is "I think, therefore you think I am". And this is the key: our existence is defined not by our own minds but by other minds. Even our acts, if they are unseen by others, do not exist in any useful sense of the word. It is notable that our deliberate acts, though we believe them to be based on conscious decisions, register in our conscious mind several fractions of a second after they register in our subconscious, and in many cases, after we in fact execute them. The consciousness is left in the role of an observer, and above all, rationalizer of our acts towards others. The most accurate summary being: "I can explain! Therefore I am".

by pieterh

by pieterh

by pieterh

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by pieterh

Genocides are often described as ethnic or religious, but this analysis is both bleak in its fatalistic assumption that cultural diversity is a root cause of murderous violence, and naive in that it ignores the economics of social behavior. The victims of a genocide are almost invariably an educated and prospering middle class that is the focus of jealousy by poor rural youths, and a source of danger to a political elite. In the classic "blame the victim before you chop his head off" rationale, the genocidees are portrayed as an alien threat to the purity of the state, hence the focus on ethnic and religious explanations. Like the neutron bomb, genocide does not destroy property, thus conveniently leaving it for the political elite.

by pieterh

The uniform says one or more of three things. First, we are rich enough to afford a tailor. Second, we all agree that we hate you. Third, we all look the same and that makes us harder to pick off one by one.

by pieterh

The rich often start new fashions by cherry-picking interesting new memes from the very poor. The fashion industry makes money by mass-producing and marketing fashion memes to the middle classes. Male fashions are usually technology based, while female fashions are based on makeup, shoes, handbags, and matching outfits. Female fashion porn depicts images of virginal females, on the basis that every female fashion consumer wishes she was eighteen, all her life, and had not lost all hope in ever meeting her Prince Charming.

by pieterh

by pieterh

by pieterh

It is notable that all States are born in blood: violence is the mother of all States. Do not expect States to allow themselves to be made redundant without commensurate violence.

by pieterh

by pieterh