I'm confused about your statement that human selfishness can't be discovered scientifically, but must be discovered personally. (Thanks for linking to my blog, btw.) To me, it seems like the opposite. To see it, you have to look at human nature (and yourself) from a detached, scientific perspective.
Regarding whether debate is useless, it certainly doesn't work like the ideal notion, but I don't think it is useless. One of the main uses of rational argumentation is to create cognitive dissonance: to make a belief cognitively expensive. Rational arguments can change beliefs, or impose costs for maintaining irrational beliefs. Debate can also bring framing assumptions into awareness.
But of course, it's not a panacea. Some people were overly optimistic during the early period of social media, thinking that they would conquer the world with facts and logic or meme magick.
>I'm confused about your statement that human selfishness can't be discovered scientifically, but must be discovered personally.
Debate with regard to humans being "selfish" or "altruistic" is very personal; people who see themselves as altruistic will always dismiss scientific evidence that suggests humans are not this way. Only when somebody begins to question their motives (and those of others, for that matter), can the truth be accurately interrogated.
Yeah, there has to be a deep commitment to truth, to override self deception and the moralistic fallacy. Science is constrained by individual and collective self-deception. But it does break free, occasionally.
I agree with you on most of this, except for the section where you say the correlations are null or disappointingly weak. I very rarely find situations where life outcomes dont correlate with g at all, but rather just low because of how many sources of variance there are, or that there are just multiple mediators. One of the other most important life variables(general factor of personality) is usually correlated at around 0.5. Also I feel like a very important factor that is also correlated is accidental death, including falling, fire, poisoning and car crashes, which are all very associated with intelligence.
What's your advice for hyperflexibility disorders? For example, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, with recurring hernias, joint dislocations, digestive issues. Seems like there is no cure besides "diet and exercise." Anything besides collagen supplementation?
Losing weight (be it with some insane diet or GLPs) until you hit <23 BMI, lifting in moderation, and collagen supplementation have been the biggest helps.
I didn’t have issues with dislocations, the issue as that hyperflexibility combined with a bad physique (skinnyfat 170 lb on 171cm) put lots of pressure on my knees, which made it difficult to walk. Most of the issue resolved when I lost 25lbs in my first semester of college and started walking more consistently.
Digestive issues are weird. They come and go. Triggers aren’t consistent, in the past fast food would cause issues but now I found that I could eat it with no issues. I’m not sure what to do about them anymore.
I'm confused about your statement that human selfishness can't be discovered scientifically, but must be discovered personally. (Thanks for linking to my blog, btw.) To me, it seems like the opposite. To see it, you have to look at human nature (and yourself) from a detached, scientific perspective.
Regarding whether debate is useless, it certainly doesn't work like the ideal notion, but I don't think it is useless. One of the main uses of rational argumentation is to create cognitive dissonance: to make a belief cognitively expensive. Rational arguments can change beliefs, or impose costs for maintaining irrational beliefs. Debate can also bring framing assumptions into awareness.
But of course, it's not a panacea. Some people were overly optimistic during the early period of social media, thinking that they would conquer the world with facts and logic or meme magick.
I'll have to check out your other blogs.
>I'm confused about your statement that human selfishness can't be discovered scientifically, but must be discovered personally.
Debate with regard to humans being "selfish" or "altruistic" is very personal; people who see themselves as altruistic will always dismiss scientific evidence that suggests humans are not this way. Only when somebody begins to question their motives (and those of others, for that matter), can the truth be accurately interrogated.
>I'll have to check out your other blogs.
Gratzia
Just because it's impossible for you personally to act altruistically doesn't mean it's impossible for everybody. Poor inference.
Yeah, there has to be a deep commitment to truth, to override self deception and the moralistic fallacy. Science is constrained by individual and collective self-deception. But it does break free, occasionally.
I agree with you on most of this, except for the section where you say the correlations are null or disappointingly weak. I very rarely find situations where life outcomes dont correlate with g at all, but rather just low because of how many sources of variance there are, or that there are just multiple mediators. One of the other most important life variables(general factor of personality) is usually correlated at around 0.5. Also I feel like a very important factor that is also correlated is accidental death, including falling, fire, poisoning and car crashes, which are all very associated with intelligence.
What's your advice for hyperflexibility disorders? For example, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, with recurring hernias, joint dislocations, digestive issues. Seems like there is no cure besides "diet and exercise." Anything besides collagen supplementation?
Losing weight (be it with some insane diet or GLPs) until you hit <23 BMI, lifting in moderation, and collagen supplementation have been the biggest helps.
I didn’t have issues with dislocations, the issue as that hyperflexibility combined with a bad physique (skinnyfat 170 lb on 171cm) put lots of pressure on my knees, which made it difficult to walk. Most of the issue resolved when I lost 25lbs in my first semester of college and started walking more consistently.
Digestive issues are weird. They come and go. Triggers aren’t consistent, in the past fast food would cause issues but now I found that I could eat it with no issues. I’m not sure what to do about them anymore.