Morgenland
1yr ago
I fully understand that the Motte community evolved from the rationalist community, but I just don't believe that you can be a completely rational person. There's so much happening to you from the inside and from the outside and you have absolutely no clue about it, not knowing what just hit you or led you to this mood or another. I think that this whole project of rationality is too much too demand from a person. I'm perfectly fine being full of contradictions, conflicting temptations, being driven by vague emotions or ephemeral visions. I think this is more genuine and truthful way of being then trying to squeeze your whole personality in one huge framework of rationality.
No one convinced me better, and no one speaks about this view on being more eloquently and beautifully then Eric Lander, a mathematician standing behind the Human Genome Project and a practicing Jew. The link is here, please watch it, its only three minutes.
FYI I'm a Catholic.
Morgenland
1yr ago
I would go with "urban", in Europe it would count as urban for sure, since there are not so many cities with skyscrapers' districts. And sharing walls as well as having common frontage is a distinct feature of a town.
Morgenland
1yr ago
I second that, Polish society holds one of the least favorable views on Russia in the whole world, and PiS is the most hawkish Polish political party on the hard security issues. The party leaders have shown hostility towards Russia from decades and no careful observer of Polish political scene would accuse PiS of being "soft on Russia".
Morgenland
1yr ago
It's not easy to see it at the first glance, but the supposed coalition will still be quite conservative. A center-right party named 'the Third Way' openly proclaims Catholic morality and values and it seems that without them the parliamentary majority cannot be reached.
Morgenland
1yr ago
This is undoubtedly true and there must be some biological advantage for women, but it is also possible that older women just live longer in poorer health. I read an article in an Austrian newspaper that claimed that men who live to a ripe old age have better health due to their greater mass, including muscle mass and cognitive reserve caused by a larger brain on average. Now, when you asked me, I cannot find the particular study and a quick googling returns non-conclusive articles. This and this articles seem to support my thesis, but this one is in stark contrast. By far, I anecdotally believed that this is true and I feel too incompetent to take a strong position.
Maybe greater male variability hypothesis could explain some amount of LEGG. It is true that many men die quite early in life, but those who live to an old age enjoy better physical health and cognitive abilities then women in the corresponding age on average.
Morgenland
1yr ago
This is an interesting way of characterizing it and I feel similarly. I think about this in the following terms: usually I oscillate between 'lower states' and 'higher states' of mind, and when I work on a difficult task, I get bored or tired or stressed out quite fast, and then I have to stay for a while in the 'lower state' of my mind. People, who I find energetic tend to go into these 'higher states' more easily and concerning Elon, I don't know, maybe he even sleeps in such a state or goes into the flow as soon as he opens his eyes.
Morgenland
1yr ago
Yeah, I guess that by 'moxie' Cochran meant some sort of emergent quality, that combines all the factors impacting your social status. Nonetheless, energy is probably one of these factors. I was imprecise, but being 'energetic' is also kind of imprecise description. What kind of energy, kinetic energy? We have some intuitive understanding, but we lack any precise characterization. And that's why I find this factor overlooked, because we have quite precise measurement of IQ but it's difficult to compare 'being energetic' statistically.
Morgenland
1yr ago
Since we are in the community, that takes IQ very seriously, don't you think that being energetic is also a major factor of success? For example, under the post about Elon Musk, the majority of the comment section is a discussion of how intelligent he is, but there is little talk about his mental stamina, which is the most interesting for me. I'm quite clever, maybe not extremely smart, but somewhere between 120-130 IQ and I cannot imagine myself having a business, because it requires preparedness for constant struggle and ability to withstand many hard blows. I can imagine myself in a cozy office job, and making decent number of money, but never in any executive position, where I have to talk to people all the time and constantly think about my company, while everybody wants to take me out.
Similarly, in every small town, there is a couple of business owners that enjoy higher standard of living than their neighbors and are often envied by the community. People with academic background like provincial doctors or teachers sometimes mock them as dim-witted and uncouth, but this is rarely the case. I think they are quite smart, maybe not very smart but at least around 120 IQ. They just possess different set of capabilities than people who like intellectual challenges.
George Cochran calls it moxie, Steve Malina writes on his blog about energetic aliens. It's interesting what determines these abilities from biological point of view. Is this higher dopamine levels? Extreme emotional stability? Very efficient brain? All of these factors?
I know people who are smart, but those who run things are just on an entirely different level. Of course being clever is always beneficial, but there are places where pure intelligence cannot take you. I don't know where I'm going with this, just find this topic interesting and somewhat overlooked.
I would give you a different take to consider. Why do you think there's something wrong with being disagreeable? I'm personally very agreeable and I can assure you it really sucks. I have many problems trying to seriously disagree with someone or winning an important argument. Maybe you can mellow out a bit about insignificant disagreements, but I consider being disagreeable a strong card in your deck. All executives, lawyers, politicians have to be able to argue fiercely in favor of their position. Maybe you should find a company of people who are strong enough to accept your opinions. Just consider trying to find a more nuanced approach to your issue.
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