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Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 21, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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It's like there's a car and a driver, and the car - the IQ power, what we call "intelligence" - could we awesome, but if the driver is not skilled and you put them into a race car, they'd likely hurt themselves pretty badly, and may not survive the experience even. And I am not sure what constitutes being a "good driver" yet, but I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with the car power. Of course, if the car is a child's pedal car (very low IQ) you'll never get anywhere far, regardless of driver skills. But if it's in a normal range, or especially - slightly above normal - something else comes into play.

Dang, good image!

Very true. There's more than just a mind and its computational power in a human being. Something like a soul, or experiencer, or at least some personality qualities that vary wildly between individuals.

I wonder how much of it is innate to the person and how much it's a thing that's taught. I expect it has something to do with self monitoring and meta-cognition. Having a second layer of consciousness that monitors the first one. A quality of mindfulness (which can be trained). Not assuming all ones own thoughts and feelings are "right". It may be related to conscientiousness too (but not in the blindly rule- or plan-following way). I dunno.