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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026

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In a truly vibes-based profession (consulting, say, or certain flavors of academic humanities), the poseur can coast indefinitely. There's no moment where the rubber meets the road and reveals that beneath the performance there's nothing there. Your PowerPoint looks good, your references are impeccable, and by the time the strategy fails, you've moved on to the next gig.

Even when range-restricted within a supposed vibes-based profession such as consulting (as consultants tend to be quite smart relative to the gen. pop. in the first place, although not as elite as say, HFT quantitative researchers), IQ and competence are positively correlated.

Whether it be a management or economic consultant (or other front office corporate position), just from a slide monkeying perspective, a more cognitively able consultant will be better at spotting potential numeric errors on slides, that numbers on Slide X may be inconsistent with numbers on Slide Y, that qualitative messaging on Slide J may conflict with messaging on Slide K, that Slide M's contents may conflict with what was shown in previous versions of it, that Slide F's contents may be problematic for future versions of this slide with the current client or with future ones.

And then, from a presentation standpoint, being able to withstand and address any questions articulately from key stakeholders. All else equal, more cognitive ability is better on this front too, in understanding the analyses that fed the slides in the deck and being able to answer questions in real time.