THREAD: 12 Things Everyone Should Know About IQ

1. IQ is one of the most heritable psychological traits – that is, individual differences in IQ are strongly associated with individual differences in genes (at least in fairly typical modern environments). https://t.co/3XxzW9bxLE

!. Simple Sabotage Tips
Unhappy with Everyday Life?
Frothing at the Mouth against oppressive bureaucracy?
Sick of petty tyrants and tin pot dictators?
Tormented by intrusive modern technology?
Feel like "sticking it to the man"?

2. The following is taken from sections 11,12 of the OSS's Simple Sabotage Field Manual, a 1944 document that has been declassified. The OSS became the CIA after WWII. The full document is

3. (a) Organizations and Conferences
Insist on doing everything through "channels." Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to, expedite decisions.

4. Make "speeches." Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your "points" by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.
Never hesitate to make a few appropriate "patriotic" comments.

5. When possible, refer all matters to committees, for "further study & consideration"
make the committees as large as possible - never less than 5
- Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible
- Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions

A little experiment explaining how scientists, doctors and academics have learned not to speak out the truth.
It all starts with 5 monkeys... 1/n

The Five Monkeys Experiment

"An experimenter puts 5 monkeys in a large cage. High up at the top of the cage, well beyond the reach of the monkeys, is a bunch of bananas. Underneath the bananas is a ladder." 2/n

"The monkeys immediately spot the bananas and one begins to climb the ladder. As he does, however, the experimenter sprays him with a stream of cold water. Then, he proceeds to spray each of the other monkeys."
3/n

"The monkey on the ladder scrambles off. And all 5 sit for a time on the floor, wet, cold, and bewildered. Soon, though, the temptation of the bananas is too great, and another monkey begins to climb the ladder." 4/n

"Again, the experimenter sprays the ambitious monkey with cold water and all the other monkeys as well. When a third monkey tries to climb the ladder, the other monkeys, wanting to avoid the cold spray, pull him off the ladder and beat him." 5/n

If there is one thing I have learned it is that people love bullshit. They buy bullshit stories from professional bullshit artists, accept bullshit philosophies, purchase bullshit how-to-books, vote for bullshitting politicians.

At first, I resisted believing this because it is illogical and dumb and frankly, doesn't reflect well on the human race of which I am a member (and thus have long been hopeful that it is more of a distinction than it actually turns out to be.)

But if you actually are interested in facts you begin to notice how little most people care for them. Sometimes it is because they are heard to learn and bullshit is so much more widely and easily available. Sometimes it is because facts make them uncomfortable about themselves.

Sometimes it is because just one tiny fact will upset a whole worldview that has grown as comfortable as an overstuffed chair. (Settling into such worldviews is a lot like settling into chairs like that because the longer you're there and the deeper you sink...

...the harder it is to hoist yourself up and out of your fat-assed intellectual laziness.) But I actually think the reason people have such an appetite for bullshit goes deeper, goes to an aspect of ourselves we just can't accept.

The 🔟 Most Important Money Lessons

I Wish I Could Teach My Younger Self 🧵

1⃣ ALWAYS live below your means

2⃣Developing a long-term mindset

is the foundation of financial success

3⃣In the beginning, your savings rate is all that matters

Eventually, your investing returns are all that matters

Focus your time accordingly

4⃣Financial freedom is achievable

The price is ~10 years of hardcore saving/investing

@epballou @AutSciPerson I have to say, all this info about sound sensitivity is making me emotional. I've never been able to talk about this. I can work around airplanes, no protection (did it for years), but if I'm caught near a city fireworks show I lose my mind. The fear and pain is indescribable.

I tell people one of my biggest fears is balloons, and obviously it's funny to imagine, until they see me have a psychotic break when one pops. I lose myself and it's terrifying. I don't know what it is about loud sudden sounds that hurts me, and it appears I'll never know.

I dread the 4th of July every year. My birthday parties were often held then. Recently I discovered if I wear earbuds and blast music with audio PPE on top I can stand to be outside. That first show where I could keep my hands free I held my best friend's hand and felt wondrous.

I'm crying just remembering discovering I could be happy underneath fireworks. I'll never understand why my parents didn't think to ever try to help me, and instead made me suffer for so long, feeling absolutely alone with this. Only once do I remember my mother comforting me.

It was a particularly bad year, a lot of college kids I think renting nearby camps, and I hid under my bed for hours. My mother came up and laid on my bed, dangled her hand down to show she was there, and sang to me. I was 15.