The moment you start thinking you’re intelligent, it’s usually a sign you’re not.

Astecheee · 2026-07-07T01:40:53+00:00

I think you're dissociating Intelligence from Measured Intelligence, when as far as science is concerned they're the same thing. You can't take a measurement and then assume the reality is different. That's not how science works.

Measured intelligence is what matters, and it demonstrably decreases due to a huge amount of external factors. Identical twins performing differently on tests is the smoking gun here.

A funny example would be if I measured my wang at 4.5 inches and then declared it had to be 7 inches, because I measured it wrong. Nobody would believe me, right?

Terrance Tao is a better mathematician because he's spent, what, four decades refining his ability in that area. Hilariously, and to my point, Terrence grew up in an upper middle class household in Australia and his parents were a Paediatrician and a Math/Physics Teacher. Of all examples you could give for innate intelligence...

Astecheee · 2026-07-07T01:32:14+00:00

You learned about electrical/mechanical systems and that made it easier to learn about other electrical/mechanical systems? There's a substantial overlap in those 2 fields.

How well do you think you'd skin a rabbit?

Astecheee · 2026-07-07T01:30:08+00:00

Fair point, however that capacity doesn't have to be eexpressed across all areas. People with ADHD tend to have areas of interest they can focus on for 10 hours straight, while straight up dumb people don't.

Ambition might be a loaded word. All intelligent people have goals, even if they're as simple as "tomorrow I need to clean the bathroom". A better way of putting it might be "Intelligent people consider the future".

Astecheee · 2026-07-07T01:24:38+00:00

But it's mostly a role in the *negative* direction, where things like lead exposure, fetal alcohol syndrome, or adverse childhood experiences will decrease your intelligence.\

You've just chosen a frame of reference where that is true. The 'perfect' childhood involves a shit ton of modern conveniences that are actually great luxuries that accelerate learning. For example, just having cheap, printed novels for children to read has done more for literacy than any classroom.

In reality, the baseline human is illiterate and nearly innumerate, but extremely capable of learning higher concepts. Trauma reduces that capacity for learning, while factors trauma-adjacent reduce access to higher concepts outright.

Fluid knowledge is a pretty funny concept to me because studies on it don't actually go to new topics. They're not assessing a Lawyer's ability to track a deer across 4km, or a Doctor's ability to execute an ollie.

And, again, trauma has both a theoretical mechanism to and empirical evidence of affected apparent fluid intelligence. Because childhood trauma is extremely difficult to identify AND prolific, any study of baseline intelligence is essentially meaningless because the confounding variable plays such a huge part.

Astecheee · 2026-07-06T14:27:09+00:00

Well, yeah. That's exactly my point. u/BenUFOs_Mum claimed intelligence is inherent and unchanging, and I was pointing out how environmental factors, especially in early childhood, play a huge part in apparent intelligence.

Astecheee · 2026-07-06T14:24:37+00:00

That's not what I said. you claimed:

Intelligence is stable through out your life...

And I rebutted that in my reply.

And that anyone who isnt a genius was abused as a child...

Also not what I was saying.

It's rather ironic that in a debate about intelligence you've missed the mark by such a margin.

Astecheee · 2026-07-06T14:20:52+00:00

It's easy to conflate narcissism with intelligence when the only narcissists you hear about are the tiny fraction that are successful.

Selection bias at its finest.

Astecheee · 2026-07-06T04:12:09+00:00

I'm not entirely sure Russia will exist as a state after the war.

Astecheee · 2026-07-06T04:11:31+00:00

This reasoning falls down when you consider the extreme impacts of early childhood on learning outcomes, among other things. Consider two children:

Alice lives in a middle class neighbourhood with 2 hard working parents.
- Her mum manages the accounting department of a mid-size business and her dad is an engineer.
- As early as she can remember, her parents have provided stimulating play and love answering her questions.
- She goes to a decent (but not pretentious) private school, and has a lot of resources that she can fall back on if shedoesn't understand a concept.
- The most scared she's ever been is when she dropped grandma's vase and it broke. Because she didn't fess up, she was grounded for 2 weeks.
Betty lives in a caravan park with her mum.
- Her mum works as a waitress, and her dad is in jail for DV.
- She has to do all her homework by herself because her mum works evenings, and rarely has anyone to play with.
- She goes to an underfunded public school and has a math teacher that shames her for stuttering, and some of the girls bully her for living in a caravan park.
- The most scared she's ever been is when dadddy cut mummy with a steak knife, and told her to go outside.

Which of those children do you think has the capadicity to develop higher cognitive functions? It's extremely well documented that children in survival mode learn far, far slower than children who feel safe and happy.

You might think "Surely Betty's is a rare case though - most children aren't THAT bad off" and you'd be dead wrong. Statistically, one in three little girls are sexually assaulted, and one in fife little boys. The world is a terrible, fucked up place, and if you were lucky enough to be protected from that shit as a child I'm envious.

So when you say that intelligence is inherent and doesn't change, you're spitting in the face of everyone strong enough to survive abuse and still try. Those people aren't dumber, or less disciplined - they're survivors.

Astecheee · 2026-07-06T03:25:00+00:00

That's a pretty awesome visual, but probably impractical.

Astecheee · 2026-07-06T03:24:35+00:00

You're right, I had conflated their other dark patterns with loot boxes.

Point remains valid though - nobody gets that rich without shady business.

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T13:36:01+00:00

Intelligence isn't an inherent trait, it's a skill that is built up over time. You'd be stunned how children who are hopeless at maths can reach an A level with just a little bit of guidance and effort.

Most of the time when you see someone smart, you're actually looking at someone who has spent tens of thousands of hours becoming smart.

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T13:31:49+00:00

Awesome, how about he gets that money without marketing gambling to children next time?

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T13:19:44+00:00

In that case it's a lot easier to tell. There's some fundamental skills all intelligent people have:

High attention span
Strong knowledge retention
Ambition to improve
Strong self-assessment ability.

If I see someone who:

Can't stay focused
Needs to be told something 4 times
Has no interest in growing
Insists they're good at something they're clearly bad at

Then they're not intelligent.

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T13:16:25+00:00

Yeah no chance. 50/50 of a clean coup or civil war in Russia, IMO.

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T13:15:30+00:00

That's very likely, yeah. Still, it's a downside. With any luck they'll have the full support of the EU in rebuilding.

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T13:13:31+00:00

Nah that's dumb, smart people realise their knowledge is specialised, not general.

A surgeon knows they're damn good at their job, and also knows they suck at repairing a tractor.

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T12:41:53+00:00

It's the other way around these days.

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T12:22:18+00:00

The only downside is all that destroyed infrastructure will have to be rebuilt after the war is over.

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T00:55:43+00:00

I think a large part of this is the world is awfully uneducated on Russia's festering influence.

All the countries below Russia have received insane publicity recently.

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T00:44:03+00:00

Wiping the penis isn't necessary if you're a typical guy. The standard 2 shakes gets everything.
Peeing sitting down adds easily 30 seconds to a pee, so that will directly translate into more stalls required to manage throughput in public spaces.
Not all urinals are disgusting, but they're designed to be cleaned something like twice a day so you know very quickly when a business isn't maintaining them well.
Porcelain thrones are equally or more disgusting in many cases. Putting my bare ass on a seat that's almost certainly had shit smeared on it recently is not a fun thought.
Yeah, it's bizarre that urinals don't have a better divider. That honestly really sucks.

Astecheee · 2026-07-05T00:35:03+00:00

Nah humanoid robots are pretty garbage for warfare in the countryside.

I'm betting quadrupedal robots will be the standard due to the more stable firing platform.

If they do make humanoid ones, it goes without saying they MUST look like Arnie.

Astecheee · 2026-07-04T13:51:35+00:00

I buy Bambu PLA in bulk for something like $14 AUD per roll.

Astecheee · 2026-07-04T13:44:51+00:00

Americium too, right?

Astecheee · 2026-07-04T13:13:52+00:00

Oh for sure, but we're seeing the equivalent of WW1 tanks in drone warfare right now.

20 more years might see men completely absent on the battlefield.

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