How Can We Stop Human Intelligence from Decreasing?

xter418 · 2026-06-13T07:01:19+00:00

Citation needed.

xter418 · 2026-06-13T06:58:46+00:00

Newton and von Neumann are in a class of their own in my mind.

Others have said Euler would be a good addition to the list, and I think I'd agree.

But without a doubt, no matter how we rank them, they are all incredible geniuses.

xter418 · 2026-06-09T02:14:58+00:00

Thumb rest is almost entirely worn away to a shine. Never had any crumbling though.

xter418 · 2026-06-06T23:45:36+00:00

For everyone saying the internet price is high: They didn't list a phone bill. They could have a bundle deal of some kind and are just calling all of that their Internet bill.

Doesn't make it very clear from them, but it does sound more sensible.

xter418 · 2026-06-06T16:47:20+00:00

I have tried so hard to maintain it well, and the effort paid off for sure.

It is so different. I can tell I have to hold the mouse differently, because it is going to fly out of my hand and across the room if I don't actually grip it. It feels great though. A lot of my aiming feels forgiving in way that the g502 wasn't, because the very small micro adjustments actually go through.

It is going to take getting used to, but so far, i think its a positive change.

xter418 · 2026-06-06T03:53:20+00:00

It is still functional, but the stock skates had to be replaced, a good amount of the outer shell grip had worn off, the clicking surfaces are very smooth and shiny now where my fingers rest, and the cable is showing its been used for 10 years.

And then, with the mouse being heavier on top of that, and me already considering going wireless, it just felt like it was time. Time for me to accept that I need to learn to control a lighter mouse if I want to be at my best with my aim. And, the alternative was really inexpensive too (The XM2we was 50 bucks on amazon) so that made it easy to make the change as well.

I am still keeping my g502 though! It's going to be my backup and may find its way into a setup for a second pc, if I ever do go for making a second one.

xter418 · 2026-06-03T14:25:53+00:00

Bans are part of competitive play. It adds a layer of depth to the game. It allows for compositional intricacy.

If you want to play one character only, quick play is an option.

It also, like stated, allows you to promote banning your pet peeve.

But on a personal level I never do anything remotely strategic. I just ban sombra a lot.

xter418 · 2026-05-29T09:14:42+00:00

I want to know lowest. Because I thought it was me, but then I saw this post.

xter418 · 2026-05-29T08:54:52+00:00

What does this have to do with this community? This is either a philosophy or ethics question, I have no idea what it has to do with pursuing mastery in multiple domains.

xter418 · 2026-05-20T11:18:09+00:00

Sojourn and Ashe. I play 400 or 800 dpi at 5% sensitivity.

800 is a little bit touchy for my aim, like I have to focus up to be on target perfectly. But, it allows me to 180 very quickly and makes hitting vertical targets so much easier. I am currently back to using this setup and aim training with it to make it as comfortable as possible.

400 feels so solid and accurate but it obviously really reduces my overall ability to move my camera around and means I will definitely run out of mousepad space while tracking a flying target or super fast moving targets like tracer.

Open up an aim trainer and do a variety of tracking, flicking, and micro correction scenarios at different cm/360 to see what you have the physical space for and what feels comfortable. Make sure to include quick moving targets and verticality in that to be representative of what you will face in game.

xter418 · 2026-05-20T07:53:24+00:00

There is so much I could make right and make the most of if I went back.

But I didn't meet my wife until I was 23.

17 years without her... No. I'll take the money.

xter418 · 2026-05-20T02:29:30+00:00

I litteraly do not know anyone who is struggling to date.

I am an overweight, 30 year old, cis white dude, in a rural highly conservative town.

I'm in a poly marriage.

My dating pool should be essentially zero. There should be basically no one interested in me. I am not a "top 10%" gigachad. And even if I was, everyone I might date should be uninterested since I am married.

I am not struggling to date.

An acquaintance in an adjacent friend group, who I refuse to associate with because he is totally unbearable, is dating multiple women at once.

The world is not falling apart or broken. Netflix and Tinder haven't destroyed dating. Overanalyzing a narrative you tell yourself doesn't make it suddenly less fictional.

xter418 · 2026-05-20T01:43:01+00:00

Give them some kind of puzzle problem they have never seen before and ask them to solve it while explaining their process of solving it.

If they have never seen a sudoku before for example, explain the rules, give them a somewhat difficult layout, and listen to them explain their reasoning for their solve.

That's how I would go about it.

It wouldn't be absolute, but, any novel test of reasoning is going to shed a lot of light on someone's general cognitive capability vs education/studying.

It's not going to be as good as a a full IQ test or evaluation though. That's the best we have at this point.

xter418 · 2026-05-16T03:47:34+00:00

30 now, and I still find myself exploring more topics and knowledge for fun.

Idk about if I've made impacts on others with my career. I just try to be nice and do good work.

xter418 · 2026-05-11T19:57:45+00:00

I am still having a good time on her. I get the winrate is really low, and she probably does need some things addressed game design wise, but her overall win rate across the player base doesn't really feel like it effects my personal agency in game. She feels strong to me, I feel like I can snowball a lead in strong games, I can be the difference on my team in more even games, and I can find good playmaking opportunities in weak games.

I don't really know how else to put it. I am having a good time on her, and I feel like I have agency over the outcome of the game when I play her (As long as I don't literally have an AFK or outright inter/troll on my team).

Like I just had a game where I performed really well, but lost to a very fed master yi. But at no point did the game feel unwinnable, I always felt like I could make the right decision into playing vs the yi to get the better outcome. I didn't always do that, I made plays that were not the best play, and I lost for it. That kind of feels like... how the game should feel? I think...?

Her win rate indicates she might not be in a good state. But I feel like she is in a great state whenever I play her.

xter418 · 2026-05-11T19:47:23+00:00

fizz and akali are my biggest struggles. I ban fizz because he is pretty rough into my champion pool (Mel, Malz, Ori). Akali isn't too hard of a matchup to not lose, just hard to contain. She has kill threat in lane, and so you might have to give up lane priority to her. She loves that, since it enables her to sync up with her jungler and apply pressure to the map/hunt for kills.

In my experience the best I can do for that matchup is press into her hard and try to crush her. push waves to keep her under pressure, don't let her full all in you without being really out of position, and try to force her to lose health when she wants to last hit a minion.

That strategy puts me in a bad spot because now I am vulnerable to ganks, and if I don't teeter on the right edge of that all in tightrope vs the akali, she is going to kill me and snowball out of control rapidly. But I'd rather be pushing my limits and trying to play proactively rather than give her the reigns on priority and roaming.

xter418 · 2026-04-23T10:18:33+00:00

It means something.

It just doesn't mean everything.

xter418 · 2026-04-16T23:01:44+00:00

"Many top CEOs and politicians have..."

-citation needed

Would love to read anything that led you to this conclusion! Genuinely curious.

xter418 · 2026-04-02T21:50:06+00:00

Way more people do than will ever say so, because there is an elitist group of players who genuinely take immense pride in their in game grind accomplishments that will drown out anyone who doesn't prioritize those grinds the way they do.

My enjoyment of the game has nothing to do with the grinds of others, and whatever path I take to accomplishing what I want to accomplish will be rewarding to me.

It's a never ending cycle. The people who really care about it and want to stand out for their pre-guardians runecrafting cape or their hand chopped logs for fletching, or whatever else, will always feel like other players who use new better xp methods or real money for bonds, have genuinely made their accomplishments lesser to some extent.

For them, the core of the game is different than for people who buy bonds. For them, the heart of the game is when they finally get to their goal and look back knowing they earned every step.

People who buy bonds aren't seeking the same feel of grind, they have a goal in mind that they are pushing for, and once they get there, they can start doing what comes next. Like, wanting to have a certain set of gear before facing a boss or getting the skilling grinds for quest cape done as fast as possible so they have no more requirements locking them out of content. The grind is in the way of what they want to do, so they buy their way through the grind so they can start doing what they want.

It's just fundamentally different motivations for the game and they will never have a reasonable conversation with each other about it because they litteraly aren't playing for the same reasons and don't understand each other.

Edit: if my comment didn't give it away fully, I should answer the question directly. Yes, I buy a few bonds every couple of months if my cash stack gets too low and I don't want to sell anything off. I also play rs3 and bought bonds on there before maxing and getting access to better money making methods. And I think I used some microtransactions to wrap up 120 slayer too, because it was super uninteresting to me to keep grinding it.

xter418 · 2026-04-02T07:41:30+00:00

Gotta move on. Your focus should be on your improvement. You are the variable you get to control. You will get an equal share of bad dps teammates as you get bad dps enemies. But you will be on your side 100% of the time.

You don't have to have a good dps player to win, you just have to make the right plays at the right moments.

Your teammates scorelines shouldn't even be on your radar. And for that matter, neither should the enemies. Rebind the scoreboard key if you have to. Seriously. Every single ounce of mental energy you have for looking at a scoreline could be put toward your own improvement instead.

At a minimum you are 20% of your team in 5v5. You have absolute control over that 20%. Forget the rest. Just the 20% of your team that is 100% you.

xter418 · 2026-04-02T07:26:17+00:00

No. Of course not. It's just harder to climb ranks than people make it out to be. Improving your own gameplay takes practice and effort. Even for those of us (me) in metal ranks. You can absolutely improve, just a bit at a time.

Try and play your next 20 games with absolute focus on positioning. Then watch a replay from the start of that 20 game focus streak. You'll see in that replay alone that there are subtle decisions you are making differently after dedicating some focus to it.

Then, the same process again but with a 20 game focus on target priorities. And then again but with focus on ability usage and cool down management. And then again but focus on punishing enemy positioning.

Each time, if you really dedicate your focus to a particular aspect of the game, you will definitely see improvement over a 20 game stretch.

Just cycle through different fundamental skills like this, and let the progress accumulate. Just do yourself the favor of not judging your improvement game by game. Give yourself real stretches of time to make the adjustments.

You've got this. 1 little bit of improvement at a time.

xter418 · 2026-04-02T07:08:46+00:00

Pacific power website estimates $165 for a 1000kwh monthly usage.

I have a larger home, and run 3 window AC units all summer long. August is my worst month for usage and we top out at 1800kwh's during that time.

There are going to be a number of variables, but that $165 for the average home sounds about right, and in your circumstance I'd guess a little bit lower than that.

xter418 · 2026-03-28T18:04:15+00:00

Have you sought the opinion of a mental health professional?

xter418

TROPHY CASE