Monday, November 04, 2024

Henderson

I am also on Rob Hederson's newsletter list, which includes some fascinating links.

 What You Can't Say

“I suspect the biggest source of moral taboos will turn out to be power struggles in which one side only barely has the upper hand. That's where you'll find a group powerful enough to enforce taboos, but weak enough to need them.”  

People are surprisingly hesitant to reach out to old friends

Evidence from across the social sciences demonstrates that social relationships provide one of the most robust and reliable routes to well-being. For instance, individuals with strong and satisfactory relationships report the highest levels of happiness1,2, and people who have someone to count on in times of need report higher life evaluations worldwide3. However...

Think You Know About Satanists? Maybe You Don't  

No one here but us agrarian reformers, as the communists used to say in Latin America

Rob reviewed The Dawn of Everything, which I originally liked the idea of but was talked out of it by people smarter than me.  Henderson didn't much like it either.

Tyler Cowan: One way to reduce inequality is to work harder. It creates a 20% difference in lifetime earnings.  That's not everything, but it ain't nuthin', neither. He recommends doing it early, frontloading the intense work, to increase the benefits of networking later on.

Can Therapy Cure Criminal Impulses?  Answer:  If it does, it's not very much.  There is a difficulty in studying this because of measurement of apples vs. oranges.

How the Diploma Divide Is Remaking American Politics  One of my threads today discussed the demographics of the college educated versus the non college-educated.  (bsking wanted to know about the "college non-educated," as a person who had a degree in musical theater described himself. Touche.) 

Related:  IQ and Leadership:  Can you be "too smart?" Henderson notes what we have said here often about general intelligence and its advantage in many domains, but points to the ability of the intelligent to relate to those they are leading as of at least equal importance.  He does not mention my other main point which I grow weary of making, that practical advantages of intelligent are not the same thing as character - things like discretion, temperament, honesty, generosity. Sigh.



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2 comments:

  1. Grim1:57 PM

    I think your final point is very good. However, I also doubt the claim that it is not possible to communicate effectively across IQ past certain numbers of standard deviations. You should be able to understand if you work at it; a brilliant man should be able to take time to understand even a very simple-minded person, if he wants to do so. The question is: does he value his fellow man in spite of the difference in IQ, or does he feel so superior that he doesn't bother?

    Which, now that I think about it, comes back to your point about virtues.

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  2. Assistant Village Idiot4:03 PM

    CS Lewis believed that an ability to communicate a difficult theological point in plain average-intellect language should be a final exam question in seminaries.

    He practiced what he preached. Upon examination, The Chronicles of Narnia are adult books in a form and vocabulary suitable for children down to primary grade understanding.

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