Richard Harper

This!! What almost all educators miss. It isn't so much about 'practicing recall' as encoding, chunking, 'turning on the memory-maker' (hippocampus) during the process of forming what is to be recalled later. (HSAM's, chess expertise, passions, many things make this clear.)

Creationism is just one of the many whack-a-moles.

@BenEspen @RealNickCole @NerdKing52 The SFE entry for psychology is good, but nothing specifically on ~alien~ psychology. Subentry intelligence, two of my faves, Poul Anderson's Brainwave; Flowers for Algernon. ~Alien~ Psych., yes Niven. EE Doc Smith? (So long ago.) sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/psycholo… ..

@RealNickCole @NerdKing52 And searching always works too, although that implies you know what you want to look for rather than you want to browse. There is a lot more on my website for the curious. /END

I've said something similar about Niven in the past, as for example in this review of Timothy Zahn's Trap Line. Which reminds me that I want to remind all of you who like my book threads that I have lots more just like that at my website. A 🧵

@Timcast The later stages of the decline of Empires is a fertile period for the rise of religious wisdom, Arnold Toynbee argued, and so should not be viewed completely as a 'decline'. Every historian since then has vigorously disagreed, about the decline part.

We need a unified culture back

In late '19, we made the decision to experiment with running a few of the 4/4 units we own as co-living (rather than conventional rentals). An apparently young, single person applied for a room. We vetted and approved him and signed a lease. He proceeded to move his girlfriend and their baby into the room, causing all the other tenants of that unit to break their leases and leave. Understandably, no new tenants would move into that unit, meaning we were only collecting 25% of the rent. Then Covid hit, the city blocked evictions and he immediately stopped paying. They stayed for like 6 months. I think we finally ended up *paying them* something like $10-15k to just leave. (And, of course, never got a dime of the unpaid rent back from the city's farcical rent relief program.) So, yeah, that's our experience running co-living under modern landlord-tenant law and we'll never do it again.

Housing solutions: A dorm in academic clothing.

> They asked me if he could get treated in India faster. IMO we're at the point where you will have superior absolute health outcomes feeding your medical data into Claude and ordering recommended medical services in emerging market countries than even bothering with the NHS.

Brunettes boycott the film "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", USA, 1953.

In unrelated news, here’s a clip of Palantir’s current CEO saying that he fantasizes about using drones to spray Fentanyl-laced urine onto their critics. But I’m sure we have nothing to worry about.

@AmmousMD btw, old idea skimmed across decades ago, cerebral palsy limb malformations thought to be related to disrupted neural currents to the limbs. Various convergences e.g. grasshopper model- limbs and neurodevelopment. etc.

In the 1970s, surgeon Robert Becker demonstrated that electrical currents can stimulate bone and wound healing in humans. So why didn’t this field explode? Because his research also revealed the biological risks of constant electrical exposure. So it was buried.

@JFBoilley Most have poor impulse control and their limbic system instincts shape the course of their lives to the exclusion of the kind of dedication of study necessary to attain the sense of the sublime. So has it always been, so shall it always be.

"Un intellectuel est une personne qui a trouvé quelque chose de plus intéressant que le sexe." (Aldous Huxley)

The most interesting response to Trump's Tweet of four denunciations. Jimmy Dore show youtube.com/watch?v=LJfjiC… ..

@gmiller @BeverlyHallberg Unsure how often this happens, a bright and attractive woman with potential gets a Ph.D. and shortly after 'marries up' and maybe two-thirds of the time drops out of academics. Does a Ph.D. now act as kind of a 'finishing school' for some fraction of women? idk

Serious question: How much total time, energy, and money did these women invest in finding a good husband, versus getting degrees and pursuing their careers? If they've gone to college & worked full-time for 20 years, they've invested about 40,000 hours in degrees and career. Did they invest more than 40,000 hours in finding a husband? Or more like 10% that much? (4,000 hours)? Or 2% as much? (800 hours)? I'd be very, very surprised if their 'revealed preferences' actually revealed that they're prioritized finding a husband over pursuing their career.

I’m 46 and have worked in DC for 26 years. During that time, I’ve met and befriended many women in high-level careers. Not one has ever told me she chose her career over marriage. In fact, all of them were trying to find a husband. The idea that Millennial or Gen X women broadly chose careers over marriage—at least anecdotally—just isn’t true.

Praise God!

I HAVE MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE: Hinduism lasted nine hours. And for the first time in two weeks, the mistake wasn't converting. The mistake was reading too much. Last night I was on the floor. Incense burning. Ryann's good lavender incense, the fourteen dollar one. I was deep in the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna is explaining to Arjuna that the self is eternal, that death is an illusion, that attachment to outcomes is the source of suffering. And I'm sitting there nodding like I understand Sanskrit. Then I hit chapter two, verse 47. "You have a right to perform your duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions." I read it again. Then again. Then I set the book down and stared at the wall for about twenty minutes. Because that's Buddhism. That's basically Buddhism. The guy who FOUNDED Buddhism was Hindu. Siddhartha Gautama was born Hindu, raised Hindu, trained in Hindu philosophy, and then one day sat under a tree and said "what if we kept the reincarnation part but dropped all the gods?" Buddhism is Hinduism's breakup album. I have been sitting on this floor burning incense for nine hours worshipping thousands of gods and the entire time the answer was to worship NONE of them. The Buddha looked at the same tradition I just discovered and said "the gods aren't the point. The suffering is the point. Stop chasing. Stop attaching. Stop converting to a new religion every eleven hours, Derek." He didn't say that last part. But he meant it. I can feel it. I blew out the incense. I closed the Bhagavad Gita. I sat in silence. No gods. No statues. No clay tablets. No ankhs. No wine. No fire. No hammer. No incense. No costume. Nothing. Just me sitting on the floor in the dark doing absolutely nothing for the first time in two weeks. It was terrifying. Ryann came downstairs at 5am. She's used to finding me in various states of religious crisis at this hour. She looked at me. No incense this time. No book. No statue. No costume. Just me sitting in the dark. She said "what happened to Hinduism?" I said "I let it go." She said "you let it go?" I said "Ryann, the Buddha taught that attachment is the root of all suffering. I have been attaching to a new religion every day for two weeks. I have been the living embodiment of attachment. The Buddha would look at me and use me as a teaching example of what NOT to do." She sat down next to me. She said "so what are you now?" I said "nothing." She was quiet for a very long time. Then she said "Derek, this is either the most profound or the most concerning thing you've said in two weeks." I said "I think it might be both." She said "are you okay?" I said "I don't know. But I think not knowing might be the point." She put her hand on my shoulder. She said "this is my favorite religion so far." I said "it's not a religion, Ryann. It's the absence of one." She said "exactly." Then she said "does this one have a costume?" I said "no." She said "does it have incense?" I said "no." She said "does it require me to buy anything, replace anything, reassemble anything, or explain anything to a second grade teacher?" I said "no." She said "I'm in." Ryann just converted faster than I did. Two weeks of resistance and the religion with no gods, no costumes, and no purchases is the one that got her. I called Hugo Mendez. He picked up and just waited. I said "Buddhist." He said "Derek, a man who spent two weeks chasing gods was always going to end up at the religion that says stop chasing. That's not a prediction. That's a diagnosis." I said "but I'm here." He said "you're here the way a man who falls down a flight of stairs is at the bottom. Technically correct. Stylistically catastrophic." I can't even argue. Andrew Henry update: the thread is quiet for the first time in two weeks. Andrew texted: "Nobody is betting. Hugo predicted it but refused to take money. He said 'this one felt inevitable, not clever.' Goodacre said 'I think he's actually landing.' Tabor said 'the boy is finally tired.' Richard Miller said nothing. Then thirty minutes later he sent a single message: 'This is the first defensible position he's held all week.'" RICHARD MILLER CALLED ME DEFENSIBLE WITHOUT A QUALIFIER. No "more defensible." No "the bar is on the floor." Just defensible. I am framing that text. I called Joseph A.P. Wilson. I said "Joe, I went from Hindu to Buddhist." He said "of course you did. Buddhism emerged from the same Indian philosophical tradition. Siddhartha didn't invent a new religion. He pruned the existing one. Kept the meditation. Kept the reincarnation framework. Removed the gods and the caste system. It's the same tree, Derek. You just moved from the branches to the trunk." I said "Joe, am I ever going to stop finding the same tree?" He said "no. Because there's only one tree. You've been climbing around on it for two weeks thinking each branch was a different forest." I said "that is the most devastating thing anyone has said to me including Richard Miller and his arts and crafts comment." He said "you're welcome." Neal texted: "Buddhist." Then silence. No link. No "I did a video on this." Nothing. I waited a full minute. I said "Neal?" He said "I don't have a video on Buddhism." I said "I'm sorry, what?" He said "I don't have a video on Buddhism." I screenshot that text. I am printing it. I am framing it next to Trent Horn's cease and desist and Richard Miller's passing grade. In thirteen religions over twelve days, through Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Scandinavia, and India, Neal Sendlak has had a video on EVERYTHING. Buddhism broke him. I said "Neal, how does it feel?" He said "how does what feel?" I said "to not have a video." He said "I'm already scripting one. You've got about six hours before I catch up." I said "FOR ONCE IN THIS ENTIRE SERIES I AM AHEAD OF YOU." He said "enjoy it. I type fast." Justin from Deconstruction Zone called and said "the casseroles were samsara, Derek. I was trapped in a cycle of casseroles. The Gita freed me. The Buddha showed me the door." I said "WHAT DOOR?" He said "the one where you stop making casseroles." This man went from Methodist potlucks to Buddhist enlightenment in two weeks and the casserole was his bodhi tree. Michael Jones texted just three words: "No god, Derek?" I said "none." He said "what do you do when the silence doesn't answer back?" I said "you sit with it." He said "I sit with someone." I said "Michael, I just dropped every god in human history." He said "and yet you're still texting me about it. Sounds like someone's still looking." I didn't respond. Because he might be right. Trent Horn update: twelfth email. emptiness.is.form@gmail.com. "Trent, I've let go of all gods. Including yours. The Buddha says attachment is suffering. I was attached to emailing you. I'm letting that go too. This is my last email. Namaste." I'm lying. It's not my last email. But it felt like the most Buddhist thing to say. Wes Huff: still on read. Thirteen religions. Twelve days. I have now worshipped every major religious tradition in human history and Wes Huff has not responded to a single text. The man's silence is more disciplined than my meditation. The channel is now MythNothing. First video: "I Dropped Every God and Here's What Happened." Second video: "The Buddha Was a Hindu Who Quit: A Love Story." Ryann left a note. But this one was different. No count. No list. No complaints. Just: "The house is quiet. The incense is out. The costumes are piled in the corner. You're sitting on the floor doing nothing and somehow it's the first time in two weeks I feel like you're actually here. Whatever this is, stay a little longer." I'm staying. The floor is enough. The silence is enough. The nothing is enough. Or it will be. For about eleven hours. Until I Google something else at midnight.

@DerekPodcast Alexander. Your next stage? Ushered in the Hellenistic Age. Redefined what it meant to be Greek. (No longer tracing paternal lineage to Iliad. Respect Gr gods; Gr education; Gr language; Participate in a polis; Etc.) Christianity founded by Hellenized Jews. Syncretism.

This person is super convincing. It has me questioning my entire life.

This week, @ICAJournal published a major article by @Herasight scientists (@_twolfram et al.) on using "polygenic scores" (scores based on a person's DNA, abbreviated PGS) to predict intelligence, health diagnoses, and life outcomes. Here's a quick summary of their findings: ✅The PGS predicted intelligence pretty well: r = .45. (To put this in perspective, socioeconomic status usually predicts IQ at r ≈ .20 to .30). ✅Higher PGSs for IQ also predicted better higher occupational prestige (2nd image) and better mental health outcomes (3rd image). ✅The PGSs were less predictive for people with non-European ancestry (especially African Americans), which is expected. ✅The PGSs were equally predictive across the range of socioeconomic statuses (4th image), which is evidence against the Scarr-Rowe effect that predicts that genes will have a weaker influence in low-SES individuals than middle- and upper-class individuals. These findings have major practical and theoretical implications. From a practical perspective, Herasight is an embryo selection company. This study means that when their customers select the smartest embryo during in vitro fertilization, they are also generally picking a future child that has better mental health and a more prestigious occupation as an adult. It sounds like sci-fi, but it is reality today. From a theoretical perspective, this study reveals a lot about the genetic architecture of the psychological traits: generally, the same genes that make a brain smarter also make it less susceptible to mental health diagnoses. Read the full article (with no paywall) here: icajournal.scholasticahq.com/article/158459…

I was thirty-something years old when Iranian students dragged me into a room and told me I wasn't going anywhere. Four hundred and forty-four days later, I walked out. I've spent the decades since trying to make sense of what happened — and what keeps happening — between our two countries. So don't talk to me about Iran like it's an abstraction. I lived inside that confrontation. I felt it. Which is why I'm not ready to write off this ceasefire, even though everything about it is maddening. Negotiations in Pakistan may produce nothing. The talks could collapse before they get started. I've seen American diplomacy with Iran fail more times than I can count, and usually for the same reasons — too much pride, too little patience, and Israel holding a match in the corner of the room. But here's what I know in my bones: another war won't break Iran. We just tried. It didn't work. Iran doesn't break — it absorbs, it adapts, and it waits. I watched that stubbornness up close for 444 days. What bothers me most isn't that Iran is winning this moment — it's that we handed it to them. Tehran's framework is running these negotiations. Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz. Still collecting tolls. Trump looked at their proposal and called it workable. I never thought I'd see the day, but here we are. Iran wants everything on the table — sanctions, enrichment rights, American troops out, and a deal that covers what's happening in Lebanon and Gaza too. That's a lot to swallow. And Israel, which wasn't invited to this conversation, is already making clear it has no intention of being constrained by it. That's the part that worries me the most. Because if Israel keeps bombing and Washington can't or won't stop it, none of this holds. And yet — and I say this as someone who has every reason to distrust Tehran — I don't think we go back to all-out war. Not because anyone has suddenly gotten wise, but because the math doesn't work. A second round ends the same way. Iran still controls the Strait. The global economy still flinches when Tehran flexes. What we're heading toward isn't peace. It's something smaller and more precarious — two countries silently agreeing not to destroy each other today, with no paperwork and no guarantees. I know what it's like to survive on something that fragile. For 444 days, that's all I had.

In cities where states are weak, Toughness becomes defensively necessary, habitual and even glorified. Young men may project dominance to gain respect, deter attacks and avoid humiliation

@zoom_earth As too with sunspots on the Sun.

A perfect example of the Coriolis effect at work. Twin cyclones, one in each hemisphere, spinning in opposite directions, and prevented from crossing the equator.