Apologies to the readers who were looking for a conversation story. I did proofread the text, but not the title! Unfortunately, then, I sent out about 6000 emails with the wrong title, and also a broken link, since changing the title results in changing the Substack URL, and somehow it does not keep the old URLs as redirects (Wordpress does).
It will never cease to amaze me what an steaming pile of garbage Substack is, considering the only job it has (rendering a simple black text on a white background) is literally the easiest in all of web dev and yet it can’t even do that properly.
Interesting story. I was never deep into philosophy, but the empirical British thinkers - Adam Smith, Malthus, Mill, Galton, Darwin, Herbert Spencer - did always strike me as far more valuable than the continental obscurantists.
IIRC as with you that I first came to IQ via Lynn and what people were writing about him in mid teens. It struck me as obviously correct, smart people would, all else equal, produce and create more.
I hope you also found time to read plenty of novels...... which are - word-for-word - a richer source of understanding of human psychology than non-fiction writings in my view.
I actually converted, to some form of neoplatonism as I one day woke up and realised that atheism and its appendix materialism, don't hold up to logical scrutiny nor to the experience of modern physics.
Numerous years of trying to sort signal from noise by studying ontology, epistemology and theology lead me to the conclusion that neoplatonism is the only possible answer.
The All is One, and the One is beyond All. This is the ground of Being, and everything which is participates in this All and Is due to it's participation, ie it's relationship.
The mind is a strange and wonderful thing, is it not? Thanks for sharing some of your experiences in your life’s path.
One of my earliest memories is as a child, somewhat stubborn and questioning, was my discovery that the “tooth fairy” was a lie. Here in the USA—and probably elsewhere—parents tell their children when they lose their first teeth to place the tooth under their pillow before bedtime and the next morning they will find a reward left by the grateful “Tooth Fairy”. I did this a few times and always found a quarter (money) the next morning. The story never rang true to this 6 year old, so one day I lost a tooth and told no one. Placed it under my pillow. and the next day found that the tooth remained. I told no one of this discovery, but ceased to place teeth under my pillow from then on.
What the hell child does crap like that? Yeah, me. ;-)
"I haven't really changed my mind about the truth of atheism"
Not smart. I have repeatedly experienced the power of demonic forces myself. I also think there must be some power to prevent evolution (or post-1950 science) from skyrocketing into catastrophe (supermen, super-Bhopals, superviruses). I came to this via sleeping on the chin/ribcage (I also think the purpose of the chin is censored by American intelligence agencies).
How exactly are your immigration views 'small l libertarian'? You have said you want to not only prevent all refugees entering Denmark but halt and repatriate settled immigrants. Such hardline views can hardly be described as libertarian.
The eternal human dichotomy even before H. sapiens: the conformists versus the creatives. Only the latter can have much of a journey through life. Has psychology investigated the factors associated with creativity?
Apologies to the readers who were looking for a conversation story. I did proofread the text, but not the title! Unfortunately, then, I sent out about 6000 emails with the wrong title, and also a broken link, since changing the title results in changing the Substack URL, and somehow it does not keep the old URLs as redirects (Wordpress does).
It will never cease to amaze me what an steaming pile of garbage Substack is, considering the only job it has (rendering a simple black text on a white background) is literally the easiest in all of web dev and yet it can’t even do that properly.
Interesting story. I was never deep into philosophy, but the empirical British thinkers - Adam Smith, Malthus, Mill, Galton, Darwin, Herbert Spencer - did always strike me as far more valuable than the continental obscurantists.
IIRC as with you that I first came to IQ via Lynn and what people were writing about him in mid teens. It struck me as obviously correct, smart people would, all else equal, produce and create more.
I hope you also found time to read plenty of novels...... which are - word-for-word - a richer source of understanding of human psychology than non-fiction writings in my view.
I read 99% non-fiction. I can't recall the last fiction book I read.
I actually converted, to some form of neoplatonism as I one day woke up and realised that atheism and its appendix materialism, don't hold up to logical scrutiny nor to the experience of modern physics.
Numerous years of trying to sort signal from noise by studying ontology, epistemology and theology lead me to the conclusion that neoplatonism is the only possible answer.
The All is One, and the One is beyond All. This is the ground of Being, and everything which is participates in this All and Is due to it's participation, ie it's relationship.
The mind is a strange and wonderful thing, is it not? Thanks for sharing some of your experiences in your life’s path.
One of my earliest memories is as a child, somewhat stubborn and questioning, was my discovery that the “tooth fairy” was a lie. Here in the USA—and probably elsewhere—parents tell their children when they lose their first teeth to place the tooth under their pillow before bedtime and the next morning they will find a reward left by the grateful “Tooth Fairy”. I did this a few times and always found a quarter (money) the next morning. The story never rang true to this 6 year old, so one day I lost a tooth and told no one. Placed it under my pillow. and the next day found that the tooth remained. I told no one of this discovery, but ceased to place teeth under my pillow from then on.
What the hell child does crap like that? Yeah, me. ;-)
"I haven't really changed my mind about the truth of atheism"
Not smart. I have repeatedly experienced the power of demonic forces myself. I also think there must be some power to prevent evolution (or post-1950 science) from skyrocketing into catastrophe (supermen, super-Bhopals, superviruses). I came to this via sleeping on the chin/ribcage (I also think the purpose of the chin is censored by American intelligence agencies).
wtf
Do you have any alternative explanation for why the chin is falsely claimed by scholars/the media to have no obvious purpose?
If you think American intelligence agencies aren't capable of censorship, well...
How exactly are your immigration views 'small l libertarian'? You have said you want to not only prevent all refugees entering Denmark but halt and repatriate settled immigrants. Such hardline views can hardly be described as libertarian.
Libertarians have not generally been open borders types until recently. Libertarianism is only compatible with certain voter demographics.
He presumably means a general libertarian leaning with "small l libertarian".
haven't you hear about hoppe? physical remotion it is libertarian, paleo-libertarianism
A travel along the horseshoe theory ;)
The eternal human dichotomy even before H. sapiens: the conformists versus the creatives. Only the latter can have much of a journey through life. Has psychology investigated the factors associated with creativity?
My religious journey and thoughts are almost the same except that I ended up as an agnostic
While one can use conversion story to be about conversion into some religion, it is often used in the expanded sense as a big change in views. In this case, I was thinking of something like this: https://infidels.org/library/modern/testimonials-bradley/ https://infidels.org/library/modern/testimonials-carrier/