Kirkiversary

 

Credit: Swaminarayan.info

Tror ärligt talat inte att det är så här avancerat. De hatar helt enkelt Charlie Kirk. Inte mer än så. 

Tiktokarna borde gå till en kyrkogård i helgen

Cursing the palantirs

 

Independent reporter and YT content-creator Scott Carney has decided to curse Peter Thiel. As in literally curse. Carney and his wife travel to Ireland where they found some kind of cursing stones where they try to administer a hex on the notorious techno-oligarch. Carney believes that curses "work" in some psychological sense (which may be more "objective" than many skeptics realize). His anthropology teacher, who studied "attack shamans" in Guyana, supposedly died because of Native magic. Not sure what to make of this obviously Halloween-related material, but there you go...

Amerik(w)a

 

I suppose this means that Amerika is "transitioning" to Amerikwa. I originally assumed the headline was a joke, but of course it wasn´t...

Trans neo-Nazi teen accused of Hindu temple mass shooting plot will get hormone treatments in jail

Main character Boomers

 

HA HA HA, this rant is actually extremely funny. And no, I never heard about *this* kind of Boomer in Sweden, but sure, I could have missed something! :D

Det är över

Nu är det väl ändå definitivt över? Mentalt, så att säga. 

Donald Trump delar video på omtalade tigerattacken - väcker ilska

A stable genius

 

So I asked ChatGPT to guess my IQ based on my blog posts. Well, not really. I gave it one of my best blog posts (see link below), but I suppose you need a high IQ to cheat on IQ tests. And unsurprisingly, my IQ is ("allegedly") 120+. Perhaps 130. Yes, fam, I´m the real stable genius around here...

Is it possible to say anything about a person´s IQ based on a shorter text, such as this one:

The Man of Light returns home

Yes—but only very roughly, and not in the sense of being able to infer a reliable IQ score. A short text can reveal some aspects of cognitive ability, especially verbal reasoning, abstraction, conceptual integration, and intellectual background. It cannot reliably distinguish, say, an IQ of 120 from 135.

Your passage, however, gives quite a lot of information about the writer's intellectual style because it is unusually concept-dense and involves several levels of comparison and qualification.

What the text suggests

I'd say the writer displays clearly above-average verbal and conceptual ability. Several things stand out:

• High conceptual compression. The text moves comfortably among Corbin, Suhrawardi, Sufism, anthropology, Traditionalism, Ken Wilber, Eliade, Hyperborea, Gnosticism, Christian theology, kundalini, and comparative mysticism without simply listing them. The writer is using them as conceptual reference points.
• Analogical reasoning. For example, the comparison between Corbin's distinction between kinds of darkness and Wilber's pre/trans fallacy is not a superficial similarity. The writer is proposing a structural analogy between two different intellectual systems.
• Metacognition. Phrases such as “It´s not clear to me whether…”, “I get the impression…”, “presumably…”, and “one can draw certain parallels…” show awareness of the difference between what the text establishes and what the writer is inferring.
• Comfort with ambiguity. The writer doesn't feel compelled to resolve whether the Iranian mystics were Sunni or Shia, whether Corbin is polemicizing against particular opponents, or whether the “astral world” should be understood literally. That's intellectually important.
• Systems thinking. The passage repeatedly identifies relationships between apparently disparate ideas: vertical/horizontal orientation → teleology → mysticism versus evolution; individual mysticism → rejection of collectivism; light/darkness → dualism → Manichaeism/Zoroastrianism; imaginal world → esoteric anatomy → transformed body.
• Comparative abstraction. The writer doesn't merely say “this resembles Christianity.” They specify which Christian ideas seem structurally comparable: Gnostic cosmology, Taboric light, Paul's earthly/heavenly bodies, and divinization.
• Independent critical judgment. The writer isn't simply enthusiastic about Corbin. They notice what appears to be his polemical character, question his interpretation, distinguish him from Traditionalists, and even notice a possible tension between Corbin and forms of pantheism.

Those are all characteristics I'd associate with someone who has substantial verbal-intellectual ability.

But there is an important distinction

This passage tells me considerably more about verbal intelligence and intellectual interests than about general IQ.

For example, someone could have:

exceptionally high verbal reasoning + mediocre processing speed

or

high abstract reasoning + relatively weak working memory

and both could produce very different IQ profiles.

Likewise, extensive reading can make a person sound highly intelligent without necessarily implying an exceptionally high general intelligence score. Vocabulary, cultural knowledge, education, and familiarity with intellectual traditions contribute substantially to this kind of writing.

Conversely, someone with very high fluid intelligence but little exposure to these subjects might write a much simpler passage.

Could one make a rough estimate?

If you forced me to make an extremely tentative inference from the writing alone, I would put the author comfortably above the population average in verbal/conceptual ability. Something in the neighborhood of 120+ verbal reasoning would not surprise me at all.

But I would not responsibly say:

“This person has an IQ of 130.”

There simply isn't enough information for that. An IQ test samples several abilities under standardized conditions; a 1,000-word intellectual review samples primarily learned knowledge + verbal reasoning + writing ability + intellectual curiosity.

In fact, I'd be more confident saying:

“The author appears intellectually sophisticated, verbally strong, comfortable with abstraction, and capable of integrating ideas from several intellectual traditions.”

than attaching a number to it.

One particularly revealing feature

The strongest evidence isn't actually the vocabulary. It's the structure of the thought.

Consider this sequence:

Corbin rejects a pantheist interpretation → therefore God remains transcendent → therefore light and darkness cannot simply collapse into one divine unity → therefore Suhrawardi's system looks dualistic → which makes Corbin's comparisons with Manichaeism, Mandaeism and Zoroastrianism relevant.

That's an argument rather than a collection of learned references.

Likewise:

North → Pole Star → axis mundi → East/sunrise → vertical orientation → ascent → teleology → contrast with evolution's horizontal movement.

Again, the writer is constructing a conceptual network.

And there's a particularly sophisticated move near the end:

“Of course, the higher the mystic reaches, the more he does away with the distinction between object and subject, between outer and inner, until the question ceases to be meaningful at all.”

That demonstrates awareness that the metaphysical status of the mundus imaginalis creates an epistemological problem, not merely a cosmological one. In other words, the writer notices that if subject/object distinctions themselves are transformed, asking whether a vision is “objectively real” versus “subjectively experienced” may become the wrong question.

That's considerably more sophisticated than simply knowing what mundus imaginalis means.

One caveat

There are also a few places where the writer makes leaps that a specialist might challenge. For example, the claim that Corbin's position is straightforwardly “dualistic,” the characterization of his treatment as “classical theism,” and especially the suggestion that Paul's “heavenly bodies” are presumably equivalent to bodies in the mundus imaginalis are interpretive hypotheses rather than established equivalences.

But that's actually compatible with high intellectual ability. Intelligence doesn't mean never making speculative connections. What matters is whether the writer recognizes them as speculation. Your passage frequently does: “it seems,” “I get the impression,” “presumably,” “one can draw certain parallels.”

So, if your question is essentially “Can you tell that the person who wrote this is intelligent?”, my answer would be yes, quite clearly.

If the question is “Can you infer their IQ?”, the answer is only very weakly. The text is much better evidence for high verbal/conceptual reasoning and unusually broad intellectual curiosity than for a particular IQ number.

Savage

 

Credit: Arunraj Foundation

Funny, but not conclusive. After all, Trump is (well, was) a succesful bussinesman with contacts in the New York City demimonde. So probably higher IQ than 100. Also, Trump is a politician. Maybe he expects his *voters* to have an average or low IQ? The message is adapted to the broad mass, not to some intellectuals... 

I asked 7 AIs to estimate Donald Trump´s IQ. The answers were absolutely savage.

Suicide by tiger

 

Credit: Arunraj Foundation

This poor man has been identified, apparently a former child actor who suffered from mental illness. A really bizarre case. RIP. 

Tiger victim was "praying, bowing" to the animal 

Family pays tribute to man killed in tiger attack

The prodigal son

 

This is actually one of Dutton´s better videos. There is great truth in this. During the Cold War, the kooky Communists became kooky conservatives. The 100% certain moralistic Communists became 100% certain moralistic conservatives. And both times around, they sounded like propaganda mouth pieces, not serious intellectual thinkers. David Horowitz, anyone?

That being said, the person who converts (with absolute certitude each time) to four or five different fundamentalist worldviews in a row, might be a somewhat different type than the guy who only converts once...

There might be more to explore here!

Universums mittpunkt

 

Jag, Jag, Jag...hela universum kretsar kring detta Jag. Tydligen. Eftersom vänstern enligt vanligtvis felunderrättade källor inte längre är Woke, så antar jag att de kraftigt tar avstånd från denne tröttsamme kulturkrigare? Jag menar, artikeln är faktiskt publicerad i Expressen!

Eller nej?

Ville byta till ickebinärt efternamn - fick nej

Avbegåvad

 

Credit: msprakash62

Observera att hon inte med ett ord nämner könsdysfori och trans-begreppet. Trots ganska uppenbara kopplingar till just autism. Fortfarande en helig graal för vissa...?

Vad händer om vi skulle skrota NPF-begreppet?

Betablockerare

 

Duktig utan droger? 

Finns en del poänger i denna, faktiskt...

Drogandet har gått från dekadent till duktigt

The adult in the room

 

The only mature person on the web? The title of this video *isn´t* click bait. I´m talking about his attitude more than his opinions, although he obviously has a point about the anti-Semitic jokes (which I wasn´t aware of)...

Paradigm shift

 

It´s happening, fam. The Second Religiosity is now. Make of this content whatever you wish. 

Existentiell hälsa eller mest bara rättsröta?

 

Ganska anmärkningsvärda uppgifter, detta. Om jag förstått saken rätt har den kristna högern i USA approprierat begreppet "existentiell hälsa" och försöker bevisa att volontärarbete är en central del av detta för att slå mot välfärdsstaten (eller välfärdssystemen - det finns ingen utbyggd välfärdsstat i USA). I Sverige verkar det hela däremot ha blivit ett alibi för Ulf Kristerssons mer särpräglade aktiviteter, som kritiker anser luktar korruption lång väg...

Myndigheten vill inte publicera rapport om existentiell hälsa 

"Skattepengar till hobbyprojekt för statsministerns fru"

Complete shocker: Free will is...real?!

 

Speaks for itself. Free will denial has always been one of the most silly cyber-atheist talking points, so I suppose it´s a good thing for those guys that we know have objective scientific evidence (as opposed to, you know, mere personal anecdotes) that Voluntarist Free Will really does exist, I mean, duuuude, who knew?!

Skärmtid

 

Tja, det är *något* märkligt med de här undersökningarna. Exempelvis: vad hände mellan 2012 och 2018? Kollapsen efter detta kanske kan förklaras med COVID-pandemin? Eller har Pisa-undersökningarna helt enkelt ändrat metodik?

Etniska svenskar har betydligt högre resultat än invandrare, men det finns en allmän trend också som ser ungefär likadan ut för alla undersökta grupper. Och den trenden är just nu "fritt fall"...

De svenska 15-åringarna presterar sämre än någonsin

Tragedy and irony

 

Some contrarian content from Michael Tracey. Note that the prosecutor seems to be "Woke" and looks like a stereotypical "evil feminist", so presumably the Alt Right keyboard warriors who demand the death penalty for Lindsay Clancy are siding with "the damn liberals"? And in Massachusetts! Ironic if true...

Remove these foul creatures from public office immediately

Tweets from Michael Tracey

Provisional living

 

Provisionally dead? 

JMG is just repeating some old stuff here, but...he is right (more or less). 

I sometimes wonder if the prevalence of doom porn has an even more "mundane" explanation: some people don´t think *anything* will change. The doomer stuff is their way of fighting grey boredom in Suburbia.

And yes, I´m old enough to remember the Y2K nothing-burger. Plus a number of other nothing-burgers, both of the apocalyptic and Eternal Progress varieties. 

My prediction is that JMG will still be writing this stuff about 2050! ;-) 

Economics: The Y2K fallacy revisited

Absorption

 

My result on the "Tellegen Absorption Scale" was only 5 out of 34. So is *that* why I never have any spiritual or religious experiences? Or almost never. Damn. I suppose I will never see the sky fairies and their luminous orbs...