121–130 of 177 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regrettably, the meme-space vis-a-vis Natalie Portman has already been staked out by hot porridge made of roughly ground corn.
I see this image ( http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KMqOPeCgoT0/S_ABM6dl-II/AAAAAAAAF0... ) atop a radiantly-colorful meme backdrop, a la Courage Wolf, with such sayings as "I Just Divided By Zero" and "Maybe You Should Have Kept Your Documents in the Cloud, Tesla"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is it so easy to accept that pretty much everything in our bodies is genetic but not intelligence? I don't see why it would be any different. We already know that the brain is not just one big 'computing mass' but instead consists of many thousands of extremely specialized systems interconnected in a genetically-determined way shaped over thousands of years of evolution. If some of these systems are missing or no…
Everyone isn't born equal, but everything we have doesn't solely come from genetics. Nurture plays a huge role in our development. Saying Natalie Portman is successful solely because of her DNA is wholly disrespectful to her hard work. She didn't get best actress and a masters degree by just slumming it because her genes did all the work. It's naive and ignorant to ignore nurture in the debate. A lack of Vitamin D or…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That could mean the end of silly Hollywood movie physics. Imagine the possibilities!
Silly Hollywood movie physics gave us The Matrix, Back to the Future, etc. Necessary evil, IMO.
I could go on about how awful some movies have been but that's for another discussion.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What if the reason people are 'smart' is because of the way their brain has organized itself over the years in response to learning so much? Then it isn't that dumb people are dumb, just behind.
That isn't reality. The genetic factors of intelligence are well documented. I could have played basketball six hours a day, every day for the last 25 years, and I'd be really really good. But I wouldn't be as good as Lebron James was when he was 12 years old.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I sincerely doubt that you are skinny on a diet that would make someone else morbidly obese [1]. What I think is more likely is that you eat as much as you want and are skinny. You're just lucky that, either through nature or nurture, what you want to eat, and the amount you want to eat, balances out with what your body needs. I agree that there are going to be variations in inherent intelligence, body composition, o…
This is backed up by medical knowledge. It has been repeatedly shown that metabolism varies very little between people when corrected for body mass. What does vary considerably is appetite, and this is the major contributor to body weight.
I don't have much time right now, but I did find a good starting point: http://www.ajcn.org/content/53/6/1561S.abstract "In this regard, the proneness to store energy primarily as fat or as lean tissue is a major determinant of the response to a caloric surplus."
Also: http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v8/n7/abs/oby200063a.html Talks about insulin secretion being different between races even after accounting for other factors.
gasp we all aren't created equal! We all don't have the same benefits. Some people are born disadvantaged and must work for things!
And to the comment a few levels up, my ~3,500kcal diet would make some people obese even after accounting for my activity levels! 1 kcal for you is not the same as 1 kcal for me, bodies differ in conversion, storage, and utilization.
I have a hard time understanding why people don't like admitting that just as we differ on the outside (beauty, fitness) we are also different on the inside (metabolism, disease susceptibility)
Nice article. Two sentences jumped out at me. First: “There are very few who are as inherently bright as Natalie is, who have as much intellectual horsepower, who work as hard as she did. She didn’t take a single thing for granted.” then: If anything, stories like Ms. Portman’s show that great success, like DNA, is constructed of a few basic building blocks: tenacity, focus, and the old Woody Allen line about just sh…
As: Few people who have the same level of intelligence she does, work as hard as she did.
As I understood it, the professor was saying that she outworked her peers, not that she was the smartest of the group but that her work ethic made her exceptional in an already smart group
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point wasn't the degree. But more that she made the semifinals of the Intel Science Talent Search -- that in itself is prestigious, but at the same time (and I quote): "She’d been in films directed by Woody Allen, Tim Burton and Luc Besson, appeared opposite Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson, Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Drew Barrymore and I’m getting tired of typing celebrity names here. She took on the major role of Q…
"To be honest, I'm not sure there's any degree where the mere act of receiving it would be more impressive than the above feat." Because being in the presence of popular people is a major accomplishment, right? Far greater an accomplishment than the defense of any original PhD thesis, right? I can drive to the Viceroy hotel bar right now and be in the presence of a random A-list celebrity if I so choose. By your logi…
No one is starstruck by Woody Allen. But you're startstruck by his work.
Let me put it to you this way. I'm FAR more certain that you can get a PhD than you could ever get half the critical acclaim or box office receipts that Natalie has gotten.
Although, I'd just love to find out you are actually Will Smith and have just blown my thesis to pieces. :-)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This recent submission and its discussion is relevant to your claim, "General factor of intelligence g, a Statistical Myth": http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2210147 I disagree with your claim about Lebron James, but I don't think there's enough data for an evidence-based debate. I do think, however, that people want to believe that others who operate at the genius level in various activities have genetic gifts. I…
Why is it so easy to accept that pretty much everything in our bodies is genetic but not intelligence? I don't see why it would be any different. We already know that the brain is not just one big 'computing mass' but instead consists of many thousands of extremely specialized systems interconnected in a genetically-determined way shaped over thousands of years of evolution. If some of these systems are missing or no…
But more significantly, intelligence is a very fuzzy concept, much harder to describe and more so define than eye color or height. It is also as much of a cultural concept as things like beauty, charisma, etc... Which is also why it is a more touchy subject than eye color or height: it is much more related to one own ideology.
The fact that she would rather make movies with Ashton Kutcher instead of spending time trying to solve the problems that plague mankind show what type of person she really is.