Earlier quoted context omitted.
eh, I'll let my comment stand on its own ;-)
It isn’t really standing then. ;)
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Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes
231–240 of 264 posts
Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think society settled on a response of "yeah, but we shouldn't actively do anything about it as a group." I hope there comes a day when humanity is responsible enough to handle precise gene-tailoring of humans without it devolving into a cliche Sci-Fi dystopia. Until then, I'm glad that humanity has settled on "Eugenics could theoretically work but we know we're not responsible enough to do it right, so let's not…
IMO, the reason it feels enlightened is that we don't clearly perceive the negative consequences of not doing it. If societal IQ was as pervasively tracked as global temperature, "let's not" might feel as enlightened as "let's not mess with climate engineering."
> If societal IQ was as pervasively tracked as global temperature
Part of the reason we're not ready for it is that any notion of "societal IQ" is simply not as mature, well-understood, proven, or even useful as our understanding of climate science. Scientists who studied the topic understood the greenhouse effect and the potential for CO2 emissions to result in global warming over 100 years ago. Meanwhile, nobody can agree on whether the Myers-Briggs personality test means anything at all.
We just don't have a way to "rate" humans in a general sense, nor is it obvious that increasing their "rating" would even be a good thing. Selecting for humans with the highest IQ would be like selecting for crops that grow the tallest. Sure, sometimes that's a good measure of general health, but it's so blunt compared to the intricate nuances of how DNA works and the huge variety of outcomes we'd like from our crops. Besides, it's just a weird stance to want to create a "superior human". Why do we want to do that? So they can solve humanity's problems (no pressure!)? So we can have sex with them? So we can "purify our gene pool" (shudder)? So they can live a happier life and avoid disease? Some of those reasons are much better than others.
Yes, messing with the climate has risks, but global climate is a lot less complicated than the DNA of a single human. And we know our climate is headed for disaster if we do nothing, so the risk of not messing with it is much higher. Similarly, we know people with certain genes are doomed to a die young or doomed to have certain major disabilities. Those will (and should) be our first targets of human gene editing, because the risks of not doing anything are higher.
And of course we already are practicing a light form of selective breeding at IVF clinics during embryo selection. Mostly they look for chromosomal abnormalities, but I'd guess there are clinics out there that offer more advanced gene selection (if not now, then soon).
Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes
#233I knew a guy in high school that carried around a sub-compact notebook and one day in science class we were learning about how to factor quadratic equations (a review of old math we should know) and this guy was not paying attention at all, just typing away. The teacher asked him what he was doing that was so important that he couldn't listen, and to please come up and solve the problem. This kid walked straight up t…
I'm going to be a little obnoxious here. Did he really implement a factoring program, or did he approximate the solution to a high precision numerically? Both would be impressive under the circumstances of course. But if he did it numerically, he still might want to pay attention to how to derive the quadratic equation using partial fractions. It's actually pretty clever.
Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
Someone once told me, “comparison is the thief of joy.” I’m confident this is a famous quote. But once I heard it, it kept resonating. Then years later I watched Bluey with my kids and mom says, “just run your own race” and it all clicked. I’m so thankful that it clicked because I feel liberated from this self-imposed sense that I need to absolutely maximize my time here, which is an impossible task.
I don't know about mathematics, but in orgies this is absolutely true.
Ok "run your own race" sounds very different all of a sudden
Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes
#235Congratulations to him! That's an amazing accomplishment. There's a lesson in this line > For more than a year and a half, Larsen couldn’t stop thinking about a certain math problem. It's rare to be able to focus on something for that long without giving up.
To your point, one of the more fascinating details about John Nash from Nassar’s book ‘A Beautiful Mind’ was that this very trait set him apart from a number of his contemporaries. He was capable of focusing on problems for what appeared to be quite a bit longer than most, systematically breaking down the barriers that would’ve turned another person toward some other pursuit.
Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes
#236Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't eugenics. People are allowed to choose their mates for their phenotypes, and we don't sterilize (except in very rare, extreme circumstances, with legal approvals) people who don't have specific phenotypes. It's a gedanken experiment, but I would expect that people who measure low on IQ tests but are raised immersed in an technical or artistic environment have as much potential to become masters as people w…
> This isn't eugenics. People are allowed to choose their mates for their phenotypes The fact that something is allowed doesn't make it not eugenics. Choosing your mate for their phenotype is eugenics.
its not eugenics because it's not population scale, it's individual. Your interpretation does not correspond to any mainstream understanding.
Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's because intelligence is ~80% heritable! Or rather, ~80% of the variance in intelligence is explained by things you inherit.
(Note: "inheritable" here is not exclusive to inherited genetics; it also refers to upbringing.)
Generally, heritability refers to genetics, not upbringing. Specifically: "amount of phenotypic (observable) variation in a population that is attributable to individual genetic differences"
It wouldn't make much sense to report things that were related to upbringing together with genotype, as those are specifically the two things you want to decompose.
Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes
#239Re: Teenager solves stubborn riddle about prime number look-alikes
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are so far from wrong, it hurts me to think about it. Due to having a reading level 10 years ahead of my peers, and already having learned math concepts at least 4 years ahead of them... at age 8... I was put 3 years ahead of my peers in school until the teachers realized the other kids were having none of it. They put me back in the 'proper' grade, because 'I' somehow wasn't going to develop social skills well e…
Sorry Manu40, I’m just saying this whole growing up thing isn’t easy and with few correct answers. Most are still struggling to get over it decades later, myself included.
I mean, who can blame any of them, ourselves included. Instead of doing the right thing and setting the little snots straight, they instead hampered our progress all to make things easier for themselves while placating a bunch of children who needed to be taught the reality of the situation, not coddled into thinking they were 'just as capable' (when clearly they weren't).
Quite frankly, I think we all should be banding together to sue our old schools over this stuff.