Corners of the Internet #5
Tom Cruise's Run, Did Garett Jones forget about IQ?, Deep roots of LDS rock stars, New Year optimism, plus assorted links and podcast recs
A friend and early blog reader once told me I seemed to know all the interesting corners of the internet. In the spirit of that compliment, COTI is a loose format for sharing what I find in these corners.
Around the Web
1. Why Tom Cruise’s Run Matters [YouTube]
“A blog user calculated that Cruise is running at 15.3 miles per hour during this scene which equates to a 14.6 second hundred meter sprint, which is not world athlete fast but in this scene he's 43, yelling Mandarin at people, travels well over 100 meters, and we have no idea how many takes he'd done… Jackie Joyner-Kersee, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, thinks he could probably run an 11.5 second hundred at 60 years old with a bit more training.”
2. The lived experience of meltdowns for autistic adults
“Participants shared examples of internal meltdowns, in which external characteristics of meltdowns were camouflaged. Participants also suggested that meltdowns may serve a functional role in regulating emotions and making one’s voice heard.” (h/t Michelle Dawson)
3. MIE/TNSSJ
4. “A lifetime’s study”
5. How To Impress Someone Who’s Higher Status [YouTube]
Lessons from the interview show “Hot Ones”.
6. Mental health and overconfidence1
7. “So what are you being paid for?” [short clip]
Podcasts
1. Tyler Cowen and Garett Jones (February 2020)
When I asked Garett about the connection between “Hive Mind” and “The Culture Transplant”, he said that the latter describes what a high-IQ culture tends to look like. Tyler had the early scoop on this as per usual.
COWEN: In the 1970s, Irish IQ measured as lower than British IQ, and people worried about this as a problem. These days, Irish IQ measures as higher. What should we learn or infer from this development?
JONES: Yeah, something similar happened in East Germany after the end of communism, where there was this 10-ish point IQ gain within about a decade, decade and a half of the collapse of communism. I think it’s a sign that substantial amounts of national or regional intelligence, cognitive skills, are really shaped by the culture that we’re marinating in. This is part of my hive mind ideas. I take the Flynn effect very seriously.
What Flynn and Dickens pointed out in their famous paper, and what Flynn has emphasized in his own work — the IQ researcher who’s a philosopher by training — is that when our environment changes . . . Most of us get to choose our own environment as adults. But some of us have our environments as adults forced upon us through, basically, the culture, society we’re living in, and that has a huge effect on how we use our minds. I think that really does show up in substantive intelligence, not just some sort of nominal intelligence.
2. Joe Rogan and Peter Zeihan [Spotify]
I have seen Peter Zeihan’s name turn up in a lot of places over the past year without ever learning too much about him. But when multiple IRL friends sent me the link to this I took the chance to listen to him for the first time.
Some excerpts:
46:00
Rogan: China has always been thought of as a country, or at least the narrative has always been that they plan long game.
Zeihan: Yeah it’s a bunch of crap.
Rogan: Is it?
Zeihan: The Chinese are just as bad as anyone when it comes to ideological blinders and short-term decision making and the more isolated and concentrated the tools of power become, the more problematic that becomes.
1:14:15
Zeihan: There is no succession plan post-XI, there is no one waiting in the wings, and the old factions as they once existed have basically been sledgehammered.
Rogan: This is such a wild perspective on world economics and international relations.
Zeihan: Welcome to my world.
Rogan: But do you feel isolated in that, when you’re the guy explaining it this way?
Zeihan: I’m adopted, that’s not new.
More than anything he said, listening to Zeihan was a distinct experience. I think he’ll do well in the age of AI.
Also I haven’t verified this, but he really rocked my priors with this claim—
Mexican labor is about twice as skilled as Chinese labor.
3. Tyler Cowen and Katherine Rundell
COWEN: Now, let’s say you’re meeting younger writers, and you’re looking for someone who, in very broad terms, is like you, and I’m not even sure what that means because you have quite an atypical career. But what would you look for in that person as a sign of their talent? Obviously, smarts, work ethic, and so on, but beyond the usual, what do you look for in young writing talent?
RUNDELL: It would be really important to me that somebody had understood that it matters as much or far more the way you say the thing as what you say, because the thing you want to say is probably a very similar thing that everyone else wants to say: love, love, my season, patience, courage, valiance, attention.
But there are only some people who have found a way to say those things with such flair and originality that they cut through your interlocutors, complacent inattention, and cut through time, cut through space, cut through cultural difference, and grab you by the wrist. So, it would be a sense that somebody understood — you are going to have to find a new and better way to say this.
Self-recommendations
Katherine Dee understands LDS doctrine and culture better than any never-baptized member I have ever met, so it was great to guest post on her side-blog dedicated to pro-Mormon fandom. Here is one excerpt, basically a “deep roots” piece about rock stars.
This Tumblr meme brings across the most immediate thing fans think of with respect to rock music and the Church—disillusioned former members jumping ship.
But while it’s easy to pick up on visible signs of disaffiliation—from drinking and partying to outright denunciation—LDS theology and culture exert a deeper influence that too often goes unseen. When I look at this meme, I see a springboard for artistic creativity.
And here is my short interview with Katherine, perhaps the first of many!
2. “New Year's Resolutions Are a Pretty Great Tradition Actually”
An optimistic reframe of all the dire news you see about people failing their goals. Here is one of my favorite bits:
There’s something beautiful, inspiring, and even American about a lot of people making self-improvement goals around the same time each year. According to a recent paper, less than 20% of Swedes make New Year’s resolutions.
Lately I’ve noticed readers checking out the back catalogue and leaving likes and comments. I love it! Here is one favorite of mine, written just over a year ago.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, I would appreciate if you would share this article with a friend or leave a comment.
May also be of interest, “The Mental Health of Nations”
Coming from me, a guy who has done a modest amount of construction with inmigrantes: the most skilled, most hardworking guy on the site is probably an old Mexican wizard. There’s a tile guy near me who is here illegally but does all the tile work for mansions because general contractors know he’s the best.
Also, Mexican wood product manufacturing (think furniture, toys, wood items) is extremely good, among the best in the world. My thought is that if the Mexican government got their act together, Mexico would be very advanced in something like semiconductor manufacturing right now.
SK and TW seem good at semiconductors due to a convergence of government interests and a handful ultra dedicated entrepreneurs. I feel like if only Mexico had had that mix the country would look very different now. Also cartels suck.
The YouTube algo gave me the Tom Cruise run video a while back!