I ate a small bowl of cereal in the morning.
When I reached school, I was hungry as hell and my whole body was really weak.
I ended up buying a sandwich. Sigh....
Originally posted by fudgester:I ate a small bowl of cereal in the morning.
When I reached school, I was hungry as hell and my whole body was really weak.
I ended up buying a sandwich. Sigh....
that's what happens to me - my oatmeal lunch lasts me all of 2 hours but i loathe to have too much for the zzz factor. that's why i have something for tea.
Originally posted by Kuali Baba:One very important factor in the success of these individuals is motivation - and no one knows how that can be passed on or nurtured. An intelligent person may not necessarily be more motivated than the next person, and so his potential never gets discovered. It's one thing to have smart people, and other to make them contribute effectively.
oh I don't dispute that. I also don't dispute the fact that being smart does not automatically means one will "succeed" later in life.
I'm also not talking about whether a person is "good", or "nice". That's another issue altogether.
What I'm talking about is innate potential. A super motivated (overclocked) chap with a plodding 486 processor would only be able to "achieve" so much, a less motivated person with an inborn i7 core could get away with a lot less effort, to "achieve" the same, all things being equal. The latter's innate potential surpasses that of the former, all things being equal, if they put in an equal amount of effort, who would "achieve more", say, academically ? This is a fact of life, sad, but true. We shouldn't pretend otherwise. A smart person can chose to be lazy and be bunched together by the system with the people with lesser cognitive abilities but the innate potential is still there.True, there are a lot of unschool ah beng towkays out there, but make no mistake, none of these towkays are fools.
True, we say, people are gifted in other areas, some in music, the arts, etc, but I suspect that these are but another facet of intelligence, I've observed that a lot of musically inclined kids are also good at maths. I can certainly attest to this, having to learn the piano when I was younger, I sucked at the piano, and I sucked at maths too. It's mentally demanding to be able to keep up with the score and tinkle on the keyboard at the same time. I wouldn't put it below linear algebra.
The "all things being equal" is important, because "success" (if we define success very narrowly as socio-economic well-being), depends on many external environmental factors too, then of course, there's pure luck, or destiny, and of course, free will.
This has been a pretty interesting ramble guys. ^ ^ Maybe we should keep it till the potluck or PM or we may end up hijacking this thread. ![]()
Originally posted by Gedanken:Hmm. I can appreciate your enthusiasm, and at one level I would lean that way as well. However, there are a few factors that temper said enthusiasm.
First, let's take a look at cases that defy the concept of eugenics. JFK Junior was a failure as a law student and a fashion dilettante before mistaking his plane for a submarine. The Hiltons have rightfully washed their hands of Paris, and Dubya - well, need I say more?
Let's look at the flip side. Hermann Einstein sold beds. Alexander Fleming, a farmer’s son. Anatoly Karpov, son of a factory worker. And those are just the famous ones. The people I work with have a mean education level of a Master’s, and all of them come from ordinary backgrounds.
On one end of the scale, the argument against eugenics is, “just because you can doesn’t mean you should”. On the other end of the scale is, “how scary can this get?”. We’ve been here before. Berlin 1933-1945 is probably the example that comes to most people’s minds –Neitzsche said Uberman and Hitler turned it into the Untermenschen. Mind you, the Krauts aren’t the only guilty ones; for more than 50 years the Americans made a policy of sterilising non-ideal citizens. It’s not just that eugenics has been proven time and time again to not work – the idea is plain dangerous.
The flip-side of socio-economic status aspect of the Bell curve highlights the “nurture” aspect of intelligence. Put this together with the fact that physiologically, higher cognitive ability is associated with the density of connections between neurons, which in turn are influenced with the amount of stimulation that the brain is exposed to, and a much more convincing influence on intelligence is how intellectually stimulating the environment is, especially in early childhood, and hell, nutrition may have something to do with it as well.
The bottom line is that on philosophical, logical and physiological grounds, there’s a case against eugenics.
well mate, I'll concede happily on the philosophical grounds, and physiology is your balliwick of course, but really, wouldn't you agree with me, as I've put it, that if genetics is at work with all other physical traits, wouldn't genetic inheritance be at work for mental ability as well ?
True, there are lots of other external factors at work, a pregnant woman may chose to drink and give her child infant alcohol syndrome and mental retardation, they may be exposed to pollutants, their environment may lack environmental stimuli, lack of nutrition, the education system.
But the keywords are, of course, all things being equal ? I think the biggest question should not be whether genetic inheritance is at work, but how big a role genes has, in determining a person's innate mental ability eh ?
I would love to pick your brains about this, since this really is your balliwick, let's take it to PM eh, I have a feeling such a discussion makes some uncomfortable, whether we plead the ivory tower or not.
I dunno how you guys can eat cereal and oatmeal as a full meal ......
oatmeal makes my stomach explode .......
if my plumbing's stuck I'll eat a bowl of oatmeal with condensed milk and everything would be explosively unstuck by the next cycle.
...... Whoa morning wall of text ![]()
i am rikes epic sleepy.. .ZzzzzZzz..
lunch time!
Originally posted by Fatum:I dunno how you guys can eat cereal and oatmeal as a full meal ......
oatmeal makes my stomach explode .......
if my plumbing's stuck I'll eat a bowl of oatmeal with condensed milk and everything would be explosively unstuck by the next cycle.
most people have no problem with that.
maybe its your genes ![]()
Originally posted by av98m:most people have no problem with that.
maybe its your genes
yeah, I suppose I'm predisposed to meat ......
meat is good .... meat is what elevated us from hairy ape-hood. ....
that reminds me .....
it's time to donate blood again !
Originally posted by av98m:most people have no problem with that.
maybe its your genes
his genes are also partial to soy
munching lor-mai-kia now :) lunch :(
I had that low-oil, low-salt fried rice I made myself for lunch..... now I'm hungry again.
I think my metabolism has really revved up after it got depressed during the fasting month.
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so it all evens out eh ? .....
yeah, that makes sense .... cos your body got forced into starvation mode, making it store more fats than it would .....
I was told chaps who went through the SAF rangers course quickly put on a lot more weight than they lost .... that explains the many slightly chubby platoon sargeants ....
Though I promised to eat healthy, I gotta activate dual OCK combo to fill my stomach since I went on a 2 hour errand during lunch... Not to mention run in the rain >___>
Cold as heck in the office... And I'm soooooo hungry tat I feel like I could just nom the whole world... And an irritating headache >____>
cats n dogs outside man.... cats n dogs...
Good afternoon...
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I entered only to see another vivid description of choked piping.![]()
Originally posted by SBS2601D:I entered only to see another vivid description of choked piping.
at least you didnt puke. i very nearly did.
Originally posted by cassie:
at least you didnt puke. i very nearly did.
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Originally posted by Fatum:yeah, I suppose I'm predisposed to meat ......
meat is good .... meat is what elevated us from hairy ape-hood. ....
dude.. have you ever thought that your eating inhuman amounts of meat causes problems to your "plumbing" so much so that you have a horrific disposition of sharing everything with us?
maybe you should do the logical thing for the first time in your life and eat a balanced diet...
actually, thinking about it, eating so much meat is going to cause your tadpoles to be horrifically damaged... considering the sheer amount of antibiotics and steroids they use for "factory farmed animals" these days
oh fatumnette's been working on it .......
you should see the tuna, kidney beans and greens salad she makes ..... -__-"
Originally posted by Fatum:oh fatumnette's been working on it .......
you should see the tuna, kidney beans and greens salad she makes ..... -__-"
yeah but what she makes....does it make it onto your plate?
tuna = top predator = loads of mercury = infertility
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
canned tuna's made from skipjack ....