My memetic model of you has yet to become autocatalytic. Soz!
>Consider this the e-mail equivalent of standing with palms open.
>In 6th grade I was tracked into "Talented and Gifted" programs becuase I
>had been in 5th grade "Gifted" math. I didn't do any of my homework in 6th
>grade...I was spending too much time in those programs. Oh yes, and in
>role-playing games...for a time I created a Dungeon and Dragons frenzy in
>my school. We were all Gods...on paper at least. To the extent it is
>possible, I failed 6th grade...but my parents threatened to sue the school
>if the grades weren't adjusted. In the interm, a failure,
>bewhildered...more or less friendless (who FAILS 6th grade?) I was
>subjected to a battery of psychological and intelligance testing.
>
>At 11 years old this is what they told me: "You are a borderline genius."
>Now my response is "Borderline? Well, Fuck you!" but at the time I was
>elated. I was intelligent, I had promise...the guy with the test said so.
>I don't guess I know what to think about all that anymore. Do those tests
>mean anything? Well...and this colors my opinion of intelligence testing
>in general...it did at the time.
Perhaps your time in Gifted Programs trained you in skills that help you do
well on intelligence tests? I'm a bit skeptical of psychometric testing in
general, though if it gives you a self-esteem boost and gets you educating
yourself, and that's what you like, then it worked!
>1) I am not a memeber of and church, including CoV.
I'm loosely affiliated to the church of Science. By this I mean that I don't
have time to experimentally test much, so I do take quite a bit of my
received scientific opinions on faith, although I feel guilty about it.
>2) I haven't read Richard's book, and I remain sckeptical (in the
>friendliest sort of way).
Me too, though I've ordered it on import. I expect it to be powerfully
transmitted memes, some of which will hit my incumbent memes' defences and
die screaming.
>3) I am interested in the exchange of ideas, but I am on no one elses
>side. This statement of identity is mean to make this explicit.
Cool.
Dave Pape
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