Chris Langan Sees Through Jordan Peterson

The Smartest Man in the World has no trouble seeing right through the intellectual fraudulence of Jordan Peterson:

Jordan Peterson is an interesting case. He’s uncommonly bright and well-spoken, has a pretty reliable BS detector, and is pointed in the right direction on many issues. However, even though he vocally opposes some aspects of the Frankfurtian / progressive PC indoctrination agenda of Academia, Inc., he’s an academic to the core when all is said and done.

For our purposes, this means two things:

(1) He lacks a proper philosophical foundation, resting his worldview on “common sense”, conservative platitudes, and gut instinct (including an obvious sense of moral entitlement). This is someone who would not find it easy to oppose anything that he thinks came out of the hard sciences, even when their academic gatekeepers deceptively substitute self-promotion, political prejudice, and model-dependent philosophical extrapolations for actual science.

(2) He embraces certain false assumptions like the alleged irresolvability of certain religious questions, the alleged existence of a true meritocracy, and the alleged ability of women to choose the best mates on the basis of where males reside in the power structure and how well they navigate the power hierarchy. He seems to associate the ability to get ahead under the status quo with “intelligence” when in fact, the correlation of success with intelligence persists only up to a rather unimpressive level of cognitive ability, and possibly with physical and moral excellence as well (ditto at best). In reality, economic and political success is unavoidably affected by numerous confounding factors.

In reality, the ability to navigate and rise in a corrupt power structure is less a function of real merit than of its exact opposite.

Obviously I see this as a rather rosy-hued perspective on Peterson’s esoteric gatekeeping, but it’s interesting to witness how a genuinely intelligent individual has no problem seeing through Peterson’s bafflegarble.

DISCUSS ON SG

Thursday Arktoons

STONETOSS Episode 54: Rank and File

ALT★HERO: Q Episode 39: Money Changes Everything

A THRONE OF BONES Episode 33: A Besetting Sin

VEGFOLK FABLES Episode 35: RIP Autocart No. 2

THE SAGA OF EVIL MONKEY MAN Episode 1: Gaahh!! What the…

CHUCK DIXON PRESENTS: ADVENTURE Episode 31: No Accident

Don’t ask me. I have no idea. But it is definitely different and it has certainly piqued my interest. Also, I’m pleased to be able to say that Helix Haze is now, at long last, back at work on the fifth issue of AH:Q.

Money Changes Everything image number 2
ALT★HERO: Q

Evil Always Eats Its Own

Those who have taken the ticket or are celebrated for their utility in building the false case against God had better enjoy their public adulation while it lasts. Even the most famous and well-respected scientists, who were lauded for their brilliance and whose work was absolutely integral in constructing the false scientific edifice of evolution by natural selection, are discovering that they and their work will be discredited and dishonored once the satanic narrative moves beyond them, as demonstrated by this article in Scientific American denigrating the legacy of evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson:

With the death of biologist E. O. Wilson on Sunday, I find myself again reflecting on the complicated legacies of scientists whose works are built on racist ideas and how these ideas came to define our understanding of the world.

After a long clinical career as a registered nurse, I became a laboratory-trained scientist as researchers mapped the first draft of the human genome. It was during this time that I intimately familiarized myself with Wilson’s work and his dangerous ideas on what factors influence human behavior.

His influential text Sociobiology: The New Synthesis contributed to the false dichotomy of nature versus nurture and spawned an entire field of behavioral psychology grounded in the notion that differences among humans could be explained by genetics, inheritance and other biological mechanisms. Finding out that Wilson thought this way was a huge disappointment, because I had enjoyed his novel Anthill, which was published much later and written for the public.

Wilson was hardly alone in his problematic beliefs. His predecessors—mathematician Karl Pearson, anthropologist Francis Galton, Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel and others—also published works and spoke of theories fraught with racist ideas about distributions of health and illness in populations without any attention to the context in which these distributions occur.

Even modern geneticists and genome scientists struggle with inherent racism in the way they gather and analyze data. In his memoir A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life, geneticist J. Craig Venter writes, “The complex provenance of ideas means their origin is often open to interpretation.”

To put the legacy of their work in the proper perspective, a more nuanced understanding of problematic scientists is necessary. It is true that work can be both important and problematic—they can coexist. Therefore it is necessary to evaluate and critique these scientists, considering, specifically the value of their work and, at the same time, their contributions to scientific racism.

Those who reject Truth will eventually find their work deemed worthless, especially by those who reject the truth even more vehemently. Don’t ever curry the world’s favor. It simply isn’t worth it.

Jesus Christ stands by his followers even when they fail. Satan abandons his servants even when they succeed.

DISCUSS ON SG

Bad News for Gamers

A former Microsoft employee explains why the recent purchase of Activision, which previously purchased Blizzard, is very bad news for gamers:

So. Question: You’re in a company filled to the brim with nerds. You have some big, impressive looking skybridges that are empty and not being used for anything in particular?

What do you do?

You fill them with classic arcade video games. Obviously. Or at least you line the sides with arcades (so there’s still plenty of room to use them as hallways).

Microsoft Main Campus. The arcade skybridges were in the buildings circled in blue.
That’s exactly what folks did.

We’re talking… maybe two dozen arcade games were in these hallways at any given time. All set to free-play, naturally.

Each game was brought in by employees who had their own personal collections. Often times because they spent more time at work (Microsoft was famous for 80 hour work weeks back then)… so bringing in some arcade games helped boost morale. Made the place feel that much more like a nerdy home.

It was this way… for years and years. The arcades graced the hallways of these buildings (and others on Microsoft Main Campus) long before my time.

File:Retrovolt Arcade 2017 – Arcade Machines 1.jpg
This is not a picture of the arcades at Microsoft HQ. I don’t have any of those, unfortunately. Source: Wikipedia
To be sure, these skybridges weren’t the only places that arcades could be found around Microsoft Main Campus. Many other buildings were known to have little clusters of arcades here and there. In this corner or that. But the skybridges filled with arcades were visually interesting. Simply… super cool.

Most of the arcades were in good working order. Some were project machines that needed a little TLC (and often got tinkered on, after hours, by some of the fellow nerds).

It was, honestly, pretty awesome. Very nerdy. A great morale booster.

Then, one day, Microsoft decided it was fed up with arcade games. An email was sent out to every building that was known to have them… that if they were not removed from Microsoft Main Campus promptly… they would be tossed out. Into the garbage….

Why do I bring this up?

Well. Microsoft just bought Activision. And, with it, Microsoft now owns some of the most important classic games in human history. Zork. Kings Quest. Space Quest. Pitfall! And so many others.

Games that are important not just to the history of gaming in general… but to those of us who were there as the video game industry grew up.

And… based on personal experience, when it comes to the preservation of classic video games… I don’t trust Microsoft as far as I can throw ‘em.

Maybe Microsoft has changed since those days. I sure hope so. But, honestly, there’s no reason to believe they have.

It’s probably a nightmare for gamers. Aside from the original Flight Simulator, Microsoft has never done games very well. Even my friend, the great game designer Chris Taylor, wasn’t able to work with them very successfully. That was one reason why I steered clear of them even after Alex St. John took Big Chilly and I out to dinner one night at the GDC in an attempt to get us to move from the Sega Katana (aka Dreamcast) to the Xbox.

The fact that Sega’s subsequent murder of Sega of America meant that accepting Microsoft’s offer would have been the right thing to do doesn’t change the fact that we were, even back in the day, extremely dubious of Microsoft’s ability to nurture game development. And the fact that Microsoft insiders share that skepticism does not bode well for the future of corporate gaming.

One of these days we are really going to have to bring together the collective game development talents of this community, from art to testing, and start producing on a truly revolutionary game. It should be possible, but the stars simply have not aligned yet.

As for Alex, well, the fate of the original Games Evangelist at Microsoft doesn’t tend to bode well either:

I’m sorry now that I stayed long enough to see what would become of it. I was trapped in the quandary of representing technology that was now being built by people I had no respect for, and feeling responsible for the enormous community of developers I had persuaded to adopt it. I stuck around after the re-org hoping to help the new guard become as customer focused as the old had been. It appeases my sense of guilt about all of this immensely to know that I died trying.

DISCUSS ON SG

He Took the L

Scott Adams seeks to stop the bleeding. Without, you know, actually admitting that he was wrong in any way.

I decided to stop coping and take the L on vaccinations.

Scott Adams@ScottAdamsSays

Sadly, that implication of having been incorrect was determined to be insufficient by the arbitrators. The mocking shall continue. So ordered this 19th Day of January, in the Year of Our Lord 2022.

This is a parody of the original cartoon.

DISCUSS ON SG

Boosters 4 and 5 on the way

Shoot ’em all, Scott Adams. You know you want to shoot ’em all!

Fauci says we aren’t going to eradicate the virus and is will be like the flu, becoming endemic with seasonal pandemics. We will continue to get more variants, and we don’t know if they will elude the immune response.

Wilder-Smith says it’s likely future variants will be less dangerous, but we need to prepare for the worse-case scenario—a variant with high transmissibility and mortality. Hatchett says we should be concerned about future pandemics, even after it becomes endemic.

Moderna is expecting a new omicron version of their vaccine to go to regulators for approval in March. Moderna is also working on the new version to be released in fall 2022. Let me emphasize that. In addition to the initial two-dose series plus booster, in 2022, you will be expected to be vaccinated again in the spring and in the fall. (No mention if these new formulations will be single shots or multidose series.)

Moderna is focusing on how to make people want the vaccine. To overcome “compliance issues,” they will combine covid, flu, and RSV vaccines into a single shot for fall 2023. Fauci says herd immunity is elusive because this virus has an “extraordinary capability” to mutate, unlike viruses like the measles. Immunity from infection wanes “rather quickly.” Vaccines are “extraordinarily successful” but immunity can also wane.

Moderator asks how to “bridge the divide between believers and nonbelievers.” (This is definitely not a cult, people.) Fauci, followed by the others, laughs and then launches into a tirade against nonbelievers.

Fauci: “There are some inherent nonbelievers that no matter what you say, give you a real problem.” We should fight “the real enemy,” the virus, but instead have to fight “disinformation” on social media, which is destructive to their “comprehensive public health endeavor.”

Moderna is likewise saddened by the “misinformation.” We have to “get people to believe in the vaccines.” “The enemy is not another company or another group; the enemy has only been the virus and is still the virus.”

This isn’t going to end until everyone stops complying. So ask your friends and family this question: what is the maximum number of boosters you will take until you realize that it’s all BS? Because whether they realize it or not, Mr. Fauci already has them down for number 4 and number 5.

DISCUSS ON SG

Drums in the Not-Very Deep

The war drums are getting steadily louder as both NATO and Ukraine increasingly engage in “defensive” actions.

Vladimir Putin will opt for the ‘nightmare scenario’ of a full invasion of Ukraine as tensions rise towards tipping point, UK defence chiefs fear.

The region has been on a knife-edge since the end of last year when Moscow moved as many as 100,000 troops, as well as tanks and missiles, close to the border.

The White House warned yesterday the situation was ‘extremely dangerous’ and that Moscow could launch an attack ‘at any point’.

It had been thought Mr Putin would choose the ‘simple option’ of sending troops into the Donbass region in south-eastern Ukraine and then negotiate for it to become an independent state, providing a buffer between pro-western Ukraine and Russia.

As the region is already occupied by pro-Russian separatists, and has been in a state of war since 2014, it was believed it would offer little resistance.

But the latest intelligence now has Ministry of Defence chiefs worried about a much larger incursion, raising fears of warfare engulfing cities and high civilian death tolls.

They believe Mr Putin’s troops are being positioned in line with his new objective, with armoured divisions set to head into neighbouring Belarus on exercise but now stationed within striking distance of Kiev.

Last night a senior defence source said: ‘We strongly believe [Putin’s] preference is for a full invasion rather than a limited offensive. In a sense he might as well go for as much of Ukraine as he can get hold of because the penalties are just the same.

No one puts Vladi in a corner. Because it’s almost as stupid to do so as invading Russia in winter. Unfortunately, the neocons are both stupid and evil, being intoxicated by their success in taking over US foreign policy. And since we know the Official Story is always wrong, it would be interesting to know the real reason underlying these two developments. First, the suspension of flights to the USA.

Prominent airlines from Japan, India, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have suspended flights to airports across the United States after expressing concern over the deployment of 5G.

Emirates, Air India, Japan Airlines, and All Nippon Airways canceled flights to New York, New Jersey, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Seattle, among other US cities.

Air India announced on Tuesday that it would no longer operate flights the next day to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport “due to deployment of the 5G communications in USA.”

On the same day, Emirates canceled flights to at least nine US cities, again “due to operational concerns associated with the planned deployment of 5G mobile network services in the U.S,” while Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways canceled at least 13 flights.

Second, the real reason for the Hunga-Tonga eruption that created a tidal wave and was big enough to be seen from space.

On January 14, a very large eruption of Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai, an uninhabited volcanic island of the Tongan archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, began. Hunga Tonga is 65 km north of Tongatapu, the country’s main island. The eruption caused tsunamis in Tonga, Fiji, American Samoa and along the rim of the Pacific Ocean. Tsunami warnings and advisories were issued in Fiji, Samoa, Wallis and Futuna, Vanuatu, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Russia, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Ecuador. Damaging tsunami waves were reported in New Zealand, the United States, Chile and Peru. Two people drowned in Peru when a 2 m wave struck the coast, and two fishermen in the United States suffered minor injuries. The event is likely the largest volcanic eruption of the 21st century to date.

Tsunamis are typically triggered by earthquakes, not volcanoes.

There are rumors that the “eruption” was actually the detonation of a massive Russian nuclear weapon. And the rumors are based on a modicum of actual evidence, or rather, the absence of evidence that should be available.

In yesterday’s report we noted that any nuclear weapon detonated in the Pacific Proving Grounds would throw into the atmosphere radiation signatures from the previous atomic tests conducted there still existing on the seafloor—and is critical to notice because in today’s transcript it notes that American radiation networks – updated in real time every minute – stopped updating on 16 January—and when checking the United States government RadNet system for real time atmospheric radiation levels, today it sees their hundreds of stations displaying the message: “RadNet Outage: EPA’s RadNet system is down for routine maintenance”.

Let’s see if the claim is credible. (checks RadNet). “RadNet Outage EPA’s RadNet system is down for routine maintenance.”

Okay. Perhaps that’s just a coincidence, though. When was the maintenance scheduled? “EPA’s RadNet system is down for routine maintenance from January 7-10, 2022.”

Isn’t it January 19, 2022?

DISCUSS ON SG

THE AWAKENER is out

We had a watching party to celebrate the English-language release of the movie based on the SuperPrumo/Arkhaven comic THE AWAKENER tonight. It was, in the words of one attendee, better than expected. Granted, one doesn’t have the same expectations for a Brazilian movie dubbed in English, but if the stunts and CGI were low-budget and the character development was occasionally a little clumsy, the story, the music, and the style were all really good.

It will warm the heart of anyone who ever wished that the January 6th media narrative had been based on something real. And it ends with a line worthy of the great John C. Wright himself. The last time I felt so amped at the end of a movie was after watching the one and only The Matrix movie.

Arkhaven will be releasing a pair of commemorative comics very soon, featuring custom cover art from one of our best illustrators, but in the meantime, you won’t want to miss the movie, which is available from Amazon.

A really good job by Luciano and his crew!

DISCUSS ON SG