People types

[Philosophaster]

The human body isn't really built for that kind of endurance. Marathon runners put their nervous and muscular systems through tremendous stress when they do what they do, which is why they have low testosterone (or irregular menstruation in the case of women) and why a certain number of them (even some who have trained for years) drop dead each year during races with clock-like regularity. Too much running for too long screws up your hormonal balance and your overall health.

A number of the "health gurus" who advocated long distance running either died of heart attacks in their early 50s or were found to have extensive cardiac problems requiring medical treatment. The fact is that exercising too frequently or too intensely can be just as bad for you as not exercising at all.

[Boyan]

The most time efficient, healthy, type of training would be full body routine done in a circuit manner few times a week.

It has the benefits of a cardio exercise, and an anaerobic one at the same time. It also gives the best hormonal response If i'm not mistaken.

[Ryan Rudolph]

Cory,

You are free to discuss and brainstorm the latest technologies/science/innovations all you want....aren't you?

Yeah sure, but more interesting results could be made when slightly different types of thinkers are exposed to each other, with basic testing equipment. People’s creative strengthens and weaknesses could play off each other…

Much like genius forum, but with testing equipment and a focused agenda.

It's hard not to suspect that the ideal human is very tolerant of menial tasks, but can also penetrate into the heart of matters as well as engage in imaginative flight. Often I hear the dichotomy expressed: "Visual simultaneous processeer VS. Linear sequential processor" The ideal human maybe be both.

Yes, but if one’s the big picture is contemplated before hand, the tedious efforts of linear sequential processing isn’t so bad, and is more tolerable.

Some people aren’t as effective at linear sequential processing, but you’d be surprised how adaptive one can become in the right environment, with the right people, and the right agenda.

For instance: if I deeply believed that the work was significant as far as the masculization of the species was concerned, I could probably push myself to do skills that I’m typically weaker in, and over time, the brain can modify itself to those types of tasks to a certain degree.

[Shahrazad]

Dan, the whole topic of hormones and what they do is more worthwhile than you are implying. They are responsible for the differences between the genders. They are also partly responsible for what some people call "the masculinization of the brain" of fetuses, though a lot of other factors are involved there. The default brain is feminine, and if something goes wrong and the masculinization does not occur, the person will think like a woman even if his genitals and chromosomes say he's a male.

But, I'm getting off-topic here.

[Shahrazad]

Boyan,

The most time efficient, healthy, type of training would be full body routine done in a circuit manner few times a week.

Do you own stocks or a franchise of Curves? That's what it looks like.

[Rhett]

However, I just did some searches on estrogen and couldn't really find much about what it does. Maybe mental inactivity, passivity and contentment have not much to do with estrogen after all. I'll get to the bottom of it eventually.

I've heard of scientific data that found that some males experience an increase in estrogen after their female partner has a baby, and the males become less mentally active, more passive, content, and develop more body fat. But like Dan i don't care much about this.

[daybrown]

Primate field studies give us the term "alpha male", which is a lot more than just testosterone; higher adrenalin (to speed reflexes) and lower seratonin (to sharpen senses) and dopamine (which creates pleasure from excitement) have been well documented, but I doubt that's all.

Part of the problem is that as you increase the excitement level, prefrontal lobe activity declines, and the male runs off the core of the limbic system- the reptilian brain. Which is really fast, but stupid.

Its the beta males who are sneaky. Plan an attack, like when the alpha is sleeping. That's a major problem for alphas; their innate aggressive reflexes would be slowed were they able to empathize with targets, but as a result they cant empathze with anyone. Which means that they cant think like the other to know what that person would do. So- they dont really know who to trust to sleep with. As a result, they have poor sleep habits, and tend to wake up grouchy.

"Dont bother your father. He just got up." But now, the daughters of the alphas inherit drive while at the same time they inherit intuition from their mothers. They can read body language and determine who to trust without having to threaten them if they fail to meet that trust.

And to complicate the situation further, trauma can dramatically reduce testosterone levels, while at the same time, given authority over others can increase them. As if that's not enuf, there are biochemical effects in the food, beverages, diseases, allergies, or chemicals one gets exposed to. Alphas tend to be drunks because of the low dopamine levels, and can consume immense amounts of alcohol, which they metabolize differently, before, quite suddenly, they become shitfaced.

The alphas that are smart enuf, and lucky enuf, to cope with all this are rare, and those who are not, are so full of rancor they threaten the stability of modern civilization. They flourish in anarchy and barbarism, and instinctively know this. This is less common, less often as severe in women, but watch out for the truly ballsy bitch.

One of my friends is a case in point. A remarkably stacked trophy blonde. However, nearing menopause, she had problems, and the ultrasound reveals she has undescended testes. She really *does* have balls. There are a lot more people running around with various forms of hermaphroditism than Christians can handle thinking about. We are not all either male or female. One of the reasons t he Greeks were so smart, was that they understood this.

Sometimes, its fraternal twins in which one twin of the other sex is absorbed, as in the case above. Whichever is on the outside appears normal. But the presence of both testosterone and estrogen does complex things to the psyches. So, depending on where you draw the cell sample, the person is either XX or XY. Then there's another variety, in which more than one sperm enters the egg. If all are XX or XY, no biggie, nobody notices the diff, but if not, then its XXY.

Which is another case that blows the usual debate about the battle of the sexes out of the water. There are some like Tireseus, that can perform sexually with more than the usual set of genitalia. If it were not for the erection, they really could fuck themselves. I have not asked, but bending it that far...

When you add it all up, the binary Christian concept of men vs women makes no sense.

[tooyi]

When you add it all up, the binary Christian concept of men vs women makes no sense.

... unless, it is a means to an end, with no other means.

Drama must be maximized to maximize catharsis.

I think Jesus was the first drug fiend the Christians publicly executed for his crime of giving, and people keep at it till this day.

[Carl G]

Primate field studies give us the term "alpha male", which is a lot more than just testosterone; higher adrenalin (to speed reflexes) and lower seratonin (to sharpen senses) and dopamine (which creates pleasure from excitement) have been well documented, but I doubt that's all.

Then there's the "Ralpha male" which is more or less a couch potato. His speed reflexes help him do quick fridge sprints and bathroom runs, during television ads.

Part of the problem is that as you increase the excitement level, prefrontal lobe activity declines, and the male runs off the core of the limbic system- the reptilian brain. Which is really fast, but stupid.

The reptilian brain, an efficient survivor-oriented system, is designed to prefer oats over corn, which is the flatlander feed, and isn't even fit for pigs.

Its the beta males who are sneaky. Plan an attack, like when the alpha is sleeping. That's a major problem for alphas; their innate aggressive reflexes would be slowed were they able to empathize with targets, but as a result they cant empathze with anyone. Which means that they cant think like the other to know what that person would do. So- they dont really know who to trust to sleep with. As a result, they have poor sleep habits, and tend to wake up grouchy.

There is a question as to whether or not the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was really a surprise or not. Most of us in my neck of the woods have put up enuf food to last a year in the case of Armageddon, and I personally sleep with a Groucho Marx nose with mustache and glasses by my bed, in case I need to get out of the house quick, incognito.

"Dont bother your father. He just got up." But now, the daughters of the alphas inherit drive while at the same time they inherit intuition from their mothers. They can read body language and determine who to trust without having to threaten them if they fail to meet that trust.

I agree, these days most daughters want their fathers to buy them Alpha Romeros, and they're good at reading their fathers' body language and knowing how to threaten them with tears and guilt trips if they fail to cough up.

And to complicate the situation further, trauma can dramatically reduce testosterone levels, while at the same time, given authority over others can increase them. As if that's not enuf, there are biochemical effects in the food, beverages, diseases, allergies, or chemicals one gets exposed to. Alphas tend to be drunks because of the low dopamine levels, and can consume immense amounts of alcohol, which they metabolize differently, before, quite suddenly, they become shitfaced.

I know. Whatever happened to "party like a Rock Star"? For one thing, there ARE no rock stars anymore. Rock is dead. It's old hat, it's all been done. Secondly, the rock stars we used to have are all over sixty now. How are THEY going to party, with a Geritol Fizz? Give me a break. Demographics.

The alphas that are smart enuf, and lucky enuf, to cope with all this are rare, and those who are not, are so full of rancor they threaten the stability of modern civilization. They flourish in anarchy and barbarism, and instinctively know this. This is less common, less often as severe in women, but watch out for the truly ballsy bitch.

Or, in other words, when you are tearing down the road in your Alpha Romero, be sure you have enuf snuff, so you can hang tuff?

One of my friends is a case in point. A remarkably stacked trophy blonde. However, nearing menopause, she had problems, and the ultrasound reveals she has undescended testes. She really *does* have balls. There are a lot more people running around with various forms of hermaphroditism than Christians can handle thinking about. We are not all either male or female. One of the reasons t he Greeks were so smart, was that they understood this.

This is uncanny. I had a friend who could stack balls. Billiard balls. Used to win trophies doing it. She was female...and a Christian. How's that for synchonicity? Actually, that would be synchrosuburbia. She lived in New Jersey.

Sometimes, its fraternal twins in which one twin of the other sex is absorbed, as in the case above. Whichever is on the outside appears normal. But the presence of both testosterone and estrogen does complex things to the psyches. So, depending on where you draw the cell sample, the person is either XX or XY. Then there's another variety, in which more than one sperm enters the egg. If all are XX or XY, no biggie, nobody notices the diff, but if not, then its XXY.

In small agricultural communities of 73-98 individuals the leaders soon found that the harem method of procreation didn't work. Well it did work on the erotic level. Just not genetically. I once witnessed an orgy. I took copulous notes. I mean copious.

Which is another case that blows the usual debate about the battle of the sexes out of the water. There are some like Tireseus, that can perform sexually with more than the usual set of genitalia. If it were not for the erection, they really could fuck themselves. I have not asked, but bending it that far...

Down in Texas they are into things in a big way, and sex is no exception. Everything from Brokeback Mountain to stab-you-in-the-back Dallas TV show shenanigans. I watch a lot of television and read a lot of books, so I know. Ozarks same way, and that I know from EXPERIENCE *wink wank*

[maestro]

That was really hillarious pure Genius.

[Boyan]

Boyan,

The most time efficient, healthy, type of training would be full body routine done in a circuit manner few times a week.

Do you own stocks or a franchise of Curves? That's what it looks like.

I'm just informing my fellow philosophers about exercise.

[Cory Duchesne]

Cory,

You are free to discuss and brainstorm the latest technologies/science/innovations all you want....aren't you?

Yeah sure, but more interesting results could be made when slightly different types of thinkers are exposed to each other, with basic testing equipment.

What kind of thinkers do you want to be exposed to right now? What sort of technologies do you want to eliminate, which do you want to eliminate? Be specific.

Much like genius forum, but with testing equipment and a focused agenda.

I think you need to be clear about how currently implemented technologies work. Do you know how your refrigerator works? A simple battery? Do you understand how the totality of electricity in Nova Scotia is generated?

I agree it would be nice to get a very clear picture of how the totality of our province, country and world's economy (ways of consumption/production) generates power, and I agree that this information should be and can be conveyed more easily.

[Ryan Rudolph]

Cory,

What kind of thinkers do you want to be exposed to right now? What sort of technologies do you want to eliminate, which do you want to eliminate? Be specific.

I think there needs to be far more energy put into getting off technologies that depend on the burning of fossil fuels, especially here in North America.

Do you understand how the totality of electricity in Nova Scotia is generated?

Oddly enough, I’m currently doing security at NS Power so on my patrols of the buildings, I’ve been studying how it is done by asking questions and examining things. From what I can understand at this point, the main power plant in our city burns both oil and natural gas, and uses the steam generated as the primary driving force to power turbines, which in turn creates electricity.

NS Power also has a variety of other small operations such as Wind, Solar, Tidal, and Hydropower from a small dam. Approximately 12% of their total output is generated by these more green methods, while the remaining 88% is generated by burning natural gas and oil. However, with the growing cost of oil, NS Power has been using more natural gas lately, which doesn’t produce as much pollution.

The major difference is that in North America, the cheapest technology always gets precedence, as pollution is not weighed heavily in the selection process. However, in Europe, they weigh pollution heavier in the selection process, and their pollution levels have drastically decreased compared to the US and Canada.

The result is that electricity may cost a bit more in Europe, but there is less pollution. And this is a win/win because it forces people to be more aware of how much kilo/watt hours of electricity they are using, whereas many Americans and Canadians have absolutely no concept of minimizing energy consumption.

[daybrown]

People types inherit hominid specialization. Alphas needed to defend the group, but betas to provide the nurturant females. The successful groups got the mix right. But now, the classic alpha aggression is no longer functional, with organization far more important than personal bravery.

In order that some would be able to perform both ways, the cognitive dissonance gave rise to witches and shamen doing what we now call 'case management'. Sometimes they used drugs to release inhibition for a coming battle, then afterwards provided ritual means of dealing with the guilt- PTSD.

In Europe, When kings and war bands got organized, ambitious and aggressive young men were drawn away from the villages in hopes of establishing themselves in authority over the women and land of those deemed enemies, and quite often not only did not return, but died, not only in battle, but because of disease spreading thru the ranks because the knowledge of hygiene was lacking. Romans did so well for so long cause they knew so much more about hygiene, and their wounded had a far greater chance of recovery to fight another day.

Diamond reports that 25% of the New Guinea Highlanders died of battle wounds. The rate during WWII, on both sides in Europe was 2-3%. Now we see a little less than 4000 in several years in Iraq, with the annual death rate a tenth of that, 0.2-0.3% at the same time women move into the ranks.

The variety of people types has spread out further on the bell curves; in intelligence, aggressiveness, sexual orientation, and other ways along with the variety of skills needed to be effective, both in the military and in business. This has put more power in the hands of fewer people, who increasingly come from certain personality types, who are ever interested in greater efficiency. But this in turn becomes every more reliant on resource management, such as oil, which is getting in ever shorter supply.

If that system fractures because of some unforeseen problem, then it'll be back to the generalists able to function in a wider variety of roles. Some of which will be entirely new roles. Alphas are steadfast in their traditions, and many wont be smart enough to adapt to new forms of relationship.

[Cory Duchesne]

Cory,

What kind of thinkers do you want to be exposed to right now? What sort of technologies do you want to eliminate, which do you want to eliminate? Be specific.

I think there needs to be far more energy put into getting off technologies that depend on the burning of fossil fuels, especially here in North America.

Perhaps the feat of getting off the outdated paradigms has less to do with coming up with innovate technological solutions, and more to do with rulers unwilling to change.

Do you understand how the totality of electricity in Nova Scotia is generated?

Oddly enough, I’m currently doing security at NS Power so on my patrols of the buildings, I’ve been studying how it is done by asking questions and examining things. From what I can understand at this point, the main power plant in our city burns both oil and natural gas, and uses the steam generated as the primary driving force to power turbines, which in turn creates electricity.

This leads me to wonder what the future of that turbine is. Currently the source of power seems more concentrated in one place. Future energy solutions sound as if they will involve a departure away from this main turbine and toward a more dispersed set up, which will ultimately be more stable.

NS Power also has a variety of other small operations such as Wind, Solar, Tidal, and Hydropower from a small dam. Approximately 12% of their total output is generated by these more green methods, while the remaining 88% is generated by burning natural gas and oil. However, with the growing cost of oil, NS Power has been using more natural gas lately, which doesn’t produce as much pollution.

The major difference is that in North America, the cheapest technology always gets precedence, as pollution is not weighed heavily in the selection process. However, in Europe, they weigh pollution heavier in the selection process, and their pollution levels have drastically decreased compared to the US and Canada.

Yes, changing the way we derive energy I think has more to do with politics and altering people's psychological schema's than it does innovation, although the later is important. I just think that we have plenty of innovative stuff happening (of which I would like to understand better), the problem is simply the complacency of the ruling class.

The result is that electricity may cost a bit more in Europe, but there is less pollution. And this is a win/win because it forces people to be more aware of how much kilo/watt hours of electricity they are using, whereas many Americans and Canadians have absolutely no concept of minimizing energy consumption.

Interesting stuff. The problem is mostly a psychological/political and economical one. Peoples attitudes and outlook need to change.

[Rhett]

When you add it all up, the binary Christian concept of men vs women makes no sense.

Otto Weininger treats this subject well in his book "Sex and Character", which is available at the "Thinking Man's Minefield".

It is true that each individual has both female and male physical, behavioural, and mental qualities, to varying degrees as a proportion of the whole. Importantly, there is value to wisdom in highlighting and comparing the female and male behavioural and mental qualities.

One thing i mean by this is if a male behaves in a manner that is typical of a female, even though the behaviour is being done by a male, it is nonetheless a female behaviour.

[Rhett]

In the environment and energy debates what i find interesting is the role reversal of some of the economists. They used to be the enemy of the environmentalist, but now some of them are proving to be linchpins in creating change for the benefit of the environment, take the Stern report, for example. It makes you wonder if the weak link and therefore greatest unrealised benefit can be made in the economic realm.

In the energy debate it seems to be a mixture of many factors that determine outcomes. The populace, politicians, environmentalists, scientists, economists, etc, will all be weighing up any increase in cost versus benefit, timeliness, other concerns, etc. I think many fail to recognise that fossil fuel energy generation develops new cost efficiencies over time, so it's not a faite-accompli that renewables will catch up wherever they lag. I've learnt a fair bit about alternative energy over time and it is disappointingly undersupported and misunderstood. Mainstream debates are poor in quality.

A simple analysis of solar energy sees photovoltaic as direct energy gain from the sun, with power generation on and off according to the cycling of the sun. It sees windpower as an indirect energy gain from the sun via the winds created by the sun heating and then letting cool each part of the globe. Windpower is on and off to some extent related to the cycling of the sun, and to some extent not. Wavepower is a more indirect form of energy gain from the sun via the aforementioned winds which create waves on large bodies of water. Wavepower can be on and off but is reasonably regular and has little correlation to the cycling of the sun.

If a country decided to go 100% photovoltaic they would have to store vast amounts of energy or channel it around the globe for use at night time and on cloudy/rainy days. Any form of storage has some degree of inefficiency, but that by no means rules it out.

Even if a country used a mixture of photovoltaic, windpower and wavepower, there could possibly be a time when there was no power generation, so that would need to be addressed.

I acknowledge there are other ways to gain solar energy, and other ways to gain renewable energy. I do not of course consider geo-thermal as renewable, to take heat out of the Earth and put it in the atmosphere where it can then fade into the galaxy is not at all renewable. The Earth is in a dynamic 'balance', being heated by the sun and cooled by loosing heat to the galaxy, and i really think we ought not affect that.

[Rhett]

People types inherit hominid specialization. Alphas needed to defend the group, but betas to provide the nurturant females. The successful groups got the mix right. But now, the classic alpha aggression is no longer functional, with organization far more important than personal bravery.

I don't think you've got the mix right there. Moment-to-moment organisation may be handled by the beta's, but the more overarching concerns are handled by the alpha's. The alpha's control not only defence, but also when the pack should move, how it should adapt to change, new ways of doing things, seasonal factors, etc, not least including keeping the beta's focused on their task.

In Europe, When kings and war bands got organized, ambitious and aggressive young men were drawn away from the villages in hopes of establishing themselves in authority over the women and land of those deemed enemies, and quite often not only did not return, but died, not only in battle, but because of disease spreading thru the ranks because the knowledge of hygiene was lacking. Romans did so well for so long cause they knew so much more about hygiene, and their wounded had a far greater chance of recovery to fight another day.

The alpha's were probably also bored with the regular drag.

The variety of people types has spread out further on the bell curves; in intelligence, aggressiveness, sexual orientation, and other ways along with the variety of skills needed to be effective, both in the military and in business. This has put more power in the hands of fewer people, who increasingly come from certain personality types, who are ever interested in greater efficiency. But this in turn becomes every more reliant on resource management, such as oil, which is getting in ever shorter supply.

The bigger the group of people typically the lesser will be the proportion of people involved in decisionmaking. Alpha's, such as higher ranking politicians and CEO's, will typically do the decisionmaking. As new challenges arise, hopefully new techniques of training and management will arise.

If that system fractures because of some unforeseen problem, then it'll be back to the generalists able to function in a wider variety of roles. Some of which will be entirely new roles. Alphas are steadfast in their traditions, and many wont be smart enough to adapt to new forms of relationship.

I don't agree. Alpha's are where the consciousness and therefore adaptability is. It may be that the beta's develop and refine the alpha's contributions, but the alpha's are the one's making the most important contribution.

[Ryan Rudolph]

Cory,

Perhaps the feat of getting off the outdated paradigms has less to do with coming up with innovate technological solutions, and more to do with rulers unwilling to change.

It is more than just a political issue; the problem is that many of the present alternative green methods will only support lower populations. And then there is nuclear power which will support larger populations, but it creates radioactive waste that remains unstable for thousands of years.

It seems to me that new ideas and approaches are needed. And Victor’s comment on Fusion is one possibility, but more research needs to be put into this area of study.

And in conjunction with energy research, I believe another urgent project should be to create some sort of weapon in space capable of destroying approaching asteroids/meteoroids. To my mind, such a project is much more important than spending billions of dollars on a mars space walk….

[Jason]

Yes, but I think there should be university courses specifically set up for this aim. For instance: suppose you and I wanted to brainstorm and think about new possible ways to generate energy – A course could be created looking at every possible way man has created energy since early civilization up until this point, and scientific models could be used to examine the mechanics behind each method. And the course could consist of students gathering around to analyze the differences/similarities of each and speculate on future possibilities.

However, I’m sure that a course like that must exist somewhere in some college, but my beef with the whole system is how much time and money must be spent on undesirable courses as a means to be able to take a few upper level courses of interest. There is too much effort and perseverance in the modern academic system.

If you have enough motivation and intelligence you can teach yourself just about anything on your own these days. The internet changed the rules dramatically and made it so much easier. Start by reading wikipedia, howstuffworks etc to get a basic background on what you're interested in and move forward from there. Read online university material - there are entire courses online now. Just do google searches, it's amazing what information and knowledge you can find using the correctly tailored searches. The scirus search engine can be good too. You have access to free and instant searches of worldwide patent databases. Companies provide free and very detailed online spec, application, tds and msds sheets etc for the components and materials they sell. Online shopping allows you to find and order the most obscure things from any place on earth. There are forums filled with experts from all fields of endeavour who can help you out. It's all there for you.

[DHodges]

Its the beta males who are sneaky. Plan an attack, like when the alpha is sleeping. That's a major problem for alphas; their innate aggressive reflexes would be slowed were they able to empathize with targets, but as a result they cant empathze with anyone. Which means that they cant think like the other to know what that person would do. So- they dont really know who to trust to sleep with. As a result, they have poor sleep habits, and tend to wake up grouchy.

A point about primates that you may have missed, or are just glossing over here. "Alpha" and "Beta" describe a particular role within a band at a particular time. Chimps are not born alpha or beta; there is a constant struggle to determine who is alpha, and that changes over time. As you point out, the alpha role is actually pretty stressful - besides being "troop leader," he is always under attack from his beta brothers. There are also times when two betas will form a coalition to oust a beta, and will sometimes rule jointly.

A good book on this topic is Chimpanzee Politics. Well worth reading.

[Jason]

There are also times when two betas will form a coalition to oust a beta, and will sometimes rule jointly.

You meant oust an alpha, didn't ya?

[hsandman]

There are also times when two betas will form a coalition to oust a beta, and will sometimes rule jointly.

You meant oust an alpha, didn't ya?

Umm, he is projecting it in to the future.. :-) yea, i think he meant oust alpha. He is a bit of a ufo, never know when he will be back.

ps. Carl: I like your sense of humor... daybrown is right though, but carry on. :-)

[DHodges]

There are also times when two betas will form a coalition to oust a beta, and will sometimes rule jointly.

You meant oust an alpha, didn't ya?

Yes.

[Cory Duchesne]

Cory,

Perhaps the feat of getting off the outdated paradigms has less to do with coming up with innovate technological solutions, and more to do with rulers unwilling to change.

It is more than just a political issue; the problem is that many of the present alternative green methods will only support lower populations.

True, but I think if each citizen made sacrifices in order that they could maximize available green methods, combining them with current mainstream methods, that would make quite a difference.

It seems to me that new ideas and approaches are needed. And Victor’s comment on Fusion is one possibility, but more research needs to be put into this area of study.

I don't really know much about how a nuclear reactor, let alone the idealized fusion reactor works. Do you?

And in conjunction with energy research, I believe another urgent project should be to create some sort of weapon in space capable of destroying approaching asteroids/meteoroids. To my mind, such a project is much more important than spending billions of dollars on a mars space walk….

Of course innovation is important, but it sounds as if you're under the impression that the top guns at NASA don't have their priorities in sufficient order. You think that society should provide folks like me and you an opportunity to brainstorm with the folks at NASA?