I Googled and Musk’s IQ has been ongoing debate it seems. Some sources claim him having +150 IQ. Funny, I’ve never thought him as a super intelligent. Ballsy and a guy with a good bussiness sense certainly.
Not that the whole topic really matters.
Might that be because genius and ballsy is generally thought to be the antithesis of one another?
Nah.
It’s probably since I’m a nerd and I subconsiously link geniousness more to scientists and philosophers, than to bussinessmen.
There’s the type of genius that allows people to comprehend things at a level few others can. My cousin is definitely 140+ IQ, probably much higher. 1590 SAT’s in 1998.
As far as philosophers go, it’s like the guy from Spinal Tap said, there’s a fine line between stupid and clever. Many regard Marx as genius, for example. He may be, if you’re measuring it against one’s ability to comprehend Marx and other German guys. I don’t think there’s anything particularly worthwhile to be found in that orobouric pit of relativism when it comes to government.
As I get older, I see more “genius” in people who can explain complicated things clearly, accurately, without deceptive words, while providing examples of what they mean. The people who can do this in matters of public policy tend to reject the philosophical framework that pervades Marx, along with Kant, Hegel, and a bunch of other German guys. There may be individual applications here and there and people may find inherent value in reading and comprehending it, but these philosophical geniuses been proven quite destructive when their frameworks are applied to matters of public policy. Especially that awful Dialectical Materialism.
Interestingly, Lewiston’s longest running citizen government watchdog was a philosophy major at Boston College, and probably the clearest writer I personally know. She’s also a former Democrat, but I wouldn’t call her MAGA in 2025. I think she is but has barriers to acknowledging it, probably because of the past behavior and statements of President Donald J. Trump, but that’s just my guess.
You’ll find applied genius in all kinds of places at all levels of business operation, if you look hard enough. Applied genius is much more difficult to spot in government, but the policy outcomes are a good place to begin measuring it. Asking for an explanation of actual policies also reveals the abyss of mush words that require even more mush words to begin to know what the basis for the policy actually is. For example, ask someone to explain why Lewiston Public Schools should have tampons in the boy’s room, as my state representative Kristen Cloutier advocated for.
Thomas Sowell is a genius, and he suggested (long ago, I add) that no Democratic Party policy can provide a coherent answer for all the following 3 questions:
Compared to what?
At what cost?
What hard evidence do you have?
Genius is a bit of a nebulous term
I know a dude who can’t seem to function well in lots of scenarios you and I might consider normal (polite conversation, holding down a “regular” job, making wise financial decisions)… but he taught himself how to rebuild a car engine in relatively short order, something I could probably never do unless I devoted a significant portion of my life to it
Some people can’t hold down a relationship but can glean truths about the universe intuitively. Some people can’t figure out how X works but will discover a new field of Y
Is musk a genius? I think he is a type of genius. I also think he carefully curated a certain type of public image that exaggerates his contribution to the endeavors he is the face of, but I don’t think he’s some dolt that just gives money to smart people to do his bidding, you have to have a sense of what to spend on and who to give money to at the very least… he certainly seems to have a sense for how to do that given his success in very high risk endeavors
and hell, even if he is 100% a moronic con man who has us all fooled… there’s a certain genius in that too
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Food for thought:
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I couldn’t agree more about his take on the issues or his proposed solutions, with the exception of phone voting - I’d need to know more about the biometrics.
For a good example of how the Democratic Socialist machine operates in Maine, observe the concerted effort by Democrats and their paid propagandists at our Soros owned newspaper to smear their opponents as racists.
Rep. Dhalac recently stated in very clear terms that her priority in Maine government is helping Somalia. The entire establishment has sided with her over this incredible statement, attacking Bobby Charles for expressing disapproval over Dhalac’s loyalty to a foreign country.
The Maine Women’s Lobby even claimed Dhalac is the victim of violence, despite no documented violent attacks.
I don’t think there are any biometrics that AI couldn’t quickly overcome.
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Trump/Putin/Alaska!
I’m getting some Rocky 4 vibes.
Can Pres Trump accomplish a Hat Trick of Peace? Or is Putin just jerking everyone around again?
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Hopefully Slayer
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I think there is measurable intelligence and demonstrable.
One can read books and take tests, the other ones run the world.
I think this is not tied to IQ, just look at Maduro for example.
But I get your point, and agree. Intelligence is a varied topic. Somebody can be very smart socially for example. Other can be very, very intelligent, but have too much other problems to have success in life (we all know the type).
Usually you need some traits (and luck and money) to run the world.
Of course not. You’re one that reads books and takes tests.
No harm in that. I’m one too.
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Hey. Don’t get personal.
.
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But see, this is what I’m talking about. You are taking a specific experience and generalizing it to the group (libs). We vacationed with liberal lesbians in February. The feistier of the two has been known to stand 2” from my husband and both of them yell their positions, which have nothing to do with what the other is saying. She is yelling about homophobia and maybe care of the poor (she’s a social worker who currently does guardianship evals) while husband is playing his own greatest hits, probably guns and taxes. I’m not actually sure because I am talking to the wife about pleasanter things, until I finally beg them both to stop, which happily they always do. Not every left-of-center person thinks Trump is “literally Hitler,” regardless of whether they think he’s damaging to democracy or racist. You’re talking to and about the radical left, which is maybe what, 10% of all dem voters? Just as all right-of-center voters are not white supremacists, and it’s silly to imagine or imply that they are.
Lewiston is not happening everywhere. My local city (small town, really, but it’s where we keep our hospital and our poor because there’s public transportation) brought in a handful of refugees after a hot battle over it. The mayor okay’d it in secret and was subsequently voted OUT after having been comfortably ensconced for 10 years. The city is solidly democratic, though “trending” right due to its homelessness and drugs. I think my local experience is more common than what you’re experiencing. I’m reading with interest and taking as a cautionary tale the Lewiston doings, but mostly my reaction is WTF. Generally we flip back and forth between right and left nationally, which reflects that neither party is particularly popular with the majority of voters. I don’t know why your Mainers haven’t squashed this. But this seems anomalous to me (cf. flip-back-and-forth nationally). And I’m truly sorry that you’re dealing with it - I completely agree that it’s a cancer. Again, I’m stunned that you haven’t had happen there what we had happen here.
There was more I wanted to respond to in your post, but I lost it, and can’t scroll back to it because the boards suck that way, so I’ll leave it there.
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Because Maine elections allow for Bates College students and noncitizens to choose our leaders, and enough US Citizens in Maine like it that way. Our local turnout is also low enough for Democrats to always find enough people who need translators to vote to swing the key elections in enough wards and especially city wide.
Maine Democrats aren’t an anomaly, they are following the same script they do everywhere else. They just have more success here.
Ah, this:
Do I really strike you as someone who has to be urged to “try to assume good faith” in anything? As for the rest, we’ll see, but I’m not looking for HCR to tell me what to think. I’m reading her - as I read you - for information incoming that I weight against my own experience, information base (whether real or propagandized), and values. My first exposure to a cabal of international bankers came at age 11-12, when my mother thought I’d like Captains and the Kings because it featured an Irish boy around my age coming over on the boat from Ireland. I did like it, and read it a number of times because it was so soothing and familiar through my tumultuous teens and twenties. I’ve read most of her library. Here is what AI has to say about its author, Taylor Caldwell:
Conservative Political Views:
Caldwell was a staunch conservative, and her political activism extended to involvement with right-wing organizations.Anti-Communism:
A core element of her political ideology was her strong opposition to communism, which she frequently depicted in her fiction as a threat to individual liberty and free markets.John Birch Society:
She actively contributed to the John Birch Society’s journal, a far-right organization known for its anti-communist and anti-Semitic views.Liberty Lobby:
She also served on the policy board of the Liberty Lobby, another right-wing group known for its controversial views.Dystopian Fiction:
Her novels, such as The Devil’s Advocate, often presented dystopian scenarios where the government controlled all aspects of life, reflecting her fears about the dangers of collectivism.Critique of Social Security:
In her writings, she expressed strong opposition to social welfare programs like Social Security, viewing them as harmful to individual initiative and free markets, according to Ms. Steins Reviews.Sentimentalizing Resentment:
Political Research Associates reports that her work has been analyzed as contributing to a mood of resentment that fueled the far-right.Controversial Figure:
While celebrated by some for her storytelling and conservative views, she was also criticized for her extremism and association with controversial groups.
You should not pigeon-hole people, @twojarslave, particularly if you are looking to broaden your influence. I’m more curious about others’ ideology than wedded to my own, though obviously I have views and some of them are strongly held.
Hey, why are you calling me out?
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Essentially where we are headed:
It wouldn’t be a single thunderclap collapse; it would be a long, slow bleed disguised as stability. The debt would keep swelling, a grotesque balloon tied to the wrists of future generations, while each party sharpened its knives not for the nation’s enemies, but for each other’s throats. The “debates” would be televised blood sport, all heat and no light, with moderates cowering in the middle, sipping their overpriced coffee and telling themselves that speaking up is dangerous, that someone else will handle it.
Meanwhile, the machinery of the state would keep running not because anyone is steering, but because the inertia of bureaucracy doesn’t care about leadership. Deals would be cut in smoke-free, fluorescent-lit rooms between the same consultants, the same lobbyists, the same corporate patrons who fund both sides of the so-called “choice” we have at the ballot box.
By the time people realized the entire structure was rotted, they wouldn’t be storming the gates; they’d be waiting in line for subsidized bread, still arguing over whether the red team or the blue team was to blame. And when the collapse finally came, it wouldn’t look like revolution; it would look like silence. The debt would still be there, the Constitution would still technically exist, and the average citizen would still go to work, just now under a system where the idea of changing it was unthinkable, because too much had already been surrendered for comfort.
It ends not with a bang, but with everyone politely agreeing not to notice the fire until the floor beneath them turns to ash.
Now to avoid this is going to require sacrifice, violence, and a civil war in my opinion. And I don’t think that happens until the floor is ash, but then it is basically too late.
If it turned violent, it would start messy, ugly, and without any single banner to unite under. It wouldn’t be the cinematic revolution with neatly drawn sides; it would be a dozen simultaneous brushfires - debt riots in one city, separatist militias in another, cyberattacks crippling infrastructure, strikes shutting down key industries.
The federal government would try to contain it without martial law deploying federalized National Guard units, cutting off communications in hotspots, freezing bank accounts of suspected organizers. But violence has a way of spreading faster than containment plans. Police forces would fracture along political and moral lines. Governors would start openly defying Washington’s orders, claiming to “protect” their states.
If enough moderates were shocked out of their paralysis, the center would not hold; it would dissolve. The old two-party machine would shatter into regional coalitions; authoritarian states demanding “order,” reformist enclaves promising “new governance,” and opportunistic warlords cloaking themselves in patriotic rhetoric while grabbing whatever resources they could.
The debt wouldn’t be solved; it would simply be erased through default, the dollar replaced with something new, perhaps multiple currencies in fractured territories. Federal agencies would be gutted or captured by whichever faction held their headquarters. The violence wouldn’t bring utopia; it would bring a clean slate for those ruthless enough to survive the purge and write the new rules.
The tragedy? Many who rose up would die before seeing what they fought for, and those who took power would look disturbingly similar to the ones overthrown only now, with blood in their teeth and no illusions about what keeps them there.
Humanity has always been a comical Greek tragedy and most don’t even know it.
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