Comments Welcome?

In my previous (non-picture) post I made a reference to fundamental changes in thinking and intelligence that may be brought about by the emergence and pervasiveness of the Internet.
Intelligence itself, or at least the measure of it, was in the news recently when the results of a British study revealed that on average the IQs of men are five points higher than the IQs of women.
I haven’t actually read anything more than a summary of the study, so I don’t know much about the specifics, but from what I’ve seen, the significance of the study’s findings are ambiguous at best.
Personally, I’m not certain how relevant IQ scores are in the real world or how well they reflect actual intelligence.
That being said, however, it is interesting to note that in the study’s findings it’s revealed that until the age of 14 there is parity between the sexes.
This strikes me as being significant considering what typically happens to young women at the age of 14.
To put it bluntly, it’s my theory that getting boobs makes girls dumb.
Okay, I’m mostly kidding with that remark, but think about it for a second (Or slightly longer than a second if you’re a woman – kidding!).
Considering how much more power a nice set of boobs can give a girl than a high IQ, it makes sense to me that there would be a drop-off in intellectual development. What do you need brains for if you have boobs? Hell, if you just “accidentally” brush them up against some brainiac boy, he’ll do your homework for you (and probably carry your books for you and buy you things).
Just a thought.
In slightly more serious terms, though, I think that the real issue is that women, in general, tend not to collect abstract information, or trivia, the way that men do, which is representative of the many differences in how men and women think.
As I was saying in my previous post, retaining information may eventually become a less valuable skill, replaced instead by the ability to seek out and gather information.
Further, I believe that the methodology for testing intelligence is skewed more towards the way that men process and organize information.
When I mentioned that the way we think will be fundamentally changed by the Internet, my characteristically flippant comments about becoming dumber and lazier aside, I should have also pointed out that the way we think about how we think will need to change as well. Will we be able to continue to define intelligence the way we have?
Further, how valid was our definition of intelligence in the first place?
Naturally there will be those who latch on to the study to prove that men are “superior” to women (Though to be honest, it goes back to boobs again. Men don’t have them, or at least they don’t have them the way I like them, so they will always be inferior as far as I’m concerned.), and I think that would be foolish.
My contention is that men and women think differently, and that IQ tests don’t account for that.
Of course, in a society of “equality” different often equates with “worse” in the minds of both sexes, and the belief persists that the same standards need to be applied across the board. I just don’t think that’s a logical approach, as the fact that there are obvious differences will lead inevitably to these perceived inequalities.
Different doesn’t have to equal worse.
Hell, men and women pee differently from each other. Does that mean that one method of peeing is superior to the other, or does it simply mean that there are biological differences that have no intrinsic value? Could it be that the differences simply are?
Putting aside environmental differences, there are obvious biological differences between men and women that would lead to different methods of thinking.
Again, different, not worse.
Anyway, all boob jokes aside, that’s my take on the whole thing.
In a recent conversation with my mother she made the observation that Threshold “doesn’t get a lot of comments.”
Thanks for pointing out that my blog sucks and that no one reads it, mom!
I’m kidding of course, but my defensiveness on the subject stems from the fact that this is a subject that I often think about.
Sometimes when I’m bored I will click the “Next Blog” link at the top of the page, which randomly directs me to another blog on Blogger.
Frequently I find myself suffering from “comment envy,” as these other blogs will have entries that are overflowing with comments.
The bastards! Those comments should be mine!
Of course, this can lead me to checking my inbox (I get an e-mail whenever anyone posts a comment) in the vain hope that someone will have posted a comment.
Specifically, I look for comments from people I don’t know.
That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate the comments from people I do know, but when it’s a stranger, that means that other people are visiting Threshold and find it thought-provoking enough to post a comment.
Still, more comments in general would be appreciated, and I often find myself thinking about why I don’t get very many comments.
My initial response is to rest the blame squarely on you, the Threshold reader. You lazy slackers!
After that I calm down a bit, stop yelling at my monitor and shaking my fist at my empty inbox, and realize that if people aren’t commenting it’s because I’m not saying anything worthy of comment.
Sure, that Threshold readers are lazy is the easier option (and is probably true), but the fact of the matter is that if I want to get comments from you I’m going to have to say things that are worth commenting on.
Then again, the odds are that any comments I do get will be of the “whiny pathetic buttwad” (or, more recently, the “go fuck a goat”) variety, so maybe I should be careful what I wish for.
After all, the goal is to get comments that will feed my ego, not make me want to cry (You big meanies!).
Of course, I also don’t want to get a bunch of “pity comments” from people who feel as though I’m trying to guilt them into posting their thoughts.
Ultimately, because I don’t really know what I could do differently to encourage provoke more comments (and would likely be too lazy to do anything differently even if I did know), I don’t want to have to put up with a bunch of insults, and I don’t want charity, I guess I’ll just have to learn to accept things the way they are. Let other blogs have comments; I’ll just settle for not being called a whiny pathetic buttwad all the time…
There’s a certain irony to be found, I think, in the fact that though I’ve let loose with a little spiel about wanting (or possibly not wanting) to receive more comments I’ve recently made it a little more difficult for those of you who are so inclined to actually post them.
All two of you who have posted comments recently have no doubt noticed that you have to take an additional step by typing the letters displayed in an image into a “validation” box.
I added this feature because a. I’d gotten some spam posted in the comments recently and b. Blogger had just made it available as a means of preventing spam from getting through via bots.
I hope the extra step isn’t too much of a hassle for those of you who do post comments, and if it makes you feel any better, even I have to go through the validation when I post comments.
Of course, the odds are that if people don’t like it I won’t hear about it anyway. Not in the comments, at least…
Today has been largely uneventful. I had left one of the thin steaks I’d used for dinner last night uncooked, as I thought it would be suitable to have as part of a steak and eggs breakfast this morning.
So I made breakfast before going for my walk, which is unusual (as is having something other than a protein shake for breakfast).
On my walk I noticed that the gas station I buy water from actually had gas for less than $3 a gallon, so I resolved to head back there to fill up after my walk (which I did).
When I was leaving the gas station I took notice of a woman yakking away on her cell while gassing up. I only noticed her because she was so loud (she was unattractive and pregnant, so it wasn’t like I noticed her because she was hot), and, I think, because she was flagrantly ignoring the signs by the pumps that say no cell phones (even though “Mythbusters” proved that there’s no danger of cell phones causing an explosion).
In any case, when I got home some time later that same woman was actually parked in front of my building, sitting in her car and still yakking away on her cell.
It was just sort of odd to see her here after seeing her there. She could very well be one of my neighbors without me recognizing her, as there are maybe three people living in this complex that I would recognize, and pretty much exactly none that I’ve ever spoken to.
Apart from talking to my mother, who won $1,000 in some kind of drawing at the casino last night, I didn’t do much.
Well, I did laundry, but that’s not interesting.
In any case, there’s another picture I’d like to some work on, so I think that will do it for this week. Happy Labor Day to all of you laborers out there.