Pages

August 28, 2024

Heritability of IQ is much lower than that of height

 Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra

"He thought of the writer Aldous Huxley’s description of an ideal totalitarian state, a condition he thought applied to Indians: they were inside a prison whose walls they could not see." - from a riveting excerpt  of @rahulabhatia 's new book. Out now!

https://x.com/narayani_basu/status/1828325846714597455?t=ggGisBGVR0TVRjWwFLzyiA&s=19

Dawn Fire, Auroville - 152nd birthday celebration of Sri Aurobindo 

A symbolic rekindling of the flame of aspiration carried by the Charter that was placed inside the Urn along with the earth from around the world.  It's like reinvoking that call for humanity and its future.

https://x.com/AurovilleMedia/status/1828328581543481569?t=An3CEYPKg2HsUejIE1-rfg&s=19

Oh that's true, I think it's a very radical idea, without any precedent to it. I don't think it will happen anytime soon because it challenges so many norms. The theoretical advantage is very obvious imo. Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga is a tremendous possibility. Whether or not it actually succeeds is irrelevant to me. What matters more to me is that serious efforts are put into the cause because the possibility is unbelievably good in my eyes.

https://x.com/AnmolRasto89079/status/1828458699372868030?t=sFYxllBsCFf0XIQjfCE58w&s=19

On the occasion of International Day of Democracy, AuroBharati, Sri Aurobindo Society, Union Territory of Puducherry presents Sri Aurobindo Integral Study & Research Forum on the theme ‘India’s Contribution to the World of Democracy’ 15/09/ 2024 at 06.p.m.docs.google.com/forms/d/1W1VOz

https://x.com/Drkktripathy/status/1828510013054161143?t=3UPpDEp0uyVtxt8-3x921A&s=19

World Sanskrit Day was celebrated by AuroBharati, Sri Aurobindo Society Puducherry focusing on a week-long theme ‘Vedic Heritage & Tradition’ from 19-25 August, 2024.

https://x.com/Drkktripathy/status/1828510598734221673?t=sSzJOwp3IJeQLx2QlMPgdA&s=19

Bharat Vaibhav: Diversity of Expressions & the Cultural Unity of India by AuroBharati, Sri Aurobindo Society, Puducherry, 5th September, 2024  05:00 pm Registration Link: docs.google.com/forms/d/1ilKRV…

https://x.com/Drkktripathy/status/1828510792880148765?t=r_tUzDrvO90N84tRi3e1tw&s=19

Last week The Atlantic featured an article on the rising popularity of race/IQ science on the right (theatlantic.com/technology/arc…). The obvious point that "intelligence is not like height" sparked an unusual amount of whinging. I wrote about how this is now more true than ever. The specific claim in the article was that genetic variants for intelligence "predict only a small fraction of someone’s IQ score", unlike for height. This is true today and it will remain true, because the heritability of IQ is much lower than that of height. Full post here:

open.substack.com/pub/theinfinit

https://x.com/SashaGusevPosts/status/1828182439153349081?t=Q-mHc7pVQ6TLUjeBwECBCg&s=19

Great thread. In a similar vein, I'm gonna take this opportunity to take this hot, controversial & incredibly politicised topic to make a couple of points about measurement theory (which usually makes people go to sleep). 1/

IQ OTOH, is measured by a range of abstract reasoning tests (verbal, spatial, maths, memory etc). The idea is to avoid measuring education or learning, but it's a pretty abstract category, and the tests are rather unnatural and artificial. Face validity? Kinda sorta maybe.

https://x.com/ArthurCDent/status/1828285850570109163?s=19

Although we do not know exactly how creativity works, we do know that it is itself an evolutionary process within individual brains. For it depends on conjecture (which is variation) and criticism (for the purpose of selecting ideas). So, somewhere inside brains, blind variations and selections are adding up to creative thought at a higher level of emergence.
@DavidDeutschOxf The Beginning of Infinity. Chapter 15: The Evolution of Culture. Page 501.

https://x.com/DeutschExplains/status/1828454658014126486?t=tMUpLlNIlwXv_416t7OUUQ&s=19

We will never know exactly how creativity works, but we can at least know that it is active in the cosmos and not the figment of individual human brains. Individual brains are its creation.

https://x.com/ThouArtThat/status/1828646215065665777?t=scKSfIq6gJD9x3n1W2NNHw&s=19

Everything in our environment here on Earth is structured by evolution and selection - we should not take as granted the universe can spontaneously do things we see everyday, from making complex objects in high abundance to performing computation - all evidence points to those things emerging via selection and time generating information and by no other mechanism

https://x.com/Sara_Imari/status/1828467113390154239?t=B4g8m0I0yODOBmJA45pJTA&s=19

"For our early human ancestors, every social interaction held potentially life-threatening importance. We still carry this psychology with us today. We will endure minor and sometimes even extreme discomfort to avoid the negative judgment of strangers."

https://x.com/robkhenderson/status/1828547286546153559?t=2O2bVr7iVdcAcEfnLUGNdA&s=19

Sharing excerpts of my forthcoming @PrincetonUPress book, "The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx." This passage on Mill explores the effects of concentrated wealth on legislation. press.princeton.edu/books/hardcove

https://x.com/LayWilliams/status/1828127894125813767?t=4V3VT8QVhm5C2pMJcZIBJw&s=19

[HTML] Einstein's Combinatory Play: A Promising Practice for Creativity and Well-Being Among Public Health Professionals

AM Steketee, SM Harden - Public Health in Practice, 2024
The purpose of this commentary is to describe combinatory play as a practice for elevating creativity and well-being among public health professionals. Albert Einstein introduced combinatory play in a letter to a colleague, and, in this …

[HTML] Reincarnation and anti-essentialism: An argument against the essentiality of material origins

A Deshmukh, F Janssen-Lauret - The Philosophical Quarterly, 2024
We argue that Indian speakers’ discourse about reincarnation represents a counterexample to the ordinary-language evidence for the Kripkean thesis of material-origin essentialism. Advocates of the essentiality of origins contend not only …

Book review: Sunil Ambekar, The RSS: Roadmaps for the 21st Century

S Bhushan - 2024
… Vasudev, Swami Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar have been instrumental in interpreting and propagating Hindutva as a way of life. It has been explained as the Designer of HindutvaHindutva has been established as an icon of Oneness …

Beyond the Binary: The Issue of Intra-Minority Hostility and the Need to Challenge Conventional Victim/Perpetrator Frameworks Within Hate Studies

A Clarke - Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2024
… In the months since the violence, many journalists, community leaders, and academics have made reference to the influence of the nationalist movement, Hindutva, and the increasingly Islamophobic rhetoric and policies coming from …

Polarisation of Adivasis Around Religion: Sanskritisation vs. Ethnicisation in Jharkhand

A Singh - The Routledge Handbook of Tribe and Religions in …, 2025
… The Hindutva forces that are trying to develop the ideology of … Hindutva politics since the 1990s have used this religio-cultural proximity as a marker of Adivasis being Hindus. They are trying to appropriate the Adivasis as their supporters by …

[PDF] Two Stories and Ten Theses on Teaching the Science/Knowledge Divide in Global History

H Tilley - Capitalism: A Journal of History and Economics, 2024
This essay uses the parable of "The Blind Men and the Elephant" alongside two vignettes relating to the British and American Empires to explore a series of propositions about the world in terms of teaching the science/knowledge divide in …

Of sacred animals: the limits of animal rights activism and political veganism in India

D Shankar - Culture, Theory and Critique, 2024
… Sahana Udupa terms 'enterprise Hindutva' has triggered conflicting reactions to everyday incidents, highlighting the need for a new language to address unique problems faced by vegans and animal rights activists whose politics clash with …

Decoloniality and right-wing nationalism in India: the case of

JS Deepak - Intellectual Decolonisation: Critical Perspectives, 2024
… foot soldiers of Hindutva on December 6, 1992, the temple now stands as a monument to the decay and death of an inclusive, secular Indian state. This chapter is a short chronicle of that death foretold. J Sai Deepak, a prominent lawyer …

Cultural Influences on Early Childhood Education in India

S Mathur
… The Hindutva movement is associated with right-wing extremism and has spread to Hindu communities worldwide. This resurgence of Hindutva … The opposing view describes the Hindutva movement as Hindu fundamentalists responsible for …

[PDF] The Construction of Indian Booker-Prize Novels on the Peasant Subaltern's Strategy of Resistance against the Indian “Democratic” Hegemony

Y Ziwei
… In The Year of the Runaways, Tochi, a Chamaar, is denied employment by landlords because of “the elections,” and his family are even slaughtered by religious extremists who vow to restore the purity of Hindutva; In A Fine Balance …

[PDF] Transcending Exiles: Countering the Epic Master Narrative in Haga's For the Sake of Sita

R Chowdhury
… context where the epitomised view of masculinity becomes deeply entrenched in Hindutva ethos. Muscular nationalism, she notes, is the … militant Hindutva patriarchal politics (Banerjee 274). Banerjee’s discussion on muscular nationalism …

[PDF] Secularisation in the 21st century as a factor of political polarisation of society

AD Miller - Foreign Affairs
The polarisation of society in the 21st century has become a significant threat to both state governments and the functioning of national communities themselves. Issues of religion and religiosity, placed within the framework of secular institutions, have …

Academic Freedom

M Aidnik - The Public University as a Real Utopia: Towards a …, 2024
This chapter engages with the issue of academic freedom as a particular real utopia. The provision of academic freedom is one of the core aims of university governance. Having focused on institutional governance in the previous chapter, I now want to …

Interrogating “light but tight” model of education: Saffron neoliberalism and India's new education policy

RA Peerzada, A Sharma, AA Gurumurthy… - Human Geography, 2024
Analyzing the trope of “light but tight” education frequently used in India's New Education Policy 2020, this paper examines the mutually reinforcing ideological connections between neoliberalism and neoconservatism in the state's latest vision …

[HTML] The Potential Impact of Yoga Practices on Extraordinary Human Abilities: A Scoping Review

H Alibalaei, J Ilavarasu - Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies, 2024
… This scoping review of 28 articles on yoga and meditation revealed three main themes: the effect on the physical body, the impact on the … Yoga and meditation are believed to possess extraordinary powers, intellectual capabilities, and mental …

[HTML] Exploring Ayurveda: principles and their application in modern medicine

SK Verma, M Pandey, A Sharma, D Singh - Bulletin of the National Research Centre, 2024
… Ayurveda emphasizes the integration of yoga and meditation practices to enhance overall well-being. Yoga postures, breathing exercises, and meditation techniques are recommended to balance doshas, promote mental clarity, and …

[PDF] Viability of Superbrain Yoga Practise in Academic Setting: A Systematic

V Vinu, JN Srikanth, K Nagendra Prasad, L Dsouza - 2024
… Modern Yoga literature discusses several styles of yoga as well as the importance of being taught by a guru [2]. The history of yoga is … SBY as part of other yoga-like prajna yoga, multi-sensory yoga, and Multimodal Mandala yoga was …

[HTML] Classical Indian Vitalism Found in the Abhidhamma as an Approach to the Hard Problem of Consciousness: Problems and Perspectives

R Banerjee, D Sahu - Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies, 2024
… In this work, we restrict the meaning of psychic prana to an energy form integral to the internal state and in concurrence with volition, imbued with goal-directed intrinsic teleology (or intention). Psychic prana or energy must be distinguished from purely …

[HTML] Sound, Touch, Form, Taste, and Smell as Pathways for Meditation–A Review of Classical and Neuroscience Texts

AC Shivaram, J Ilavarasu, R Bhat - Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies, 2024
… discussed in Patañjali’s Yoga darśana and an information flow model proposed based on Sāṅkhya and Yoga darśana. Sense perception as a … This study demonstrated a measurable decrease in entropy and an increase in integral area …

[PDF] Senior Citizens and Park Landscape Features: A Well-Being Framework

RK Ruchi
Public parks are vital for the well-being of senior citizens, offering spaces for social engagement, physical activity, and mental rejuvenation. This study explores how specific park landscape features contribute to the well-being of seniors. Using a …

[PDF] 3) Keynote Panel 1: The Contributions of Meditative Inquiry to the Field of Education

M Corbett, K den Heyer, L Merriweather, J Miller - Engaging with Meditative Inquiry in …
… Humanity has an integral connection between individual personhood and the ontological we (Merriweather, 2019). That is, community … I started doing hatha yoga in 1968 and found that doing the asanas were very helpful and triggered an …

[HTML] PART III OF MYTH OF MALIMAWA: A COMPASS WITHOUT THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE: ANURA KUMARA PRESIDENCY IN A CLOUD CUCKOO LAND

PK Balachandran, S Observer
Though he failed as a President due to various factors and had to abdicate his presidency, there were many personal attributes favourable to GR. These personal attributes profoundly augmented his victory at the Presidential Elections. He was …

[PDF] ADICAL

S Khan, K Chattopadhyay, A Vanaik, M Navid
… it too cannot, programmatically speaking, significantly distinguish itself from the BJP; they all support an economic policy of compensatory neoliberalism, a foreign policy of nationalist belligerence coupled with a pro-US strategic orientation, and …

August 12, 2024

Flesh and bones and an actual brain

 Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra

Circa 1908-09, the beautiful poem 'Who' was first published in the Karmayogin on 13 November 1909. It is a much-loved poem by many admirers of Sri ...
All work can and should be done in a yogic spirit. But the 'sacrifice' should be made to the Supreme Divine and not to a human being. - The Mother
23 hours ago — How did Sri Aurobindo influence the Indian independence movement?
श्री अरविंद के जन्म का महत्व।15 August: Sri Aurobindo's birthday। sri aurobindo। Bhagavad blessings your queries shri Arvind ke janm ka mahatva ...
6 hours ago — Sri Aurobindo. Letters of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 3. 1936-37. Fragment ID: 18012. 1936-37. Can knowledge and experiences act within the mechanical mind to get .
13 hours ago — भ॒द्रं ते॑ अग्ने सहसि॒न्ननी॑कमुपा॒क आ रो॑चते॒ सूर्य॑स्य । रुश॑द्दृ॒शे द॑दृशे नक्त॒या चि॒दरू॑क्षितं दृ॒श आ रू॒पे अन्नं॑ ॥
23 hours ago — Sri Aurobindo, reflecting on India's newfound freedom, stated, “India is free but she has not achieved unity; only a fissured and broken freedom.” Decades ...
Life And Death by Sri Aurobindo. No views · 2 minutes ago #ardclasses #poem ...more. ARD classes. 6.72K. Subscribe. 0. Share. Save.
Online Sri Aurobindo Pathachakra•500 views · 48:36. Go to channel · ମହାସରସ୍ଵତୀ A Talk by Sanjeev Patra on 14.2.2024. Online Sri Aurobindo Pathachakra•404 ...

[PDF] English Language Pedagogies in Some Selected Alternative Education Institutions in India for Empowering the Subalterns

NAA THASNIM, DM Abraham - 2024
… This project will focus on how alternative education institutions in India, such as Vanavil and the outreach programs of Auroville, … education imparting institutions - Vanavil and five outreach organisations of Auroville. Chapter two delineates the … … It is named after Sri Aurobindo. This thesis traces the functioning of outreach programmes of … Sri Aurobindo delved deeply into spiritual philosophy and practices, ultimately founding the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India, in …… Auroville which in French means ‘city of Dawn’, is an experimental utopian township which is founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa who is called as the Mother and designed by the architect Roger Anger. The city rests mostly in Tamil Nadu and …

[HTML] Speeches and books

S Aurobindo
During World War II he was a member of the French Resistance (in the" Turma-Vengeance" network). He was arrested by the Gestapo in late 1943 and spent one and a half years in German concentration camps. Scarred by the experience, after the war he … … , particularly their level of consciousness; about events occurring in the world, such as India's mini-war with China, her connection with Indira Gandhi, and the revolution amongst youth at the time, including the value of LSD; the ongoing plans …

[PDF] Revisiting Nationalism in Select Letters of Raja Rammohan Roy

I Jadav
Nationalism played a pivotal role in constructing the idea of'nation'in post-independent India. It immensely contributed to India's freedom struggle and made people aware of their unique cultural legacy through various social, political, and cultural reforms …

The silence of the Bengali “intellectual” in the face of what is happening to Bangladeshi Hindus is both disgusting and unsurprising. The “aateil” have an opinion on every issue in the universe except on those where a spine is needed. They justified their treachery of Netaji; they reduced Sri Aurobindo to a “sadhu”, they murdered Kolkata.

https://x.com/sanjeevsanyal/status/1822608687569014969?t=dG7pCbQgD-mZrikXf23aLw&s=19

The future of science education in India looks promising with Government hell bent on creating witches, warlocks, occultists, sorcerers and soothsayers out of students who clear science-based entrance exams. Get your children out of this global pseudoscience capital.

timelinedaily.com/india/at-iit-m

I seriously don't know how to respond to unintelligent, scientifically illiterate humanoid lifeforms like you in a rational way so as to get you out of your frog-in-the-well situation. I seriously feel helpless when I am exposed to wastage of oxygen on planet earth lifeforms like you and I feel disappointed. To stick to curing livers or additionally keep trying to educate the many health illiterates like you is my choice and I do not require unsolicited advice from science illiterates like you. Ok?

Calm down, don't get triggered when someone shows you the mirror. You asked me to read "spiritual texts" when I was speaking from a scientific perspective. Maybe I'll try to have a rational conversation with you in your next life when you are reborn without chakras around and inside you, but flesh and bones and an actual brain. All the best and good luck. End of conversation. On mute.

https://x.com/theliverdr/status/1822498350479892511?t=N7Z5vaZIaSWd__kTQzUmFw&s=19 

The Cartesian Crisis describes the inability to be sure of anything—scientific claims, the basic facts of historical events, the degree to which a consensus is actually accepted by others. It leads to the collapse of reason itself. But it’s difficult to illustrate with examples because in each case, people immediately get lost in making the case for their best guess at what’s true.

Try spending one day resisting conclusions, and concentrating on the quality and consistency of the evidence. Our average level of certainty may be unchanged, but our reason for certainty is at an all time low. If you did this exercise once a month you’d soon know how rapidly the Cartesian Crisis is deepening. 

It’s vital that we each halt our descent into this tsunami of uncertainty. Establish an unbreakable bond with someone you have good reason to trust, and discuss your beliefs and the reasons you hold them, regularly and in person. You won’t regret it.

https://x.com/BretWeinstein/status/1822670947079610792?t=9YHVwHzwzSzV1NVvp2xCgg&s=19 

Reason is just a process, a method. It should remain unaffected. The hard part, I agree, will be identifying reliable facts to reason about, with, from. Maybe that was a flaw in science that is finally being revealed: it relies on a very special class of "real" objects that will turn out to have been historically conditional, existing only before the great age of simulation.

https://x.com/walterkirn/status/1822792654511591914?t=znLqPCNkhD6HpRY_NKvy8A&s=19

The Real'Hard Problem'of Consciousness: Where Do Thoughts Come From, if Not the Brain?

PF Cunningham - Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2024
This article argues that contemporary debates of the 'hard problem' of consciousness (iehow does 'mindless' matter produce 'matterless' mind?) cannot be resolved through philosophical analysis alone and need to be anchored to a …

[PDF] Historical experience and mysticism in the Philosophical History of Damascius

TP De Tassis - 2024
The Philosophical History, a historical and biographical text written in the 6th century CE by the Neoplatonic philosopher Damascius (c. 458/462–c. 540), also known in the scholarship as Life of Isidore, has come down to us in a fragmentary state. The …

[HTML] Scriptural references

AB Abheda, AP Darshan
… yoga should know the Aranyaka that I received from the sun as well as the yoga treatise that I proclaimed.” (Yajnavalkya Smriti 3.110). [14] … The actual author of Yoga Yajnavalkya text was probably someone who lived many centuries after the …

[PDF] AWARENESS OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AMONG STUDENT-TEACHERS

ARA Krishnaveni, SK Selvi - AKCE QUEST, 2024
This investigation was done to see if there is any significant relationship in awareness of information and communication technologies among student-teachers. The sample comprises of 300 students acquired from ten college of educations in …

[PDF] Teacher Leadership: a golden touch toward achieving SDG4

M Padhan, AK Biswal
Sustainable Development Goal 4 has emphasized on quality education. The development of a nation relies on the quality of education imparted to their children who will lead the country forward. This demand reform in the sphere of leadership …