I enjoyed it, thanks for sharing. (Btw, are there more general, practical utility lectures like this?)
When you talk about being underwhelmed with other students, could you go into detail what criteria you’d specifically assess when making that judgment?
I’ve noticed that most intellectual doujins tend to think of themselves as particularly special and of other people as not quite as much, even if the empirical evidence isn’t all that convincing (Mensa can be notoriously bad about this, so is the “I have goals!” self-help crowd), so I always take some time to look at the actual data before adopting a similar belief.
Ok, here’s why I think SPARC students would be underwhelmed by college students.
Regarding measurable facts, I’d estimate that:
Compared to the median UC Berkeley student, the median SPARC participant can spend 3x less time studying any material to get the same test score.
Compared to the median UC Berkeley student, the median SPARC participant’s expected cumulative income in the next 20 years is about 3x as much.
My point is that if you want to reach your potential in life, you want to calibrate your peer group to challenge you. And something like a factor of 3x isn’t calibrated.
That said, of course there are also ways in which the average SPARC participant is somewhat inferior to the average person, like making a good social first impression. But if the SPARC person can manage to train their conscious focus on that or any other area of weakness, I’d usually bet on them being able to surpass their non-SPARC peers in that area.
Intelligence is the smartphone of talents. Sure you can have other possessions, but usually the single best thing to have is a smartphone.
I enjoyed it, thanks for sharing. (Btw, are there more general, practical utility lectures like this?)
When you talk about being underwhelmed with other students, could you go into detail what criteria you’d specifically assess when making that judgment?
I’ve noticed that most intellectual doujins tend to think of themselves as particularly special and of other people as not quite as much, even if the empirical evidence isn’t all that convincing (Mensa can be notoriously bad about this, so is the “I have goals!” self-help crowd), so I always take some time to look at the actual data before adopting a similar belief.
Ok, here’s why I think SPARC students would be underwhelmed by college students.
Regarding measurable facts, I’d estimate that:
Compared to the median UC Berkeley student, the median SPARC participant can spend 3x less time studying any material to get the same test score.
Compared to the median UC Berkeley student, the median SPARC participant’s expected cumulative income in the next 20 years is about 3x as much.
My point is that if you want to reach your potential in life, you want to calibrate your peer group to challenge you. And something like a factor of 3x isn’t calibrated.
That said, of course there are also ways in which the average SPARC participant is somewhat inferior to the average person, like making a good social first impression. But if the SPARC person can manage to train their conscious focus on that or any other area of weakness, I’d usually bet on them being able to surpass their non-SPARC peers in that area.
Intelligence is the smartphone of talents. Sure you can have other possessions, but usually the single best thing to have is a smartphone.
Re general lectures, I also have a couple more of my own at liron.me/talks.