From: scott@bogus.network.address (Scott Tai)
Subject: t: Post for Week of Nov  9
Reply-To: scott@bogus.network.address (Scott Tai)
Organization: /usr/scott
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 17:39:59 GMT


ecsd@tfs.com (Eric C. S. Dynamic) writes:
: As far as a network address is concerned, the idea is - 
: ain't nobody but me at "ecsd@tfs.com" - and the mail doesn't 
: bounce - and I usually reply to everyone I can remember to

Well, it's pretty plain.  There's no one except Tai at 
mensa@nyx.cs.du.edu.  The mail doesn't bounce, and I try to 
reply to everyone (only phil and radams, so far...)

: Now: if that mensa mail address is for real, then there must 
: be some routing mechanism that gets your mail to YOU - since 
: nobody on the list is named Scott Tai - so? Who are YOU?

The question is irrelevant: all these affecting details are no
business of yours.  What possible difference does a name make?
A post should be judged by its contents, not its author; and 
likewise, criticisms should be directed towards the contents of 
an article and not to its author.  Some of you can't help being
partial, I've noticed.  

gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart) writes:
: When you talk about "future man", you are not necessarily talking
: about intelligence.  It may be (and probably is) that evolution
: has stopped, mentally, for humans.

This idea at the end of your article, which I regret to say you
merely suggested without working out clearly, interested me very
much.  Why do you believe that mental evolution in humans has 
stopped?

radams@BNR.CA (Rodney Adams) writes:
: "In progess" - yes, you will be making progress if you are ready to 
: assume responsibility for your words, shed light on the motivations 
: for your actions, and drop the whose initials are that of which you 
: so despise.

Done.

grohol@novavax.UUCP (John Grohol) writes:
: I find that a KILL file works very well in ignoring Scott Tai.
: 
: And, I believe that a warning should be inserted into the FAQ and
: short instructions on how to KILL any post by Scott Tai easily.

I have no prejudices, grohol.  I want to hear both sides.  Do you?

mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes:
: scott@ailab (Scott Tai) writes:
: > I must confess I don't quite understand him.  No doubt he has a 
: > motive, and probably a bad one.  I know he has a bad nature.  But I'm 
: > glad I've a better, to forgive it; and however miserable he makes us,
: > we shall still have the revenge of thinking that his cruelty arises
: > from his greater misery.
[...]
: My motive is that I do not care for liars and hypcrites--you have 
: proven yourself to be both.  If didn't post your lies and your 
: hypocricy, I wouldn't have come down on you.  The only misery you 
: are getting on this newsgroup is of your own making; you have
: brought it down upon yourself.

Judas!  traitor!  You are a hypocrite, too, are you?  A deliberate
deceiver.

And I want you to be aware that I know you have treated me infernally!
And if you flatter yourself that I don't perceive it, you are a fool;
and if you think I can be consoled by sweet words, you are an idiot;
and if you fancy I'll suffer unrevenged, I'll convince you of the
contrary, in a very little while!

You scandalous old hypocrite!  I warn you to refrain from provoking 
me, or I'll ask your abduction as a special favor.

:)

BFFN@MUSICB.MCGILL.CA (BFFN) writes:
: As a recently arrived reader of this newsgroup, I have tried to keep
: up with what has been going on re: Steiner, Tai, Franklin et al.
				     ^^^^^^^

Interesting to note whose name first comes to mind.

franklin@ug.cs.dal.ca (Steve Franklin) writes:
: In any case, I think that you have slipped into the cranial rut that 
: so many mensans and pseudo(?)-intellectuals submit to. What measures 
: intelligence.
:    If you think that the analysis of sentence structure is an effective
: means by which one can analyze and conclusively summate one's intelligence,
: then you are sorely mistaken and an exception to your own rule.
:    In any case - I suppose the key phrase of yours Scott is that this is
: all you have to go on, but that isn't true. The subjective analysis of one's
: concepts and ideas should carry much more weight than the grammatical 
: structure with which one's ideas are presented. Although your motivations
: are meritable, I don't think that these numbers mean a whole lot. Of course,
: since I came almost last in everything, perhaps it's possible that I do
: have an IQ of 93. I don't think so however...

The point of the post was to address the shortcomings of 'intelligence' 
tests by actually performing one based on the contents of posts to this
newsgroup.  Your arguments in the last paragraph apply to intelligence
tests in general.  

radams@BNR.CA (Rodney Adams) writes:
: Ironic that you quoted Tai's disclaimer and yet missed its relevance.  
: The post statistics addressed Eric's challenge to find out why 
: standardized tests CAN be useful.  The statistics presented an 
: objective means to evaluate intelligence based upon the limited 
: information that was available from what each poster had written.  
: The statement "Cases like this are when standardized tests are useful..." 
: implies that the poster does not accept that such an analysis properly 
: assesses intelligence.

True.

mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes:
: For instance, I usually attempt to write at the sixth-grade level 
: when writing to you, so that you can understand it.

You are incurable, mike_steiner, and you shall pay me for the plague 
of having you eternally in my sight!  Fellow-martyrs, have at him!  
Drag him down, and crush him to atoms, that the place which knows him 
may know him no more!

gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart) writes:
: >The correlation between higher scores and higher intelligence is 
: >likely to be quite high.
:
: If this is meant to be an example of falacious extrapolation,
: good.  Otherwise, shame on you for tainting an otherwise good post.

This is meant to be an example of a fallacious extrapolation,
just as in a typical standardized test.

: In all fairness, Steve, there are lots of canned programs out there 
: to do this type of thing.  Our local one is packaged as "Writer's 
: Workbench", and takes very little effort.  Just type "wwb 
: <document-file>", and it spews out all kinds of indexes and 
: suggestions for changes.

The 'style' program (written at Berkeley) was used to generate most
of the statistics for this test.

chorley@vms.ocom.okstate.edu writes:
: As an aside, don't you think ecsd's stats were somewhat skewed by his
: insistence on putting  "F*** Y**" every two or three words?

Heh.  Maybe...

: I still believe you are a figment of a group imagination somewhere, 
: but I have ceased to care.

In a sense, I'm a figment of a group imagination.  Tai is a part of
everyone, which involves getting in touch with nature and harmony
with oneself.

mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner)
: As a short, skinny, bespectacled geek who usually had his head 
: buried in a book, I was often picked on by schoolyard bullies.

It wasn't because you were a short, skinny, bespectacled geek.
It was because you were as annoying as you are on this newsgroup.

: radams@BNR.CA (Rodney Adams) writes:
: > The fact stands that your attacks have frequently devolved into 
: > name-calling, and, in fact, your recently post to Tai is little 
: >better than such.
:
: True, because that is all he deserved.

I thought if I had caused the cloud on rec.org.mensa, it was my duty
to make an effort to dispel it; so, I refrained from all flames.
mike_steiner, however, chose to continue flaming.  He is a spoiled
child, and fancies the world was made for his accomodation; and though
I humor him, I think a smart chastisement might improve him all the
same.  Don't imagine that he contains depths of benevolence and affection
beneath a rough exterior!  He's a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man.

eager@eagercon.com (Michael J. Eager) writes:
: Say Mike, I thought you were trying to write up to a sixth-grade level, 
: not down to one?  ;-)

No doubt!

I'll reply to ecsd's posts in a bit...

--Scott Andrew Tai

Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa