The Rising Age of the Cartel: Your Freedoms Were Simply an Experiment

To the SSkepticism Cabal, the US Constitution was simply a grand experiment which failed, and now we as science should usher our common good back into the 600 year old failed royalty elite-Let them Eat Cake-socialism of the past. Socialism, under the moniker of ‘consensus,’ is moral and is based on scientifically proved principles; which by chance just happen to support specific socioeconomic goals. It is this purposeful emasculation of public rights as being ‘anti-science’ based on their dissent, concern, or unapproved ideas, which we as a nation feared most in our inception – because unlike in the Thomas Paine scenario, it does not just hurt the one who precludes and denies. Unfortunately the Cabal has adopted this take on our free expression, free enterprise and economic rights as a nation. Examine the industry verticals, corporate clusters, and rates of inflation inside of such, wherein they spend the preponderance of their time in advocacy, and you will begin to glean a bit about the goals entailed.

‘Anti-Science!’ – The modern version of being accused of Witchcraft.

I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.

~ Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

Professional Skeptics, The Cartel Big Boys, are Here to Peer Review Your Supposed “Rights” Experiment as a Nation

Hyena method government was experiment - CopyThomas Paine understates the underhanded nature of censorship, in that the one who precludes himself of the right to change his mind is the least harmed by censorship. Even today, against Americans’ knowledge, their speech, their emails, their websites, their ideas – if they run counter to the Cabal, are being censored and muted by those in the Cabal who are seeking to circumvent the US Constitution and enact their own Utopia of Morality and Truth. Further, this control of ideas lends to a greater reality in which Social Skepticism is seeking to promote the dominance of a specific set of socioeconomic goals, commensurate with the rise of the socialist cartel, all in the name of ‘science.’ No better example elicits this current cartel/trust activity than the issue of the current ABCD seed monopoly and the ensuing related GMO propaganda being foisted by skeptics employed to defend the cartel.

The Public is Anti-Science!

“What happens when your political or ideological views are contradicted by the consensus of scientific opinion regarding the evidence (TES note: referring to the “safety” red herring, as opposed to necessity based validity of genetic modifications targeting simply anti-competitive profits by means food technology)? It appears that a common reaction (depending on how strongly held the ideological views are) is to reject science. Not only do people reject the science specific to their issue, they reject science itself.”

     ~ Steven Novella, Neurologica: Politics vs Science, Nov 17 2014; http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/politics-vs-science/

“It appears…” a furtive, lazy and loaded claim to broadscale knowledge. One bearing no evidence and backing only by a echochamber effect from a couple of news articles from familiar crony organizations (see chart below), tendering this same manipulated and extraordinary claim.

Steven whips out his regular ergo sum scientia fallacy – then purposely misconstrues in the above context, vis-à-vis the ‘safety of GMO’s’ strawman and red herring, the principal arguments entailed so they falsely appear to focus on the relative trivia surrounding nucleotide substitutions – yawn – rather than the economic and human rights questions entailed (below). The genetic modification of organisms is a future reality – the public is not against this science. Steven purposely occludes this core argument in favor of his preferred red herring:  By raising objection at all people are therefore, inside the above logic, at war against science …and quod erat demonstrandum their rights should be removed. Only the big boys of self-proclaimed science are qualified to formulate public policy. They are skeptical that your input is necessary.

just a word to the wise - Copy - CopyWhat indeed however is being discussed with respect to GMO food under the constitution is the right of a single corporation and/or 90+% dominant cluster of companies to employ such technology in skirting US Anti-Trust laws; simply to create channel domination profits and promote a single proprietary pesticide, all in the process of construction of a Cartel. In this case the ABCD (Archer Daniels Midland, Bungee, Cargill, Louis-Dreyfus) seed-to-table/glyphosate Cartel being defended by indirectly compensated non-expert Social Skeptics (see graphic of how a cartel functions below). Such a practice is corporate tyranny, rising well above the definition of ‘monopoly.’ It in no way constitutes an argument of safety and science, as Steven (a non-expert ‘skeptic’ in this industry) falsely contends.

In a country where its citizens cannot even call for more in-depth science on the pesticides, genes, growth promoters, hormones, antibiotics and chemicals it is FORCED to consume multiple times every day – because such science and legislation is blocked by so called ‘skeptics’ and legal/electoral threats are issued to wayward representatives,

Is this a constituency which is ‘anti-science?’

Is this a constituency who has constitutional input to its legislative representatives?

In a country where endocrine and immune diseases have gone last-20-year pandemic and cause enormous suffering, and the constituency can do NOTHING about it because ignorant ‘skeptics’ say it is all in our heads, and instead obsess over ghosts, UFO’s, bigfoot, gods, psychics and regulating supplements,

Is this skepticism which is focused on real science or scientific issues of gravitas?

Is all this indicative of a nation which is free?

The answer is a resounding ‘No

Fake Skepticism’s Role in the Rise of the Socialist Cartel

The Structure and Nature of a Cartel - CopyOn March 22, 1966, General Motors President James Roche was forced by the United States Senate to appear before a subcommittee, and further at the end of session to apologize to Ralph Nader for the company’s campaign of harassment and intimidation over his book Unsafe at Any Speed. Nader later successfully sued GM for excessive invasion of privacy. It was the money from this case that allowed him to lobby for consumer rights, leading to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air Act, among other things.‡

Nader was successful in his lawsuit because he and his lawyers were able to demonstrate a track record of GM response to his criticism of the Corvair, through trying to destroy Nader’s image and to silence him. General Motors more specifically retained corporate insiders and directly compensated third parties, wherein GM

  1. conducted a series of interviews with acquaintances of the plaintiff, ‘questioning them about, and casting aspersions upon [his] political, social, racial and religious views; his integrity; his sexual proclivities and inclinations; and his personal habits’
  2. kept him under surveillance in public places for an unreasonable length of time;
  3. caused him to be accosted by girls for the purpose of entrapping him into illicit relationships;
  4. made threatening, harassing and obnoxious telephone calls to him;
  5. tapped his telephone and eavesdropped, by means of mechanical and electronic equipment, on his private conversations with others; and
  6. conducted a ‘continuing’ and harassing investigation of him.”‡

The Ralph Nader/General Motors case, more than any single event with the exception of the Big Tobacco obfuscation-skepticism, precipitated the introduction of the modern era of Social Skepticism. The General Motors Corvair case elicited the importance of establishing a non-corporate, non-third party, credible but untouchable group of fanatic activists to act on behalf of corporate interests. A mafia sans the pinstripe suits. A non-liability bearing risk-mitigation group, committed to their social understanding of the science handed to them, who would be willing with or without full awareness, to pursue the enemies of the cartel with fervent and damaging passion. All in the name of science.

Activists so sure of their correctness, that any means of social shaming, career damage, or personal defamation could be justified in the destruction of enemies of truth (cartel enemies). Activists of sufficient academic intelligence to be able to understand some science, develop an argument and publish in journal or media channels, but not smart enough to observe a game of counter intelligence and their role therein.

This prostituting of smart-but-dumb players is a common tradecraft in intelligence circles. It is the essence of modern skepticism.

From the history of the American Medical Association versus the Chiropractic industry: “in 1975 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Goldfarb vs. The Virginia State Bar, that learned professions are not exempt form antitrust suites. In 1982 the Court ruled that the FTC can enforce antitrust laws against medical societies. These two suites paved the way in 1976 for five chiropractors to file an anti-trust suite against the AMA and several other heath care agencies and societies in Federal District Court (known as the Wilkes Case). Similar suites were filed in New York and Pennsylvania in 1979. The pressure of these law suites forced the AMA even before these suites went to court to propose a modification of their Medical Code of Ethics which prohibited M.D.s from associating with chiropractors. But, it was not until 1980 that the Ethics Code was changed to reflect that each individual doctor may decide for themselves whether to accept a patient from or refer a patient to a chiropractor or other limited practitioner.”∈

These two cases more than anything else, established the need for a separate-on-the-surface activism group which was immune to anti-trust, defamation, business tampering and tortious interference laws. Cartels needed a way around the law – and inside Skepticism they found this way.

All this is introduced in the mind of the Social Skeptic under the guise of ‘science.’ Science handed to them by their corporate sponsors. Science which cannot be questioned because Social Skeptics block threatening research before it can even be developed. If you don’t accept the wholesale imposition of their politics or corporate activism, and since they and their political cronies all joined a club self-entitled ‘science,’ you are now therefore anti-science if you disagree in the least with their politics, religion, agenda and professional constraints.. In the particular instance above, Steven is contending that science justifies sets of political action which serve solely to remove human rights. The imposition of privately manipulated food stocks, property which formerly fell inside the public domain, solely for oligarch anti-competitiveness – putting small farms out of business so large socialist cartels can displace formerly free economic mechanisms – and force all of us to consume 1000 times per year, only that which they and their cronies have personally approved. This constitutes simply one small example of the goal of a socioeconomic structure dominated by cartel; cartels which feature:¹

Features of a Cartel Based Industry Vertical

enslavement of nihilismContrary to the mis-definitions of the term cartel by non-professional media sources, cartels are not ‘price fixing rings’ or ‘drug dealing corporations.’  A cartel is simply a tacit agreement inside and outside an industry vertical (one with the remaining few oligarchs) to exclude competition and entry to that market. A cartel does not have to price fix (even though by default position, a cartel is already price fixing whether the players intend to or not), nor does a cartel actually even need be profitable. All that is needed for the formation of a cartel, is the illegal vertical control of a market – enabled by partnership with government regulators, banks suppliers and M1 Financiers, across international borders, such that only grey and black markets can exist aside from its dominion.

Investopedia defines a cartel as ‘An organization created from a formal agreement between a group of producers of a good or service, to regulate supply in an effort to regulate or manipulate prices. A cartel is a collection of businesses or countries that act together as a single producer and agree to influence prices for certain goods and services by controlling production and marketing.’²

This is incorrect. Under this permissive definition, even OPEC is not considered a cartel. First there need not be a formal agreement, rather simply an industry standard set of practices. To sell crude oil, one must hold an OPEC Standard Assay Report on the lot of oil and schedule a Lifting Slot at a pier, assigned to a specific ship with a specific authorized Sail Plan. Otherwise, any oil commerce outside this practice is considered “piracy.” Push article propaganda regularly circulates citing the rise in ‘piracy,’ hoping that the American public confuses this action on the part of an excluded market with ‘Captain Phillips’ – and therefore will support increased regulatory spending. These practices are not enforced by OPEC, rather American and European banks, who will not issue MT series documents to finance any transaction which runs afoul of participation in this cartel practice set. Can I cite a reference on this? No, of course not. These are unpublished corporate policies; sets of relative privation. No one is going to publish a document entitled “Here is How Our Cartel is Run.” One only learns this by actually assisting developing nations in attempting to set up exports for their oil.

Interestingly enough, grey market oil trades are allowed, it is just they are only allowed for certain politicians and highly powerful and influential individuals …ones who could never afford to be seen taking a pay-off. Ones who mysteriously make hundreds of millions of dollars prior to an important election, through ‘smart business practices.’

Second, there need not be any price gouging in a cartel. With the intervention of free money from outside sources, the objective is not price gouging and profitability – rather simply learning how to completely control entry into a given market vertical. There is plenty of money to go around and everything can be made to appear as if it were ‘non-profitable’ (wink wink, all skeptical tongues should be held at this moment). The US Healthcare system is a fine example, of a cartel wherein costs have risen by a very conservative Standard & Poor’s definition with an embedded rate of inflation of 48% every 10 years. Yet still, no one seems to be making blockbuster profits from price gouging. Well, imagine that. There exists an entire network of compensated ‘skeptics’ who are appointed to defend that industry from any unwanted competition.† They have not published a set of practices in this. They just do it. “Anti-Science!!” “Deadly, Toxic, Placebo!!” are the bully weapon words employed in that shill argument. All the while conflating the British and American definitions of Homeopathy, which are wholly different, because the British definition affords them more bandwagon one-liners. The result is the Cartel targeting of preventative health philosophies and supplements, which have absolutely nothing at all to do with homeopathy in the first place.

Skeptic tweets, blogs and articles inevitably come out during the work day (most on Monday and Tuesday from 10am to 3pm), over monitored corporate networks. Their claims to have spotted fraud, poorly researched opinion sets, unwarranted and non-supported attacks on people, businesses and institutions are never met with reprisal or word of caution by their employers.  An odd exception in an industry wherein corporate image and professional standards of conduct in communication are constantly touted to be of utmost importance?

Third, it is not simply the goods themselves which are constrained in terms of access to a cartel dominion, rather, the money, agencies, supply channels, remote cost effective labor, cost efficiencies themselves, political agreements, exclusivities, contracts, shippers, consolidators, capital, licenses to operate and import, regulatory agencies, wholesalers, raw materials, etc. It is the limitation of access to these enabling market features which defines a cartel. More specifically this includes the following features:

1.  A fictitious supply of money, exercised through exclusive access placement and paper trading mechanisms which enrich the hidden royal elite of socialism – affording them unique financial access to mineral rights, international trade, materials supply, capital funding, the most highly leveraged manufacturing, channels of supply and political influence.

2. Banks which limit the volume and access, based on overhead and risk, allowed in bond and capital flows; such that only those authorized to do so, can capitalize the large scale formation of international business. These bank policies are constructed outside political boundaries so as to elude anti-trust legal jurisdiction.

3.  Corporations which bear the sole and unilateral right to modify the supply of or monopolize/cartel-ize an industry vertical, without review by or consent from the public. Anti-competitive practices which skirt anti-trust laws by operating principally offshore and through the establishment of multi-national supply monopolies of the materials, manufacturing and shipping resources necessary to establish and operate business.

4.  Corporations which bear the sole and unilateral right to construct shill and small authorized cottage capital businesses, limited in scope and size, bound by non-compete compliance agreements, which serve as barriers to entry and displace legitimate competing free enterprise inside a cartel dominated industry vertical.

5.  Corporations which bear the sole and unilateral right to take public domain property, modify it slightly, and then force this new intellectual property to displace all old public domain assets, in order to create a monopoly/cartel which previously could not legally exist, without review by or consent from the public. (All we have to do is call it ‘science’).

6.  Corporations which bear the sole and unilateral right to power of intellectual property, no longer needing patents or to attain the 3 litmus tests of patent-ability (novel, not obvious, teachable) in order to leverage domination of an industry. Intellectual property can now be forced on the public in an unqualified and non-expiring tyranny of elite ownership. (All we have to do is call it ‘property’).

7.  Corporations which bear the unilateral right to sole access to commissions and governmental agencies by means of communications, legislation, lobbying, mutual employment/inter-breeding and oversight – abrogating their accountability to the public at large. (All we have to do is simply ignore this).

8.  Barriers to Entry which are iron clad and promote economic dependence and elimination of a powerful upper and middle class, free information and press mechanisms – the enemies of socialist cartels.

9.  The comprehensive and complete control of an industry set of transactions such that select sets of those transactions can be allotted as compensation for political favors, election influence, ministry corruption, and rewards to key/royalty participants; thereby avoiding detectable illegal pay-offs. The exercise of such transactions simply keeping the appearance of business as usual for the otherwise inaccessible industry vertical.

10.  Foundations and Activist organizations which are funded by elite fictitious money, seeking to promote the dominance of socialist cartels, undue government influence, elimination of a free press, filtering and control of the internet and information, in displacement of public rights – and themselves fund money to promote compromised educational, media and ‘skepticism’ social groups.

It Starts with the Social Skepticism’s Blocking of Public Access to Rights, Self Determination, Regulation and Information

consensus - Copy

And in the end, with respect to our curiously highly motivated ‘skeptics,’ who publish most of their skeptic work right in the middle of the compensated work-day; all this is justified, no mandated, by those claiming falsely that somehow ‘science’ trumps human rights. The Phil Plaitt’s, Steven Novella’s and Michael Shermer’s of the world spit in the face of the public at large, the Bill of Rights, and insult our collective intelligence by framing the strawman, that somehow – any exercise of rights on the part of the public is irrational, vile and socially deplorable. All deployed behind the smokescreen of accusing people of being “anti-science” for the simple act of defending their rights lost in the above points.

Phil Plaitt decries the exercise of human rights over the manipulation of those rights by figures making the claim to represent science – by equivocally framing this human rights suppression as “investigation, creative progress, science.” Moreover comparing its means of constitutional jurisdiction on the part of the American People to be equivalent to Soviet tyranny and Lysenkoism:

When a society’s government (in the United States: the public) starts dictating what can and cannot be investigated, scientific and creative progress stalls. Lysenko’s work, advocated by Stalin, led to the USSR falling almost irretrievably behind other, more progressive countries; ones like the United States.

~ Phil Plaitt, Bad Astronomy: Why is Our Government Attacking Science? May 1, 2013; http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/05/01/attacks_on_science_government_antiscience_on_the_rise.html

This is spin and a great example of Godwin’s Gaffe, practicing exactly what Social Skeptics decry as inevitable and invalid, Godwin’s Law: their being compared to Nazi’s and Communists. The public is not dictating what can and cannot be “investigated” (save for the necessity to manage federal funding deficits and putting a cap on what is considered to be entitled money) – they are objecting to the wholesale imposition of policy, the removal of human rights and right to free enterprise, through the simple act of declaring one’s self to represent ‘science’ or specious claims of ‘scientific consensus.’ Defending one’s rights inside a constitutional jurisdiction does not in any way resemble the actions of old Bolsheviks and Lysenkoists. The designation of the defense of human rights as Lysenkoism, is the attempt to remove the right to self determination by a people, at the hands of those who are not qualified, much less appointed, to make such unilateral decisions.

The USSR fell apart because precisely because they denied public human, governmental and economic rights, not because they squelched the ideas of those who called themselves ‘scientists.’ The alternative Godwin’s Gaffe foisted above is a clueless re-invention of history. Ironically, it was the Soviet Union who delved more deeply into subjects which were and still are, forbidden and disdained by Social Skeptics in the United States.

rise of oligarchy - CopyThe result of this is a dramatic shift of wealth back into the same socialist hands which served to precipitate World War I and II (see graphic from the Economist, to the right). We are well underway back to the establishment of this same form of socioeconomic practice, once again.

Our best and our brightest, too stupid, skeptical and compliant to spot when they have been manipulated into serving institutions which only promote royalty, and serve to enslave and create conflict.

To the SSkepticism Cabal, in their superior educated wisdom, the US Constitution was simply a grand experiment which failed, and now we should step back into the 600 year old failed royalty-Let them Eat Cake-socialism of the past. Because socialism is moral and based on scientifically proved principle, my principles, human rights are an unnecessary if they get in the way of cartel power and the intentions of those who declare themselves to be ‘science.’ It is this purposeful targeting of persons based on their ideas, which we as a nation feared most in our inception – because unlike in the Thomas Paine scenario, it does not just hurt the one who precludes and denies.

This principle, the concept that it is experimentally moral to change government solely for reasons of increased control, and begin to remove and filter ideas based on their ‘truth and reason’ content is no better expressed than by Michael Shermer himself; grand master of social morality and truth enforcement on the populace.  A product of religion himself, now spinning his new religion with a blood-thirst by which even Jerry Falwell would be awed.

If you want different results [government], change the variables. “The founders often spoke of the new nation as an ‘experiment,’” Ferris writes. “Procedurally, it involved deliberations about how to facilitate both liberty and order…” As Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1804: “No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth.” ³

~ Michael Shermer, The Work of Michael Shermer, Scientific American, Sept 2010.

  • Your freedom of speech, was just an experiment
  • Your rights to assemble and communicate, were just an experiment
  • Your right to unfiltered information, was just an experiment
  • A free press, was just an experiment
  • A free capital economy, was just an experiment
  • Your right to bear arms, was just an experiment
  • Your right to life liberty and pursuit of happiness, was just an experiment
  • Your right to thrive, was just an experiment
  • Your right to freedom from totalitarian corporations acting in lieu of the public trust and right to self-determination, was just an experiment

And since We Are The Science, only We, the Cabal, are authorized to issue Peer Review on this experiment.

We will note with the Cabal that, the only thing which will not be an experiment, is their power. That is absolute and unquestionable. They have made this very clear.


¹  Appleyard, Field, Cobb, “In the Real World: The Effects of International Cartels,” International Economics (Seventh Edition), pp 139 – 150.

²  Investopeidia, “Cartel;”   http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cartel.asp

³  “Democracy’s Laboratory,” The Work of Michael Shermer, September 2010; Scientific American; http://www.michaelshermer.com/2010/09/democracys-laboratory/

†  Social Skeptic Organizations Directly Compensated by Pharmaceutical Companies:

‡  Unsafe at Any Speed: Industry Response, Wikipedia; extracted 21 Sep 2015:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsafe_at_Any_Speed.

A Mediocracy in 4.0: Discounting College Acceptance Aptitude Testing is a Grave Error

The College Board aims to start a national crusade for college access with a revamp of its SAT admission test to debut in 2016. But the nonprofit organization faces a major hurdle in its quest: Use of the SAT has shrunk in huge swaths of the country since the test’s last makeover nine years ago. In 29 states, a Washington Post analysis found, there were fewer SAT test-takers in the high school class of 2013 than there were in the class of 2006. Over seven years, the declines in SAT test-takers exceeded 20 percent in 19 states, including drops of 59 percent in Michigan, 46 percent in Illinois, 37 percent in Ohio and 25 percent in Tennessee.¹

~ Nick Anderson, The Washington Post: Education; March 16, 2014

“Never hire an A student unless it is to take exams.”

~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Even as far back as 1997, researchers found that not only does there exist a mismatch between SAT scores and achieved high school GPA’s, indicative of severe levels of grade inflation at the high school level; but moreover, the level of grade inflation appears to be focused more heavily into the most underachieving SAT academic environments.† This renders the entire 4.0 GPA attainment a mockery in deception and procedural gaming; unsuitable as a measure to perform in its ascending role as the sole basis for collegiate acceptances. This malady serves as a sentinel shedding light into the phenomena of academic arrogance and unaccountability, Social Skepticism, as well as why the overall levels of integrity are falling inside the broader realms of American business, economics and politics.

Ideas are Not Welcome in a Utopia

small minds - Copy - CopyBoth the level of employment of SAT tests in college admissions, and as well the score results themselves, are both down again over the last 7 years, continuing an alarming trend of ineffectiveness on the part of US Education.  My purpose here is not to hash fully over again, the pro and con arguments of GPA versus SAT employment in the college admissions process, nor the pro and con arguments which can be foisted towards each point of view. An excellent discourse, albeit one introduced by asking the wrong and ill thought out question, can be found here. Be careful however with this link, as the debate presented here revolves around the equivocal term ‘standardized testing,’ conflating 3rd and 5th grade standardized measures with means and methods of college acceptance. Generally I do not trust anyone who purposely confuses ‘all standardized test scores’ as a means of enforcing GPA as the sole criteria basis for college admissions. Neither do I trust anyone who would ask the prejudiced and charged question, begging thusly “Is the Use of Standardized Tests Improving Education in America?” as is prefaced in the linked article. This is an equivocating and loaded question, begging for a process leading to a single non-sequitur political answer to the question at hand.  The real question to be asked is “What has been, and what will be, the impact of a shift away from the SAT as an important basis of college admissions acceptance in terms of the quality and preparedness of new professional candidates?” This is the correct question under the scientific method. The question which is asked by one who thinks in terms of ideas, and not in terms of process to arrive at the correct answer.

The Zone of Corruptability wrt Grades and Standardized Scores - CopyMy purpose here is to relate key examples of where, in my research firms, labs and companies, both in science and engineering, I have observed directly the deleterious and misleading effects of a GPA – focused candidate selection process.  One which elicits a growing problem in our culture with dominant, oligarch and compliance oriented institutions. Cartels which no longer stand accountable to your opinion as an American, regarding the ethical nature of their business and social actions.  Social Skepticism thrives in a culture of procedural acumen; one which worships GPA, compliance, achievement and following the instructions.  Why? Because that is what is necessary in an Orwellian Utopia of correct answers and correct people.

Ideas are unnecessary, indeed not welcome, in a Social Skepticism utopia.

Anybody paying attention to the course of modern school reform will not be very surprised by this news: Newly released SAT scores show that scores in reading, writing and even math are down over last year and have been declining for years. And critical reading scores are the lowest in 40 years. ³

~ Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post: Local; September 14, 2011

From my observation, in the pool of hundreds of scientists and engineers I have hired over the decades (and yes, I have kept a record of every single one of them – their GPA and SAT, their professional evaluations, and their work track record), this trend in focus to procedural acumen is a cause for concern.  Concern in terms of corporations’ ability to hire qualified and equipped candidates, and concern with respect of worker ability to spot pathways of integrity versus ones of questionable ethics – in the midst of awesome and intimidating compliance requirements levied by oligarch driven cartels. Right now, in our top 5 growing industries, the answer to these questions of concern is not an encouraging one.

This loss of focus on what constitutes real education, I contend, is a principal contributor to the origin of our current plague of Fake Skepticism and crippling/abusive Cartel Economics.

procedural acumen

/Education : Teaching : Aptitude/ : The orientation of a learning process or mindset into which an individual is educated, which distinguishes itself through a lower exposure to ideas, in contrast with a high exposure to people, events, facts, methods and memorization. While procedural acumen is important in education, and certainly stands as a key component of an individual success formula inside the attainment of academic achievement, it should not occupy the sole goal domain of an educational system. Indeed, its preeminence stands as a vulnerable Achilles’s heel with respect to industry’s ability to address corruption, bureaucracy, need for vision, leadership, courage and the transcendent nature of discerning integrity versus blind compliance or corruptibility.

_________________________________

If a man’s thoughts are to have truth and life in them, they must, after all, be his own fundamental thoughts; for these are the only ones that he can fully and wholly understand. . . . a man who thinks for himself can easily be distinguished from the book-philosopher by the very way in which he talks, by his marked earnestness, and the originality, directness, and personal conviction that stamp all his thoughts and expressions. The book-philosopher, on the other hand, lets it be seen that everything he has is second-hand.

~ Arthur Schopenhauer, “On Thinking for Yourself” (1851)

When One Promotes 4.0 Mediocrity Over Ideas and Intellect in Collegiate Acceptance

“Mistakes grow your brain,” Jo Boaler, professor of mathematics education at Stanford University expressed at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is co-hosted by The Atlantic (see below). She further contends,

“When we give kids the message that mistakes are good, that successful people make mistakes, it can change their entire trajectory,” Boaler said.‡

Psychologist Carol Dweck elaborates on this further as well in her book The New Psychology of Success,

“100 percent is not an ideal score. When kids come home from school and announce that they got everything right on their school work, Dweck advises parents to offer some sympathy: Oh, I’m sorry you didn’t get the chance to learn.”‡

fear - Copy - Copy
My Advice to Aspiring Tier I College Entrants
  • Don’t participate in Athletics – you might not get in
  • Don’t have allergies or ADHD – you might not get in
  • Don’t participate in Drama or Music – you might not get in
  • Don’t have a medical condition – you might not get in
  • Don’t participate in Student Government – you might not get in
  • Don’t have parental/home issues – you might not get in
  • Don’t have a medical issue – you might not get in
  • Don’t fail to kiss ass with ANY instructor – you might not get in
  • Don’t work to help any fellow student – you might not get in
  • Don’t come from an affluent family – all it takes is one instructor to give you a B
  • Don’t be in the wrong political party – all it takes is one instructor to block you
  • Don’t be in the wrong religion – all it take is one instructor who does not like that
  • Don’t let your parents be in the military – all it takes is one social epistemologist B
  • Don’t write a paper saying things academics don’t agree with – you might not get in
  • Don’t participate in extracurricular activities of any kind – you might not get in
  • Don’t have intestinal, focus, energy, visual or learning style differences – you might not get in
  • Don’t waste study time in community activities, charity, social or church work – you might not get in
  • Don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend – because you might not get in
  • Follow the instructions – because they can hold a B over your head at any time
  • Don’t question – because all it takes is one Social Skeptic instructor and you are dead
  • Study – because a 4.0 GPA is all that counts
  • Cheat – because you Fear the B
  • Corrupt our grading processes – otherwise our preferred students might not get in
  • Everyone gets an A – teach students all about the ethics of appearances
  • Evaluate teachers on their ability to get the right grades to the right people

After all – Colleges want well rounded ethical leaders who can think for themselves – get that 4.0!

stanford acceptance of SAT and GPA - Copy - CopyI am not of course speaking about the lack of effort entailed in say a 2.9 GPA in high school; rather indeed focusing on the differences between a 3.7 and a 4.0 GPA. The discernment of student effectiveness as a thinker may not readily be ascertained by such a narrow margin of delineation. The factors which contribute to earning a 4.0 versus a 3.7 might not constitute issues of diligence, as much as we like to pretend such. As you can observe here in the graphic on the right, citing the admissions habits of one of my favorite institutions, Stanford University, an extreme bias towards GPA is now exercised in the selection process.  I would really hate to be that guy or gal on the extreme right, the red dot who scored a 2400, yet had a 3.7 GPA in high school, and as a result was denied admission to Stanford.  What was the particular case there? Did her father get injured or killed in Afghanistan? Did he contract diabetes in high school and lose his ability to focus during tests from attempting to learn how to control blood sugar swings? Perhaps she was hit in the head with a softball and was unable to get her vision stabilized for a critical year due to a ‘snap-back’ injury?

What bothers me, is not the fact that this dot exists in red (non-acceptance) on the Stanford chart – What bothers me is the fact that fewer than 5 candidates with an exceptionally high SAT, had a suitable excuse as to why their GPA was below a 4.0. Moreover, all the GPA’s are unrealistically smashed into the 4.0 ceiling, offering no way to adjudicate between students – and hinting strongly indicative towards a reliance upon an overinflated student measure.  This is an extreme problem – a bias in selection towards falsely inflated GPA’s which will end up biting us in the ass one day as a nation.

I will contend this, that of those students who equaled me in GPA in high school, only two had a higher SAT score (both went to tier I schools), and only 3 out of the entire 15 actually did anything at all with their lives. The remaining 12 simply followed the instructions, took up a slot at the University, absorbed a scholarship, and then left school and did absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. As a man who funds scholarships for disadvantaged students now at my alma mater, this waste of top academic slots really pisses me off.

We all received scholarships of varying magnitude. 80% of both the scholarships and the university slots were wasted on these rule follower students. GPA for them turned out simply to constitute an ego trip of enormously costly social impact. Were we to have relied upon SAT scores more heavily, at least 2/3’rds of these candidates would have never made it into tier I universities. Their GPA’s were high because they endeared themselves with the teachers and followed the rules obsessively.  But they had no desire whatsoever to actually apply the education they were abusing. Their SAT scores, were in the high to average range. These socialites could have been replaced by persons who actually sought to do something with their lives, however were not as popular with their instructors or encountered a life challenge in high school. I know of several brilliant 3.7/3.8 GPA students who could have performed well in their places.

But if wasted scholarships and university admission slots were the only deleterious effect of endemic inflation of GPA’s, then that circumstance might almost be tolerable. Sadly however, this lesson about gaming the system and the numbers in favor of appearances bears additional ill fruit in terms of American Ethics, well beyond education.  Let’s review what this false pretense, a mediocrity in 4.0, does in terms of the preparedness of the average high school student, as well as its eventual impact inside the workplace of ideas and accountability.

Achievement is questionable when the tasks entailed have been mandated to the achiever. Rule followers will always ask how high they should jump. Aptitude in part, indicates the propensity to achieve when the achievement goals are no longer mandatory or are not so well defined.  Just as morality is defined often as being what one does when no one is looking, in similar form true aptitude based achievement is indicated by what goals one sets when no one any longer is telling you what to do next.

      ~ TES

Achievement justifies authority - CopyThere are several problems with using GPA as the sole means, or dominant means of acceptance to tier I universities.

1.  It stimulates egregious levels of grade inflation at the high school level.

2.  It tempts instructors to reward with grades those they personally like, more than those they do not.

3.  It encourages and mandates a culture of systemic cheating, especially at the collegiate level.

4.  It spreads the zone of acceptability into ranges of candidates who are not characterized by particularly high involvement in ideas, other than those they have been taught to tender fealty towards.

5.  It weakens our society in its ability to discern those of a high level of integrity, ambition and acumen, from those who are susceptible to corruptibility or diffidence (see graph above).

6.  It creates an unfair disadvantage to students who suffered life trauma or who’s parents endured military or dynamic career interruptions during their high school tenure. Socially fixed students will advance in contrast.

7.  It weakens our society in its ability to discern those of a high level of integrity and acumen, from those who simply followed all the rules (see graph above).

8.  It promotes a reliance on Social Skepticism, and not science, as the means of cultivating and filtering ideas, obtaining information and understanding knowledge development.

9.  It leaves students and their society unarmed with the ideas and insights necessary in combating corruption and cartel and socialist based economics.

10.  It trains shallow, procedural acumen, and ‘cover your ass’ political leaders who know that appearances are all that matter.

GPA is an Unreliable Predictor of Success in the Professional STEM Workplace

Through an inflated 4.0 level of following the next steps, you can aspire someday to sit in a really nice cubicle or corner office. But you are less likely to bear the character or skill set which can stand to change the world of ideas. Moreover, you might fall destiny to becoming a fixture inside of that which ultimately needs changing.

What I hire - CopyJust as GPA was an unreliable predictor of professional success in my high school experience, on the broader market – it is an unreliable predictor of anything aside from ‘graduation rates’ themselves. Now again as a reminder here, were are not talking about a 4.0 versus 2.9 GPA, rather the artifice of employing 3.7 to 4.0 differentials to trump aptitude measures altogether as the basis for college admissions. This social presumption, along with the refusal to examine longer term professional success along these GPA differential lines, is well… pseudoscience. Employing graduation rates as the outcome measure in the effectiveness of GPA based admissions is a lackluster approach to evaluating its effectiveness. The observation we all need to make is ‘What is this adherence to pretenses and image, producing in terms of professional culture in America?’ There are several problems with using GPA as the sole means, or dominant means of acceptance to tier I universities, which manifests later in life to become problems in the workplace. These are the ones I have observed over three decades of hiring, teaching and managing STEM professionals in a highly demanding set of professional workplace environments.  Yes, ones which seek to change the world, but more importantly, ones which seek out integrity and ethics over compliance and dogma.

1.  nnt a students and academic cocoonsIt stimulates evaluation of professionals based on their ability to follow preprogrammed objectives only. Early in my career it was hard to distinguish performance over those who followed every instruction to the tee. I wasted years attempting to demonstrate that more than this was required to impress clients and solve complex problems.

2.  It tempts managers to reward with high objective ratings, those they personally like, more than those they do not – because they cannot distinguish talent from compliance. I personally rated those who challenged me with objective ideas, higher than those who simply agreed with me, who were also higher ranked than those who simply sought to be disagreeable.

3.  It renders executives into ‘pathways of privilege’ wherein it is the school you attend and the endorsements you receive socially which determine your career track, and not competence – only the appearance thereof. I have witnessed hundreds of executives who, bounce from top job to top job simply because of their executive MBA and social class; executives who bear no more depth or understanding, than does a mid level manager of those same businesses.  I have witnessed entitled persons be given Senior VP slots within years after graduation, and then after taking a 3 year break – be given the CEO role in a major corporation, simply because they were blessed as uber-compliant/uber-diligent. Are these people going to challenge illegal and unethical activity when they encounter it?  Hell no, they hope to be gifted with its inheritance, so why would they raise a stink?

4.  It encourages and mandates a culture of systemic gaming, fraud and cheating with respect to published numbers. The rate of fraud, account manipulation for quarterly financial results, production number tweaking, and milestone padding, is rampant in procedural acumen based companies. Some very noteworthy clients of mine over the years were rife with numerical fraud practices. It was particularly disconcerting to observe this habit, from those who graduated from a very familiar B-school.

5.  It spreads the uncertainty factor on the performance of entry level candidates based upon simply their academic performance alone. I typically asked for university name, example leadership roles and SAT score – and providing their GPA was above a 3.0 – I did not care.  A 3.8 from Ball State simply did not match up to a 3.3 at Stanford. Nor did I want to hire a slob with a 3.9 or 4.0 who simply sat in front of a computer for 4 years (even and especially if your degree was Information Technology) and did nothing but classwork or a little TA assistanceship.  Not impressed.

6.  It weakens our businesses in their ability to discern those of a high level of integrity and acumen, from those who are susceptible to corruptibility (see graph above).

7.  It creates professionals who constantly reply to new challenges “But I have not been trained on how to do that.”

8.  It renders our society vulnerable to professionals who skirt the system, game the rules to steal money, or think that putting all other mid-tier businesses out of business is congruent with ‘competitiveness,’ or fail to see the unethical nature of an industry vertical dominated by cartel. Over the years I worked with several clients who’s strategy it was to use unfair offshore cost advantage agreements to put smaller domestic competitors out of business, and then raise prices back to a higher level than they were previously once completed.  We reside in this Cartel Based Economy now. It is a 4.0 GPA Cartel Economy of our own crafting.

9.  It promotes a reliance on Social Skepticism, and not science, as the means of cultivating and filtering ideas, obtaining information and understanding knowledge development.

10.  It results in professionals who feel entitled as if they are supposed to be “in charge” from day one. Professionals who are easily offended when other persons apply strong aptitude for results in a subject, customer or corporate challenge. Aptitude which threatens their internal assessment of their own superiority. They are perplexed and angry that they followed all the rules and were not given all the glory as usual.

11.  It renders professionals and governments unarmed with the ideas and insights necessary in combating corruption and mafia or cartel based economics. There are numerous ministers in foreign countries, with whom I worked over the years, who ascended to their positions through the graces of a controlling cabal, cartel or mafia. They were afraid to do anything other than follow the rules they were given.  Their people suffered as a result. They were emasculated, terrified servants, with perfect GPA’s.

12.  It trains shallow, procedural acumen, and ‘cover your ass’ political leaders who know that appearances are all that matter.

Interestingly, there is not one Celebrity SSkeptic I know, who would have ever passed the screening and interview process for hiring into one of my companies. It is always refreshing, not to mention highly effective, to work with sincere mindsets and not those who made it by on a daisy chain of one academic achievement underpinning the credibility basis for the next scheduled one. For the Ethical Skeptic, it all starts at the watering hole of collegiate academic evaluation and acceptance methods. Will we return again to choosing those students with success-oriented integrity and acumen habits (aptitude), or retreat further headlong into policies of rewarding scripted ideas, obsessive compliance, and a cultivation of 4.0 mediocrity, spun as ‘achievement?’

Hence of course the charter of this blog: Challenging Pseudo-Skepticism, Institutional Propaganda and Cultivated Ignorance.


¹  Nick Anderson, The Washington Post: Education; March 16, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-usage-declined-in-29-states-over-7-years/2014/03/15/f4504cfc-a5ff-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html.

²  Stanford GPA, SAT and ACT Data, Allen Grove; About Education; http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/stanford-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm.

³  Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post: Local; September 14, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-the-decline-in-sat-scores-really-means/2011/09/14/gIQAdUzdSK_blog.html.

†  “Grade Inflation: The Current Fraud.” By M. Donald Thomas and William L. Bainbridge.
Effective School Research. January 1997.

‡  James Hamblin, The Atlantic: “100 Percent Is Overrated – People labeled “smart” at a young age don’t deal well with being wrong.” June 30, 2015; http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/the-s-word/397205/.

Aristotle: Discerning the True Skeptic

“…what I find unpleasant about SAM [Skeptic and Atheism Movement]: a community who worships celebrities who are often intellectual dilettantes, or at the very least have a tendency to talk about things of which they manifestly know very little; an ugly undertone of in-your-face confrontation and I’m-smarter-than-you-because-I-agree-with [insert your favorite New Atheist or equivalent]; loud proclamations about following reason and evidence wherever they may lead, accompanied by a degree of groupthink and unwillingness to change one’s mind that is trumped only by religious fundamentalists; and, lately, a willingness to engage in public shaming and other vicious social networking practices any time someone says something that doesn’t fit our own opinions, all the while of course claiming to protect “free speech” at all costs.”

~ Massimo Pigliucci, “Reflections on the skeptic and atheist movements;” Scientia Salon, May 11, 2015.

aristotle - CopyThere exist four domains of virtue/absence of virtue which compose the realm of character. The Aristotelian three character virtues: practical wisdom, morality and benevolence as well as their antithesis, akrasia.¹ A person who acts under a state of akrasia, inside the structures outlined by Aristotle, has surrendered their ethical will to a milieu of passion; ie. reason, abrogated by some emotion, feeling or character flaw. These varieties of character flaw can stem from a number of motivations – anger over past treatment, political correctness and indignance, greed or the desire to control, compensation for a secret doubt or insecurity, arrogance or pathological hatred of those who truly bear the three virtues themselves. Each of these character flaws compose the motivational essence behind Methodical Cynicism and Social Skepticism.  It is their application however, in the Aristotelian sense, which is more important than their theory. How each is expressed in practice can be embodied inside a structure of observation, entitled krymméno akrasia, or hidden pathos:

krymméno akrasia

/Ancient Greek : κρυμμένο ἀκρασία, “art of reason by hidden pathos”/ : An akratic person goes against reason as a result of some pathos (“emotion,” “feeling”). Aristotle’s explanation of akrasia is simply that pathos is sometimes a stronger motivational force than full-fledged reason. The person who practices krymméno akrasia hides this pathos and develops it by means of methodically and cynically playing the boundaries of the three Aristotelian virtues, in order to present a façade of character, while at the same time, deriving a more esoteric and occult goal. These goals usually entail some form of religion, fear or desire for power or hatred of those who practice virtue inside of knowledge – all of which stand as a pathos on the part of this actor.¹ ² ³

The Akratic DanceNow no decent person is going to eschew the character traits of learned wisdom, morality and benevolence.  For the most part, setting aside the pathological and sociological sectors of our society, people who willingly give themselves over to the development of an Aristotelian virtuous base of character – will hold these traits paramount. Paramount however, until a self-oriented desire becomes a stronger motivational force. Of particular interest inside this list of pathos is this ‘hatred of those who truly bear the three virtues themselves.‘ Nothing angers a fake skeptic more than a person who has, in their mind, tendered a practical wisdom inside a subject which they, the SSkeptic, disdain. It is the broaching of disliked ideas, which appear to have epistemological backing, which angers a SSkeptic the greatest. This is why fake skeptics are quick to focus on attacking and harming people or declaring something a ‘pseudoscience’ without any investigation – the hallmarks of a person who, in the face of more and more counter-evidence, grows increasingly visible, loud and insistent in their efforts to control what is accepted as truth. This is because a person who is developing a practical wisdom around a subject is exhibiting a keen and powerful form of character: the ethical skepticism, or method of phronêsis. This is what Social Skeptics fear the most: phronêsis, on the part of those they hate.

Just like the proverbial Jane Goodall Chimpanzees of Gombe, of whom one loudly banged an old empty gasoline can in order to intimidate the other chimps and seek dominance,† the goal of the Social Skeptic is to instil an element of fear into the hearts of such people so that they keep quiet. They claim to represent science, but science does not work this way in the least.

phronêsis

/Ancient Greek : φρόνησις : phronēsis/ : Practical, experienced based, impious wisdom. Aristotle contended that all free persons are born with the potential to become ethically virtuous and practically wise. Setting aside the appeals to virtue (moralism), and to goodwill (benevolence), the domain of ethics resides outside and overlaps both; but its signature hallmark is born in those who exhibit practical experience and the wisdom from which it stems. Being practically wise involves the practice of and allegiance to a professionally based set of methodology. A methodology targeting an increase in overall understanding, defense of those processes which enable it and opposition to all forces which seek to establish ignorance.¹ ²

When One Places Desire Over Reason

The key indicators of malphronêsis, or krymméno akrasia on the other hand, as Aristotle might have termed it, stand thusly:

A.  aphronêsis – Twisted and Extreme Application of Practical Wisdom

I'm a Skeptic Karfunkle free speech - CopyTwisted, extreme, ill timed, misconstrued, obtuse or misapplied wisdom, sometimes even considered correct under different contexts of usage – which allow an agenda holder to put on a display of pretend science, rationality and skepticism. The faking skeptic will trumpet loudly and often about the scientific method, evidence, facts, ‘skepticism’ or peer review, but somehow will never seem to be able to apply those principles, nor cite accurate examples of their application. The faking skeptic will speak often of ‘demanding proof,’ deny sponsors access to challenge ideas or fiat science, and incorrectly cite that denial of access to peer review is indeed – peer review. You will find them endlessly spouting incorrect phrases like ‘the burden of proof resides on the claimant’; its symbolic evisceration standing as de facto proof of their own beliefs. Vehement skeptics tend to be young and only academically/socially trained to a great degree – their ‘skepticism’ easing most of the time as they gain life experience.

‘Proof’ is the hallmark of religion.

― Bill Gaede

B.  aeunoia – False Parsimony and Humility

The faking skeptic will underplay their role in an ontology and falsely cite conformance and ‘Occam’s Razor’ (sic) as a masquerade of parsimony. The faking skeptic will stand calmly and claim that their position represents the prevailing position of science or scientists – or that they are ‘simply following where the facts lead, nothing of a personal nature.’ The faking skeptic will staunchly refuse to consider any contention of an opponent, simply because they are ‘the opponent,’ then habitually spin their allegiance to conformance as a type of objective conservancy on their part. Finally, the fake skeptic is enormously interested in pointing out narcissism as the source of any disagreement that might arise that displeases them. Humility being part of the adornment of facade they wear in rationality.

If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.

― Thomas J. Watson

C.  amoral – False and Agenda Driven Morality

The faking skeptic will feign indignance over contentions they do not like as ‘being racist,’ or ‘anti-democratic,’ or ‘backward and violent.’ They will seek to establish a fallacy of composition targeting specific persons and groups, maligning them into a bucket of socially disdained pigeon holes, or incorrect thought. They will inevitably ascribe all wars, murders, thefts and human suffering to be the end result of thinking from, or the direct responsibility of, those camps whom they hate.

All generalizations are false, including this one.

― Mark Twain

D.  atéchne, – Misconstruing of Fact and Method

The faking skeptic will sign allegiance to, and ascribe as fact proved by science, an entire ontology of beliefs, doctrines, and religious strictures. However most of these will be hidden, and through a process of inverse negation – every competing person and philosophy will be targeted in a pejorative and excommunicating fashion.  There is no argument in the faking skeptic’s mind. They represent science and science agrees with their beliefs. You are against reason, method and rationality.

I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.

― Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

The Akratic Dance, An Example: Your Freedom Was a Cute Experiment, Now the Big Boys are Back

Hyena method government was experiment - CopyThomas Paine understates the underhanded nature of censorship, in that the one who precludes himself of the right to change his mind is the least harmed by censorship. Even today, against Americans’ knowledge, their speech, their emails, their websites, their ideas – if they run counter to the Cabal, are being censored and muted by those in the Cabal who are seeking to circumvent the US Constitution and enact their own Utopia of Morality and Truth. I will not go into the specifics here, as that is not the purpose of this blog. But it is happening, and the incident of its occurrence is growing.

To the Cabal, the US Constitution was simply a grand experiment which failed, and now we should step back into the 600 year old failed socialism of the past. Because socialism is moral and based on scientifically proved principle. My principle. It is this purposeful targeting of persons based on their ideas, which we as a nation feared most in our inception – because unlike in the Thomas Paine scenario, it does not just hurt the one who precludes and denies. Unfortunately the Cabal has adopted this take on our free expression:

  • It is abhorrent to a free thinking man that private, non-government e-mail services and ISP’s survey and collect data from the contents of e-mail without a warrant in accordance with the law.
  • It is abhorrent to a free thinking man that private, non-government e-mail services and ISP’s disrupt e-mail deliveries based upon the content or incorrectness of those emails or a referenced website URL.
  • It is abhorrent to a free thinking man that private, non-government e-mail services and ISP’s selectively delete e-mails  delivered between two parties, without their knowledge.
  • It is abhorrent to a free thinking man that public information, be filtered, ranked and squelched by ISP’s and forces claiming to represent rationality and the truth.

This principle, the concept that it is experimentally moral to change government and begin to remove ideas based on their ‘truth and reason’ content is no better expressed than by Michael Shermer himself; grand master of social morality and truth enforcement on the populace.  A product of religion himself, now spinning his new religion with a blood-thirst by which even Jerry Falwell would be awed.  Here is a great example of the Akratic Dance, feigning the application of wisdom, morality and benevolence, when nothing of the sort is entailed in the intent behind such wisdom.

If you want different results [government], change the variables. “The founders often spoke of the new nation as an ‘experiment,’” Ferris writes. “Procedurally, it involved deliberations about how to facilitate both liberty and order…” As Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1804: “No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth.”

~ Michael Shermer, The Work of Michael Shermer, Scientific American, Sept 2010.

  • Your freedom of speech, was just an experiment
  • Your rights to assemble and communicate, were just an experiment
  • Your right to unfiltered information, was just an experiment
  • A free press, was just an experiment
  • A free capital economy, was just an experiment
  • Your right to bear arms, was just an experiment
  • Your right to life liberty and pursuit of happiness, was just an experiment
  • Your right to thrive, was just an experiment

And since We Are The Science, only We, the Cabal, are authorized to issue Peer Review on this experiment.

We will note with the Cabal that, the only thing which will not be an experiment, is their power. That is absolute and unquestionable. They have made this clear.

Aristotle contended that it is impossible to have phronêsis if one does not possess ethical virtue, and conversely that it is impossible to possess ethical virtue if one does not develop a skilled phronêsis.¹ In similar fashion, the art of ethical goodwill, or benevolence, stands as a key litmus of one who has overcome themselves and exhibits some of the key traits of Ethical Skepticism. Finally, téchne relates to our ability to handle fact and established versus contended principle, in ethical fashion.

The presence of these traits of character, who’s absence is demonstrated in a person’s inability to tolerate opposing and testing ideas, compose the basis of how ethical science and skepticism is conducted. All four stand, when practiced ethically and not in extreme contrivances, as a structure of character which is exhibited by one who is in search of the facts, principles and insights which improve our understanding and lot in this realm.


¹  Kraut, Richard, “Aristotle’s Ethics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2014/entries/aristotle-ethics/&gt;.

²  Rosen, Stanley; The Philosopher’s Handbook: Essential Readings from Plato to Kant, Random House Reference, New York, April 2003; pp. xvi-xvii.

³  Kraut, Richard, “Alternate Readings of Aristotle on Akrasia“, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2014/entries/aristotle-ethics/&gt;

†  Goodall, Jane; Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010; ISBN 9780547488387.

‡ “Democracy’s Laboratory,” The Work of Michael Shermer, September 2010; Scientific American; http://www.michaelshermer.com/2010/09/democracys-laboratory/