173bones

[Elaine @elbh]

Fauci broke our societal trust in ways we will never regain. As confidence was lagging anyway, he caused the collapse.

Science. Journalism. Government. Hollywood. Culture. Economics. Law Enforcement. Judicial System. Our fellow Americans.

All of it.

It will not return in our lifetime.

[𝙼𝙰𝚂𝚂 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 @MASSExpedition]

Strip him of all colloquial association, shun him as a pariah from the greater community, and make him synonymous with dishonor; simply grant him his wish.

How many rank and file already struggling with demons will succumb to dark thoughts because Ryan's thoughtless comments?

[173bones @173bones1]

@PebMet1 @SpaceX Turn your volume down. So simple. You have a solution to your problem.

[Yuri Bezmenov's Ghost @Ne_pas_couvrir]

You have to understand: “the other side” is not arguing in good faith. They are using the conversation operationally to impose their frame, redirect you, force you onto the defensive, manufacture concessions, and shape your perception.

You are presenting evidence. They are managing you.

That is the asymmetry. Your “correct argument” cannot defeat a person or tactic whose purpose is not to answer you, but to manipulate you.

[Chris Walker @WalkerATX]

Good morning, Austin!

[173bones @173bones1]

@Jason @PerryALPHA @Nero lol

[173bones @173bones1]

@venom1s Brown female. That's all.

[173bones @173bones1]

@bscholl "Deal at any cost"? If that were true, the war would have ended months ago.

[173bones @173bones1]

@Kristof_Poland The Harvard Classics

[Krzysztof Szczawinski 🇵🇱 @Kristof_Poland]

Levels of Understanding and How They Shape Society

Human understanding is not distributed evenly. The differences between individuals are not merely quantitative, but qualitative: people often operate in fundamentally different conceptual worlds. To grasp how this shapes society, it is useful to think in terms of levels of understanding.

Imagine a scale of cognitive and conceptual capacity, where each level represents a distinct way of perceiving reality, processing information, and interpreting meaning. People one level apart can usually communicate, but often clash. People two levels apart struggle to communicate at all, yet paradoxically can become natural allies.

For simplicity, consider seven levels:
Level A – well below average understanding. Limited abstraction, concrete thinking, slow conceptual processing.
Level B – slightly below average. Functional, practical, but shallow reasoning.
Level C – slightly above average. This is where most people cluster.
Level D – the classic “intellectual” layer: professors, journalists, commentators, most politicians.
Level E – truly gifted individuals: original thinkers, deep analysts, system builders.
Level F – exceptional minds: rare, transformative thinkers.
Level G – extremely rare outliers: historical-level intellects.

Academia and mainstream intellectual life tend to concentrate around Level D (corresponding roughly to IQ ~130). This is not accidental. Group dynamics naturally eject individuals who are too far above or below the group average. Those who are much smarter threaten status hierarchies and expose weaknesses. Those who are much slower burden the system. As a result, academia becomes a self-stabilizing bubble, centered around one narrow cognitive band.

The long-standing dominance of Level D also stems from their sheer numbers. While Levels E, F, and G combined form only a tiny fraction of society, Level D constitutes a relatively large and socially dense group, capable of mutual reinforcement, institutional capture, and narrative coordination. Their strength was never purely intellectual – it was also demographic and organizational. Numbers gave them cultural weight, institutional continuity, and control over discourse.

This creates the illusion that academia represents the intellectual peak of society, while in fact it represents a local maximum of conformity and institutional survivability, not of true cognitive excellence.

One Level Apart: Natural Antagonists

People separated by one level often hold opposing views on many fundamental issues. Their disagreements are emotional, intense, and personal.

Why?
– The lower level tends to feel envy, insecurity, and resentment.
– The higher level tends to feel disdain, impatience, and frustration.

Each side perceives the other as blind:
One sees arrogance and detachment, the other sees stupidity and shortsightedness.

This is why conflicts between adjacent social-intellectual layers are so fierce. They compete for status, influence, legitimacy, and narrative control. Nowhere is this more visible than in media, politics, and culture wars, where Level C and Level D fight endlessly for moral and intellectual dominance.

Two Levels Apart: Natural Allies

Paradoxically, people two levels apart are often natural allies.

Why?

Because they do not compete for the same social niche.

The higher level sees structural truths that explain the struggles of the lower one. The lower level senses authenticity, clarity, and strategic depth in the higher one. There is less envy and less contempt – instead, a form of mutual recognition emerges.

This explains a powerful modern phenomenon:

An emerging alliance between average people and highly intelligent individuals, bypassing the traditional intellectual class.

People at Level C increasingly distrust Level D (media, academia, political elites), perceiving them as manipulative, disconnected, ideologically rigid, and self-serving.

1/2

[173bones @173bones1]

@FilmUpdates Yall do know Hollywood has used this mediocre female as a DEI stand in right? In a free market she works at subway.

[Samyaza Speaks @SamyazaSpeaks]

The Biblical Experience

Music: Holy Place by BENNETT

[173bones @173bones1]

@TheNotoriousMMA We are with you Brother!

[@jason @Jason]

They took everything from us

[173bones @173bones1]

@vcdgf555 The administration knows the ultimatum won’t work. How is this fact not clear to any observer interested in the subject?

[Eric Weinstein @ericweinstein]

If you are not willing to kill or die for your own most treasured values, you should think carefully before welcoming in migrants who would do both for theirs.

[173bones @173bones1]

@DustyLittl14786 @esrtweet I listen to podcasts while I work and jot down questions along the way. Later, at home, I have Grok answer those questions for me. It's absolutely crazy how great AI is for curious people. I can't understand the anti-ai people out there.

[173bones @173bones1]

@JGisSatoshi @esrtweet Yes. I want more!

[173bones @173bones1]

@rob_mcrobberson Duh, any tool in the hands of an expert will be more productive than the same tool in the hands of the uninitiated. What’s your point? Can you use a router or build a Double Duck?