Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9)

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 2

Section: A

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 30

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: April 8, 2024

Issue Publication Date: May 1, 2024

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Word Count: 1,753 

Image Credits: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Abstract

Matthew Scillitani, member of the Glia Society and Giga Society, is a software engineer living in Cary, North Carolina. He is of Italian and British lineage, and is fluent in English and Dutch (reading and writing). He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Psychology. You may contact him via e-mail at mattscil@gmail.com. Scillitani discusses: a conversation covers various topics, including education, intelligence testing, psychology, and computer science; updates on life are shared, including earning a B.S. in Computer Science, working as an industrial software engineer, and expecting a first child; observations about high-IQ testees post-COVID-19 and the impact of not qualifying for high-IQ societies on individuals; experiences helping individuals in distress; the prevalence of idea theft, particularly among geniuses; leisure activities, challenges faced by smart individuals in work and education, and the potential pitfalls of psychology as a field are explored; progress in computer science and the formation of independent worldviews on the intelligence scale and the complexities of intellectual development and personal growth.

Keywords: autism spectrum, challenges, civility, computer science, delayed gratification, education, high-IQ community, independent worldview, intelligence, machine learning, narcissists, neurodiversity, pseudoscience, psychology, stolen ideas.

Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Long time no talk! What is new? 

Matthew Scillitani: I earned my B.S. in Computer Science last year, in 2023! Since then, I’ve been working as an industrial software engineer, which has been awesome. In bigger news, my wife is pregnant with our first child–a girl, due in July of 2024. Otherwise, I’ve spent most of my free time studying machine learning and A.I.

Jacobsen: Any new observations about the high-IQ world?

Scillitani: Something really interesting is that, ever since COVID-19, there’s been a huge wave of high-I.Q. testees. Some of whom are really smart; a few even scoring in the 170s and 180s (15 S.D.) on well-normed tests (well, as well-normed as possible in that range).

Jacobsen: Following from part 8, why does not getting into the Glia Society crush them and the same for the Giga Society not crush them?

Scillitani: I suppose that most people who take high-range I.Q. tests think they’re in the I.Q. 145 to 160 realm, so failing to qualify for Glia comes as a major disappointment. But few people actually believe they could ever score 190; it’s a stretch goal that they’re comfortable with missing.

Jacobsen: How did you talk that person who you emailed out of suicide?

Scillitani: It actually happened twice, unfortunately. When someone comes to me with serious problems or self-threats, I try to be kind to them and let them talk through their thoughts. That usually helps.

Jacobsen: Do you think stolen ideas is common against geniuses? Dumber people stealing their ideas.

Scillitani: Oh, definitely. You don’t even need to be a genius to have your ideas stolen! It’s just that geniuses come up with such good ideas so frequently, that their intellectual property is stolen more often. Even with copyright laws in place, many would-be thieves are undeterred. So, it’s important to keep lots of timestamped, public records if you’re going to start sharing your work with others.

Jacobsen: Do you think any proclaimed geniuses have, in fact, stolen ideas and claimed them as their own? A spin on a common question about myths that I tend to pitch to members of the high-IQ community. 

Scillitani: I’m sure it’s happened in the past and that some thieves had the means (money, power, influence) to make sure the history books were written in their favor. In modern times, only one person immediately comes to mind: the self-proclaimed greatest genius ever of all time. For the well-informed, this person tried to ‘steal’ a famous high-I.Q. society by making a copy of it and, with better SEO, having their society appear as the more authoritative one than the original in search engines.

Jacobsen: Rick has been open and honest about wanting some minor to moderate fame – and has achieved some – in his past. He still wants it, but he doesn’t make this the be-all, end-all of his life. He has a wife and kid, too. So, he has a life outside of the tests, happily. What do you do on your off time now?

Scillitani: Most of my time is spent studying machine learning nowadays. Mark my words, it’s the future. One day, we’ll be able to predict the weather anywhere on Earth accurately for any point in time. Other than studying, I also exercise and play video games on occasion. Personally, I prefer games from pre-2005. Relatively older games have more soul than the more modern cash-grab games.

Jacobsen: Do you think there is a tendency towards civility and respect – non-absolute – with an increase in intelligence of a community?

Scillitani: Absolutely. There are still some really brilliant narcissists and psychopaths that, despite being smart enough to know better, behave in an uncivil and disrespectful manner. As a hypothetical, if there were a town of only 160+ I.Q. citizens, and none of them suffered from any personality or psychotic disorders, I’d be surprised if there were ever a crime there. Maybe every so many decades, a crime would occur and it would be the talk of the town since none of them had ever heard of such a thing. I smell a good book idea.

Jacobsen: How do interactions with members of the high-IQ community differ individually and in groups? That’s an interesting observation.

Scillitani: That is an interesting question. In both groups and individually, high-I.Q. people tend to be more expressive than are low-I.Q. people. My thinking is that, because smart people are more likely to have good intentions and less likely to be rude, they assume the same in others, and feel more comfortable sharing many of their thoughts and feelings on matters, even ‘personal’ ones.

Individually, most of the intelligent people that I’ve met had no problem jumping into deep conversation and becoming fast friends. Less intelligent people tend to either aggressively and loudly share their opinions or be very reserved, potentially out of worry for not understanding what is socially acceptable to say. This is different from social introversion because an introvert has no problem having and sharing their opinions, albeit in possibly non-social mediums such as art, music, or writing.

Jacobsen: Errol Morris is a great interviewer. What struck you about Rick’s interview at the time? Intense and funny, right?

Scillitani: Yes! Rick is such an interesting guy. On the one hand, stunningly intelligent and on the other, downright goofy. Hearing him talk about his upbringing and all the smart things he could do as a child (and adult) followed by his streak of shenanigans really made for a great interview.

Jacobsen: Do you know of any research on the system of reward and processing in the brain when there’s such long-term focus relative to a day and then the kick of resolution from solving such problems?

Scillitani: I’m sure there’s plenty of literature on delayed gratification, but none comes to mind at the moment. Delayed gratification is, incidentally, something very challenging to practice for many people in our current age of non-stop video entertainment, drugs, sex, and funky music. For anyone struggling with focus, I’d highly recommend a “dopamine cleanse” for a few weeks. No TV, no games, no sex/porn/masturbation, no YouTube (unless you’re using it to study), no social media, no fast-paced music… You’ll be surprised how quickly you’re able to focus when there aren’t any readily accessible distractions.

Jacobsen: I know people on the autism spectrum. I like your commentary on “taken for stupidity” and the apparency of immaturity. What do you take as the big challenges for smart people to tackle now?

Scillitani: The big challenges for smart people today, outside of the social domain, are in work and education. An average person may need five or ten years to really have a good grasp on what they’re doing in a common industrial role. But a very smart worker may get there in months, and it’s painful to get paid a quarter of a more experienced coworker’s salary when the output of your work is of an objectively higher quality and volume.

The same can be said for education. In recent years, schools have gotten a lot better at allowing room for accelerated learning, but it can still be way too slow. For example, when I was in high school, most higher-level math courses were taken over a year. In college, you were given half that time. But I had the opportunity to accelerate for some of my math courses and took Calculus I, Calculus II, and Differential Equations all in one month, earning two As (4/4) and a B (3/4). I can’t imagine spending a year and a half on those.

For anyone feeling demoralized because education or work is way too slow, I’d suggest trying something more intellectually challenging. For me, that’s machine learning, which is what I’m studying now. I will add that my current job as a software engineer is also stimulating and that I feel I’m being compensated fairly. So, earning my B.S. in Computer Science was a good call.

Jacobsen: That’s true about psychology. It’s unfortunate. Something does seem to be coming out of the ashes, but the fire of nonsense is still burning. I remember having dinner over a decade ago with my lab boss and Dr. Anthony Greenwald. Greenwald proposed a first generation of researchers would die in the trenches of neuroscience, then another would make actual progress with a mix of cognitive neuroscience. Something after that, if I can extend his thinking, would make something new and renewed from the politicized nature of the field now. What seem like the key hallmarks of psychology as a pseudoscience?

Scillitani: The fact that many psychologists care more about the effect of their research than the accuracy of it, for one. Many of the psych professors I’ve met had a surprisingly weak understanding of basic empirical methods, which pushed their research into the realm of philosophical discourse rather than scientific inquiry. There are some very intelligent psychologists too, but they’re drowned by a sea of incompetent ones.

Jacobsen: How is progress in computer science for you, now?

Scillitani: It’s going really well! I graduated in April of 2023 and got a job that same month. Now I’m a software engineer, mostly working with databases and doing data analysis. But to challenge myself further, I’m studying machine learning in my free time. The end goal for that is to develop a model that can find the best treatment plan for cancer victims to maximize their survival chance.

Jacobsen: When does genuine independent worldview formation begin on the intelligence scale?

Scillitani: That’s actually a tough question to answer because it’s a multi-dimensional problem. I think that a child could have their own worldview, for example. It wouldn’t be a very good one, but it could be original, at least. Paul Cooijmans put forth the idea of an “Associative Horizon”, and I think that concept is helpful for answering this question. I’ve met many intelligent adults that can’t form their own worldview and some children that are already developing one independent of their parents and peers. To have your own worldview, you probably just need a moderately wide associate horizon. But to have a good/smart/sensible worldview, you must be wise, which requires intellect, knowledge, and experience, as well as having a wide associate horizon.

It’s very rare, even in high-I.Q. societies, to meet someone that seems to have it all figured out and has developed their own healthy, smart, sustainable worldview.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9). April 2024; 12(2). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/scillitani-9

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2024, April 8). Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9). In-Sight Publishing. 12(2).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9). In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 2, 2024.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. 2024. “Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 2 (Spring). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/scillitani-9.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S “Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 2 (April 2024).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/scillitani-9.

Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2024) ‘Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(2). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/scillitani-9>.

Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2024, ‘Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 2, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/scillitani-9>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 2, 2024, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/scillitani-9.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Scott J. Conversation with Matthew Scillitani on Updates on Career and Community: Member, Giga Society (9) [Internet]. 2024 Apr; 12(2). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/scillitani-9.

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