Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Canadian Atheist

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/01/11

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: You have been involved with humanism to a great degree. What makes humanism the life philosophy worth pursuing?

Bwambale Robert Musubaho: Yes, I remain committed to advancing humanism to the wider community here with a purpose.

Humanism allows us to understand better the world better by favoring us to question everything and grow up with critical minds.

Humanism stresses a lot on encouraging belief in evidence; me as an educationist I encourage evidence based learning at my schools to open up the minds of learners to embrace facts than myths or fables.

Humanism encourages us to put humanity at the center of everything, this is very true because all the advancements, knowledge and innovations under the sun and beyond are evident because of human existence, all the inventions & discoveries have been evident because of human existence.

Humanism is a great necessity in my country Uganda which is highly religious where the majorities believe in god, deities or gods; the country has scores of religions ranging from foreign based ones to indigenous ones. These beliefs have caused divisions, hate, and confusion among people. It has even fueled wars and cases of fundamentalism and extremist activities have been noted. There is a high belief in irrational thinking and superstitious activities, witchcraft and witchcraft accusations, witch hunting which have led to the lynching of innocent lives.

Humanism presence in this part of the world is an antidote to homophobia which is high in Uganda, there is a strong hate of civil liberties and minority rites where same sex acts, LGBT and transgender humans are not looked at as people but castes or wasted fellows, this to me it hurts me since I feel homosexuals are people like others, a majority of them are born naturally like that and have a right to live, study, work and contribute to the development of our country and the world in general. In general, Humanism teaches us to respect human right freedoms, race, sexual orientations etc.

Humanism stresses a lot for people to share with others, this is a great factor that brings people together and puts them on equal footing. You can share food, ideas, shelter or anything and at the end of the day, both of you benefit mutually.

Humanism emphasizes people to broaden their minds and get an education, questioning everything, investing in research and being curious of anything opens one’s mind. This favors you to have self-confidence within you and puts you in a state where you can be fooled or your minds getting manipulated, so in general, this makes one an all-around person which is good for humanity.

Humanism encourages people to respect others and tolerates being with them irrespective of their thinking or mindset but the good thing about being a humanist, you can be an ambassador to explain more about people’s beliefs and where people fall prone to being religious. Humanism allows one to research more about people’s beliefs, God, gods, heavens, heaven, hell or whatever. “Sacred books” This means humanists are more informed about the beliefs systems people embrace plus the books which they pray in.

Humanism Okays Science, Science advancement, and innovations. Science has played a great role in allowing us to understand more about nature, food crops, diet, flora, and fauna and provided solutions to some of the world problems like climate change, over population, proper nutrition, ease transport and mobility of people from one place to another, communication & telecommunications and so many other things.

Jacobsen: What is the Bizoha Humanist Center?

Musabaho: The Bizoha Humanist Center is a one stop point located along Mbarara Kasese Highway in Muhokya trading center in Kasese District, western Uganda where you can come enjoy our services:

We have a library that stocks readable books, magazines, journals, and DVDs. Most of the books are in humanism, atheism, science, and self-help sustainable projects in Agriculture, small business management etc. The purpose of this center is to enlighten the locals about the goodness of science, humanism, and one living a free life free from dogma and indoctrination.

At the Bizoha Humanist Center, we organize conferences, debates on a number of topics on humanism and science and in more months ahead we plan to make tours to different schools, churches, and outdoor places teaching about humanist values, human rights and our role in this world.

At the Bizoha Humanist center, we aim high at being a point where locals can come for entertainment, listening to the news on Television and watching soccer on a giant screen. At some points, we pass on secular messages to the locals to give some eye opener of what we stand for.

At the Bizoha Humanist Center, we offer hostel facilities to guests, some of the guests are volunteers who come work with our projects while others are just tourists who came by to tour Uganda’s rich biodiversity of wild life flora and fauna.

We do have Bizoha women Empowerment group which has an office on our property whose works include women empowerment in tailoring, craft making, trading skills, micro financing to mention but a few.

We do offer other services like boat rides on the nearby Lake George, tractor hire services, secretarial services, soft drinks & hard drinks plus a cup of coffee.

Jacobsen: Why did you organize it?

Musabaho: I organized the Bizoha Humanist Center to share with my people the best of what I embrace and cherish plus enlightening them about humanism and science.

Jacobsen: What are its targeted objectives?

Musabaho: To educate people about humanism and secular thinking.

To encourage people to get more knowledge about science, its importance and how we can make good use of it to solve most of our pressing problems.

To bring people together as one family in this one life we all share.

To make people happy and encouraging them to enjoy life to its fullest as they also take precautions in avoiding things that may tend to complicate their lives.

To foster peace and unity among locals so that we all find joy during our life time.

Jacobsen: How do you hope to implement the intended outreach?

Musabaho: Most of our outreach programs include us moving from the Humanist Center to some outside location in other schools or villages. These movements will be implemented by Kasese United Humanist Association, a community-based organization which I founded in 2009.

Jacobsen: How can people donate or help you?

Musabaho: People can donate to my initiatives via the following organizations:

Brighter Brains Institute based in the United States, their website is at https://www.humanistglobal.org/donate/

Atheist Alliance International based in the United States https://atheistalliance.org/support-aai/donate.html

Humanist Canada https://www.humanistcanada.ca/contact/donate

All these organizations welcome donations earmarked for my projects and have done a good job of redirecting funds to me with ease.

I also do have an organizational website called African Humanists where one can donate directly to me at http://africahumanists.org/new-products/

All in all, I do encourage personalities who can fundraise for my initiatives at their locations by holding fundraising drives or sharing my works with friends.

Jacobsen: What does Bizoha mean to you as an organization?

Musabaho: Bizoha is a great project that has helped so much in favoring scores of needy and orphaned children get an education.

Bizoha has also helped in putting in place an orphanage hostel where total orphans shelter during times when the school term is running.

Bizoha as a project has helped me move from owning one school to owning a string of schools, the international community has welcomed and supported immensely this project and it’s the reason I do have a number of assets which are helping out in creating a change to the better as we serve.

Jacobsen: Who are some partners in the endeavor?

Musabaho: The Bizoha Project is wholesomely a partnership of Kasese Humanist with the Brighter Brains Institute.

Brighter Brains Institute generous donors plus some section from other secular communities worldwide plus some contributions by local guardians and parents have done a great role in ensuring the success of this project.

Jacobsen: Who may be valuable stakeholders in it in the future?

Musabaho: The valuable stake holders of Bizoha Humanist Center in the future is we the local people here in Uganda, the same goes to the Bizoha Schools or Kasese Humanist schools since we are the major beneficiary and at the same time we are on our journey to self-reliance and sustainability.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/02/16

Greg Oliver is the President of the Canadian Secular Alliance. Here we talk about One Public Education Now or OPEN, and the challenge to Catholic schooling privileges.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: One Public Education Now, or OPEN, is a coalition of organizations and individuals working for a single public school system. Following from this, there is an interesting, even exciting, development. A Charter application challenge was filed by two members of OPEN, a teacher and a parent, to the public funding of Catholic schools of Ontario. What aspects of publicly funded Catholic education in Ontario are illegitimate (without merit in the law)?

Greg Oliver: The challenge brings forth a variety of legal arguments that we think are valid. Catholic schools have some immunity from the Charter because of Section 93(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867. This sub-section effectively grandfathers in whatever rights and privileges that denominational schools had in Quebec and Ontario when they entered confederation. Without immunity, these schools are an obvious equality rights violation under the Charter.

Now as much as we detest the idea of Charter immunity – which is essentially the right to discriminate based on religion – unless Ontario politicians take action to opt out as Quebec did a quarter century ago it’s a legal obstacle to change. So this begs the question. What was actually grandfathered in at confederation? Any privilege involving “denominational aspects” that was not granted at the time should not be permitted today.

One excellent example of this is non-Catholic enrollment – which in some school boards can be as high as half of all students. They are explicitly forbidden to attend by the grandfathered Scott Act (1863) but explicitly permitted by the modern-era Education Act (1990). This has never been considered by the courts in Ontario before.

Another example is funding for Grade 11 and 12. Catholic schools did not teach beyond, at maximum, the grade 9 or 10 level at Confederation. This was considered by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 1987 Reference re Bill 30 case. At the time, the SCC ruled extending funding to high school was constitutional but it was missing the majority of scholarly research that has been conducted on 19th century education in Ontario since then. They also put heavy emphasis on the importance of denominational schools to the “Confederation compromise”, which is an argument that has lost all weight after Quebec abandoned their denominational schools ten years later.
The challenge also raises arguments related to the substantial employment discrimination against non-Catholics that would never be tolerated in any other area of public employment.

Jacobsen: How are these reflected in Alberta and Saskatchewan as well?

Oliver: The enrollment of non-Catholics has been specifically relevant to Saskatchewan in recent years. In 2005, the Good Spirit School Division took the issue to court after a Catholic school opened up in Theodore, Saskatchewan and was populated with a majority of non-Catholic local students. In 2017, a landmark decision by Justice Donald Layh ruled that it was unconstitutional for non-Catholics to attend Catholic schools. We were very excited about this decision but sadly it was overturned by Saskatchewan’s top court in 2020 and the SCC declined to hear the case the next year (it’s worth noting that Ontario’s relevant legislation governing non-Catholic enrollment is much different than Saskatchewan’s).

So this challenge definitely could set precedents that would affect the legal frameworks of those provinces as well. Both Saskatchewan and Alberta had slightly different legislation when they entered confederation in 1905, but the similarities outweigh the differences. It could also potentially reignite the political debate surrounding the continued existence of these schools. As far as we are concerned, anything that could be done to diminish the scope of denominational schools in Alberta and Saskatchewan would be a positive development. Publicly funded religious schools should not exist anywhere in Canada in this day and age.

Jacobsen: Both religiously affiliated and religiously unaffiliated people work for and through OPEN. So, religion, in the sense of adherents challenging the legal merit, is irrelevant in one sense, while religion is relevant in the legal and equality sense. In “Charter challenge to Ontario Catholic schools,” GlobeNewswire states:

A parent and a teacher, both members of OPEN, are the plaintiffs in an application served on the Ontario Government by the lawyers Adair Goldberg Bieber stating that the current public funding of Ontario Catholic schools violates s.15(1) of the Charter of Rights…

… The Application states there have been sufficient changes since 1987 to justify the Supreme Court of Canada re-examining the Reference re Bill 30 ruling that granted Charter immunity to the funding of Ontario’s separate Catholic schools.

If the challenge wins, in the sense of a complete victory, what would be the long-term impacts on the separate school system and its funding?

Oliver: A victory would end the public funding of non-Catholic enrollment and Grade 11 and 12 in Ontario Catholic schools. This would present a major disruption to current operations. We cannot know for certain what the government response would be.

Polling is typically around 70% support for a single school system for each official language. But politicians of all persuasions have tried their best to avoid this issue out of fear of a backlash from a noisy minority of supporters. The Catholic school lobby has been extremely effective at protecting their lucrative entrenched interest from mainstream political discourse. A crisis of this magnitude would foist the issue into the public eye and force the government to make tough decisions. This could mean a significantly reduced version of existing Catholic schools or it could prove the fatal blow to the system itself given the hassles of adjusting to a new legal framework and existing political support for amalgamation amongst the general public.

Jacobsen: Also, most people don’t want separate schools, i.e., most want equality for all. What equal rights and financial arguments can be made in favour of the abolition of the separate school system?

Oliver: We live in a pluralistic liberal democracy. Everyone should be entitled to equal treatment under the law, regardless of their religious worldview. Government neutrality in matters of religion is a prerequisite to attaining this ideal. This means not favoring one religion over another or favoring religion over no religion (or vice versa). When the government funds schools that advance religion, they are substantively advantaging the religious over the non-religious. Granting public funding only for Catholic schools advantages Catholics over non-Catholics. It’s also a lousy idea to separate children based on the religious views of their parents.
Running two school systems for each official language is much more costly than running one. Knowing the precise savings that would be realized is extremely difficult because it depends on what replaces the status quo. But the duplication costs are very high under any reasonable set of assumptions. The majority of these duplication costs come out of overlapping school boards, operating schools well below enrolment capacity and otherwise unnecessary student transportation distances.

Jacobsen: Where can people help with money, time, or volunteering time/skills/connections?

Oliver: We have raised over $100,000 so far to pay for lawyer’s fees, FOI requests and research (including contracting a legal expert on 19th century education in Ontario to write an original report on the history of Catholic schools in the years leading up to confederation). But challenges of this nature take a lot of time and can be quite costly so we will need more funding and are currently fundraising. Donations to contribute to the challenge can be made via PayPal at https://open.cripeweb.org/aboutOpen.html or by Interac e-transfer to open@cripeweb.org. Every $20 helps continue the legal challenge, though larger contributions are also appreciated.

Aside from that, anything that can be done to raise awareness is very helpful. Posting on websites, using social media such as Facebook or Twitter or writing opinion pieces for local media. The more people know about this the easier it will be to overcome our financial hurdles so we can finally see these issues fully considered in the courts.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Greg.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/02/09

Doug Thomas is the President of Secular Connexion Séculière. Here we talk about the Special Humanitarian Assistance Program for Afghan Nationals in Canada.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What were the first realizations of the need to change the Special Humanitarian Assistance Program for Afghan Nationals?

Doug Thomas: SCS was working on getting clarification of Canada’s Less Complex Claims refugee policy that favours religious refugee applicants over atheists, apostates and other non-believers when Afghanistan was overrun by the Taliban. This puts many freethinking Afghans at risk and needing to apply for refugee status from countries like Canada. We were already working with the members of the coalition on e-petition #3638, realized that Canada’s Special Humanitarian Assistance Program for Afghan Nationals carried on with the bias toward religious refugee applicants. By the way, petition e-3638 as read in the House of Commons on February 8^th so Minister Fraser has until March 25^th to respond to it.

Jacobsen: What is the status of atheists and apostates in current Afghanistan?

Thomas: Under the Afghan constitution that Canada defended during the 11 years we had troops fighting the Taliban, the only legal religion is Islam. Even under the former regime, Christians, Jews, and non-believers were tolerated, but only because the regime wanted to maintain good aid relations with other countries. Atheists and apostates are now in grave danger since the Taliban does not seem to care about any relationships with other countries and is committed to absolute Sharia law including killing infidels (atheists) and apostates. Of course, this makes it difficult for atheists and apostates to even leave the country because the Taliban would rather execute them. In any case, they have to travel to Pakistan, a country that doesn’t look kindly on them either, but is at least aware that ticking off the West is not good for trade. This makes it even more important that Canada’s Special Humanitarian Program for Afghan nationals include atheists and apostates.

Jacobsen: As Canada’s policy “fails to meet Article 18 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrines the observance and promotion of ‘freedom of religion or belief’,” what is the simplest change the federal government can do to meet the requirements of international human rights here?

Thomas: As we have requested, Canada’s policy must be changed to include atheists and apostates in the Special Humanitarian Program for Afghan Nationals. Otherwise, Canada’s immigration and refugee policies do not meet the spirit of our own Charter of Rights and Freedoms that guarantees the right to freedom from religion in addition to not meeting UN standards. This is a policy change and can be made at the ministerial level without changing legislation. Then it must be sent out to Canada’s immigration officers and proxy immigration officers (foreign officers that represent Canada where we do not have embassies or consulates) so they understand that the change has been made.

Jacobsen: How can individuals keep informed and updated on this and other policies at Secular Connexion Séculière?

Thomas: We try to keep information updated on our website http://www.secularconnexion.ca under the Federal Campaign menu item. Recently, we have start posting a notification bulletin called Now! Maintenant! on the website that gives people direct access to what is going on now. People who subscribe to SCS also get a monthly bulletin (restarting this month) to keep them informed.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Doug.

Thomas: Thanks for the opportunity to update our progress with the federal government and with our Canadian and international allies.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/02/02

Prof. Shmuel “Sam” Vaknin (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, LinkedIn, Google Scholar) is the author of Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited (Amazon) and After the Rain: How the West Lost the East (Amazon) as well as many other books and ebooks about topics in psychology, relationships, philosophy, economics, international affairs, and award-winning short fiction. He was Senior Business Correspondent for United Press International (February, 2001 – April, 2003), CEO of Narcissus Publications (April, 1997 – April 2013), Editor-in-Chief of Global Politician (January, 2011 -), a columnist for PopMatters, eBookWeb, Bellaonline, and Central Europe Review, an editor for The Open Directory and Suite101 (Categories: Mental Health and Central East Europe), and a contributor to Middle East Times, a contributing writer to The American Chronicle Media Group, Columnist and Analyst for Nova Makedonija, Fokus, and Kapital, Founding Analyst of The Analyst Network, former president of the Israeli chapter of the Unification Church’s Professors for World Peace Academy, and served in the Israeli Defense Forces (1979-1982). He has been awarded Israel’s Council of Culture and Art Prize for Maiden Prose (1997), The Rotary Club Award for Social Studies (1976), and the Bilateral Relations Studies Award of the American Embassy in Israel (1978), among other awards. He is Visiting Professor of Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia (September, 2017 to present), Professor of Finance and Psychology in SIAS-CIAPS (Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies) (April, 2012 to present), a Senior Correspondent for New York Daily Sun, and Columnist for Allied Newspapers Group (January, 2015 – Present). He lives in Skopje, North Macedonia with his wife, Lidija Rangelovska. Here we talk about giftedness and IQ.

*Previous interviews listed chronologically after interview.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: You have been measured three times with a high IQ, an understatement.^[1] An IQ between 180 and 190, between ages 9 and 35. You referred to this in some writings, in passing, including pages 2^[2], 3^[3], 4^[4], 5^[5], and 7^[6], of epigrams, in an interview with Richard Grannon (2018), with Smashwords (2014), and on a YouTube video answering viewer questions^[7]. It has been mentioned in an article by Gavin Haynes (2016), too. With the IQ scores of 185 at age 9, 180 in the army at age 25, and 190 in prison at age 35 (vakninsamnarcissist, 2018; RICHARD GRANNON, 2018), presumably on a standard deviation of 15, what was the reaction of family, friends, peers, community, even the psychometricians or psychologists administering the tests each time? 

Prof. Shmuel “Sam” Vaknin: First, let me clarify than any result above 160 (some say, 140) is not normatively validated: it is rather arbitrary and meaningless because there are so few people to compare with (the sample is way too small). Matrix IQ tests are better at validating higher results, though.

Everyone always loathed me. I am a sadist, so from a very early age, I have leveraged my IQ to taunt people, hold them in contempt, and humiliate them. This did not endear obnoxious me to anyone. My own teachers sought to undermine my academic career, peers shunned or attempted to bully me (they failed), my mother detested me, my father pendulated between being awe-struck and being repelled by me. Both my parents beat me to an inch of my life every single day for 12 years.

Jacobsen: To you, as a scientific person, what defines intelligence?

Vaknin: Anything that endows an individual with a comparative advantage at performing a complex task constitutes intelligence. In this sense, viruses reify intelligence, they are intelligent. Human intelligence, though, is versatile and the tasks are usually far more complex than anything a virus might need to tackle.

Jacobsen: What defines IQ or Intelligence Quotient?

Vaknin: The ability to perform a set of mostly – but not only – analytical assignments corresponding to an age-appropriate average. So, if a 10 year old copes well with the tasks that are the bread and butter of an 18 years old, he scores 180 IQ.

IQ measures an exceedingly narrow set of skills and mental functions. There are many types of intelligence – for example: musical intelligence – not captured by any IQ test.

Jacobsen: What defines giftedness, to you? Even though, formal definitions exist.^[8]

Vaknin: Giftedness resembles autism very much: it is the ability to accomplish tasks inordinately well or fast by focusing on them to the exclusion of all else and by mobilizing all the mental resources at the disposal of the gifted person.

Obviously, people gravitate to what they do well. Gifted people have certain propensities and talents to start with and these probably reflect brain abnormalities of one kind or another.

Jacobsen: Inter-relating the previous three questions, what separates intelligence from IQ from giftedness, i.e., separates each from one another?

Vaknin: IQ is a narrow measure of highly specific types of intelligence and is not necessarily related to giftedness. Gifted people invest themselves with a laser-focus to effect change in their environment conducive to the speedy completion of highly specific tasks.

Jacobsen: What defines genius?

Vaknin: Genius is the ability to discern two things: 1. What is missing (lacunas) 2. Synoptic connections.

The genius surveys the world and completes it by conjuring up novelty (i.e., by creating). S/he also spots hidden relatedness between ostensibly disparate phenomena or data.

Jacobsen: How does genius differentiate from intelligence, IQ, and giftedness?

Vaknin: A genius can have an average IQ or even not be analytically very intelligent (not be an intellectual). Some craftsmen are geniuses. Musicians, athletes, even politicians.

Jacobsen: What happens to most prodigies, or adults with exceptionally, profoundly, or unmeasurably high IQ?

Vaknin: A majority of them end badly. IQ is a good predictor of academic accomplishments, but not much else. Character, upbringing, mental illness, genetics, nurture, the environment (including the physical environment), sexual and romantic history matter much more than IQ.

Many “geniuses” with a high IQ (Mensa types) are dysfunctional and deficient when it comes to life, intimacy, relationships, and social skills. Additionally, as Eysenck had correctly observed, creativity is often linked to psychoticism.

Jacobsen: What are the optimal things for raising gifted children and prodigies, and for resuscitating drifting adults with exceptionally, profoundly, or unmeasurably high IQ, if at all possible, to productive and healthy lives?

Vaknin: All interventions are somewhat effective only during childhood and adolescence, up to age 21. Afterwards, it is an uphill battle.

The most crucial thing is to never remove the gifted child from his peer group (as was done to me). I am also dead set against academic shortcuts.

The gifted child should follow the same path as everybody else but feed his voracious mind with extracurricular enrichment programs and materials.

Jacobsen: Who seem like the greatest geniuses in history to you?

Vaknin: The usual suspects: Einstein, Newton, Freud, da Vinci, other polymaths who had upended every discipline or field that they had turned their scintillating minds to.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Professor Vaknin.

Vaknin: The opportunity is all mine.

References

Hayne, G. (2016, September 8). I Spent a Day Trying to Get to Know a Real-Life Narcissist. Vice. https://www.vice.com/en/article/nney4k/narcissism-interview-chosen-ones-gavin-haynes.

National Association for Gifted Children. (2019). A Definition of Giftedness that Guides Best Practice. https://www.nagc.org/sites/default/files/Position%20Statement/Definition%20of%20Giftedness%20%282019%29.pdf.

Prof. Sam Vaknin. (2020, September 19). Narcissistic Buffet: Answering Your Questions (Well, Sort of) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiHeS8fMsoE.

RICHARD GRANNON. (2018, September 12). THE SAM VAKNIN INTERVIEW – HOW NARCISSISM IS FORMED IN A CHILD GENIUS & THE HIVE MIND [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W89fG8220D8.

Smashwords. (2014, October 19). Interview with Sam Vaknin. https://www.smashwords.com/interview/samvaknin.

Vaknin, S. (n.d.a). Sam Vaknin’s Instagram Epigrams – Page 2. samvaknin.tripod. https://samvak.tripod.com/instagramvaknin2.html.

Vaknin, S. (n.d.b). Sam Vaknin’s Instagram Epigrams – Page 3. samvaknin.tripod. https://samvak.tripod.com/instagramvaknin3.html.

Vaknin, S. (n.d.c). Sam Vaknin’s Instagram Epigrams – Page 4. samvaknin.tripod. https://samvak.tripod.com/instagramvaknin4.html.

Vaknin, S. (n.d.d). Sam Vaknin’s Instagram Epigrams – Page 5. samvaknin.tripod. https://samvak.tripod.com/instagramvaknin5.html.

Vaknin, S. (n.d.e). Sam Vaknin’s Instagram Epigrams – Page 7. samvaknin.tripod. https://samvak.tripod.com/instagramvaknin7.html.

vakninsamnarcissist. (2018, June 13). [Prof. Vaknin provides some biographical information on IQ test scores]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj_r-KaAckn/?hl=en.

Footnotes

^[1] Vaknin (2018) in Instagram stated, “My IQ was tested every time I got myself into serious trouble: at age 9 (result: 185), in the army (180), & in prison by an orthodox religious psychologist who made me his pet project (190). There are only 60 people in the world with IQ 185 & only 7 with IQ 190. It gets pretty lonely pretty fast. Being the sadistic asshole that I am, I am fond of saying that the gap in IQ between me & the average human is far bigger than the difference between that human & an orangutan (or a chimpanzee).” See vakninsamnarcissist (2018).

^[2] “Sam Vaknin’s Instagram Epigrams – Page 2” states:

At the age of 9, I was sent to study in the Technion – Israel’s leading technological university. I have been diagnosed with 180 IQ. It was my lowest score in 3 IQ tests I have taken over the decades. There started my love affair with physics…

…At a very early age I discovered that I lack the most basic life and social skills. I had only one thing going for me: my formidable intellect (there are only 6 other people in the whole wide world with my IQ). So, I deployed it to construct a shelter, a bubble, replete with its own rigid rules and defenses intended to shield me from the life-threatening hurt that the world was inflicting on me daily. This bubble was a self-constructed mental asylum with me as the sole inmate…

…Women also feel inferior & inadequate faced with my 190 IQ.

See Vaknin (n.d.a).

^[3] “Sam Vaknin’s Instagram Epigrams – Page 3” states:

These are for lesser mortals with an IQ score inferior to my stratospheric 190.

See Vaknin (n.d.b).

^[4] “Sam Vaknin’s Instagram Epigrams – Page 4” states:

There were two of us. I was not alone inside my body. Physiologically, I was supposed to be twins: I have two urethras, two sets of teeth, and, at an IQ of 185, probably double the brain. It’s as though, denied their birth, this duo haunts me, an inbound, coupled poltergeist…

… My IQ – 190 – is literally off any known chart. There are only 8 people in the entire world with this level of intelligence and I am one of them.

I used to be so proud of this fact. Now I realize that I am cursed. My IQ is a rare incurable disease…

See Vaknin (n.d.c).

^[5] “Sam Vaknin’s Instagram Epigrams – Page 5” states:

I have 190 IQ and I make sure that my interlocutors are well appraised of this daunting fact…

See Vaknin (n.d.d).

^[6] “Sam Vaknin’s Instagram Epigrams – Page 7” states:

So, I harnessed my formidable intellect – all 190 IQ points of it – to write my user’s manual…

…After all, how does one succeed to not bore to tears someone with 190 IQ and encyclopedic knowledge?…

…They run away screaming to the waiting arms of the first man available because they find out that I am a reptile or a computer simulation or a robot with a brain who is about 10 times more potent than an average one (fact: I have 190 IQ). It is like being trapped in a futuristic sci-fi yarn with an alien life form, albeit carbon-based.

See Vaknin (n.d.e).

^[7] See Prof. Sam Vaknin (2020).

^[8] “A definition of Giftedness that Guides Best Practice” (2019) states:

Students with gifts and talents perform – or have the capability to perform – at higher levels compared to others of the same age, experience, and environment in one or more domains. They require modification(s) to their educational experience(s) to learn and realize their potential. Student with gifts and talents:

• Come from all racial, ethnic, and cultural populations, as well as all economic strata.

• Require sufficient access to appropriate learning opportunities to realize their potential.

• Can have learning and processing disorders that require specialized intervention and accommodation.

• Need support and guidance to develop socially and emotionally as well as in their areas of talent.

• Require varied services based on their changing needs.

See National Association for Gifted Children (2019).

Previous Electronic ‘Print’ Interviews (Hyperlinks Active for Titles)

“An Interview with Professor Sam Vaknin on Narcissistic Personality Disorder”

(In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal: June 22, 2020)

“Interview with Sam Vaknin and Christian Sorensen on Narcissism”

(News Intervention: June 23, 2020)

“Prof. Sam Vaknin on the Philosophy of Nothingness”

(News Intervention: January 26, 2022)

“Prof. Sam Vaknin on Narcissism in General”

(News Intervention: January 28, 2022)

“Prof. Sam Vaknin on Cold Therapy (New Treatment Modality)”

(News Intervention: January 30, 2022)

Previous Interviews Read by Prof. Vaknin (Hyperlinks Active for Titles)

“How to Become the REAL YOU (Interview, News Intervention)”

(Prof. Sam Vaknin: January 26, 2022)

“Insider View on Narcissism: What Makes Narcissist Tick (News Intervention)”

(Prof. Sam Vaknin: January 29, 2022)

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/30

Prof. Sam Vaknin (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, LinkedIn) is the author of Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited (Amazon) as well as many other books and ebooks about topics in psychology, relationships, philosophy, economics, international affairs, and award-winning short fiction. He is Visiting Professor of Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia (September, 2017 to present) and Professor of Finance and Psychology in SIAS-CIAPS (Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies) (April, 2012 to present). Here we talk about his work on treating narcissism with Cold Therapy.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Narcissism seems lifelong, immutable. You have commented, eloquently, about Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the lifetime ‘devoured’ by it, in an Instagram post (vakninsamnarcissist, 2020).[1] Yet, your intervention, Cold Therapy, is effective with Narcissism (and depression). What was the original insight into the first developments of Cold Therapy?

Prof. Sam Vaknin: That, exactly like Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a post-traumatic condition, a form of complex trauma. So, Cold Therapy is based on two premises: (1) That narcissistic disorders are actually forms of CPTSD; and (2) That narcissists are the outcomes of arrested development and attachment dysfunctions. Consequently, Cold Therapy borrows techniques from child psychology and from treatment modalities which used to deal with PTSD.

Jacobsen: In “Cold Therapy and Narcissistic Disorders of the Self” (Vaknin, 2018), you list “four misconceptions about pathological narcissism.”[2]  Why have those been the misconceptions, in particular?

Vaknin: Pathological narcissism is not merely a regression to an earlier childhood developmental phase, although such infantilization is a core psychodynamic of the disorder. There is so much more to it than that!

It is also not only a psychological defense, although narcissistic defenses and cognitive distortions play a key role in the pathology.

Narcissism is not simply an organizing principle or a schema, though, like every addiction (to narcissistic supply, in this case), it helps the addict to make sense of the world (is hermeneutic) and provides goal-orientation and direction. It comes replete with rituals, order, and structure (is an exoskeleton).

Finally, it is not strictly a personality disorder. The personality is intact and highly adaptive. Narcissism is a post-traumatic condition, amenable to trauma therapies. Like in every other form of complex trauma, emotions get dysregulated or repressed and cognitions get distorted.

Jacobsen: How are narcissistic disorders complex post-traumatic conditions, and forms of arrested development and attachment dysfunctions? How are both pampering and punishing a child, or an adolescent, forms of abuse in the creation of a narcissist?

Vaknin: Pathological narcissism is a reaction to prolonged abuse and trauma in early childhood or early adolescence. The source of the abuse or trauma is immaterial – the perpetrators could be parents, teachers, other adults, or peers. Pampering, smothering, spoiling, and “engulfing” the child are also forms of abuse because they do not allow the child to separate from the parent and to confront reality as an agent of personal growth and development.

See these:

http://vaksam.tripod.com/narcissismglance.html

http://vaksam.tripod.com/npdglance.html

http://vaksam.tripod.com/journal42.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20161025014451/http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=de&id=419

Narcissistic and psychopathic parents and their children – click on the links:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/NARCISSISTIC-PERSONALITY-DISORDER/kA1vtsqWAiI

The Genetic Underpinnings of Narcissism

http://vaksam.tripod.com/journal43.html

The early childhood traumas of the narcissist prevent him (or her) from completing the process of separation-individuation. S/he is not permitted to develop boundaries and to become an individual. S/he freezes in time as a Puer Aeternus, a Peter Pan.

The narcissistic child reacts by avoiding the offending and hurtful parent, an insecure attachment style that becomes entrenched throughout the lifespan. He creates the False Self and outsources many Ego boundary functions, rendering him dependent on the appraising gaze of others to buttress his grandiose, inflated self-image. Gradually, he develops an addiction to confirmatory input (narcissistic supply) because he cannot regulate and stabilize his internal environment without it.

Jacobsen: What portions of the nervous system in early childhood and early adolescence seem most impacted by the long-term abuse and trauma to create Narcissism, if known?

Vaknin: Not known. There are many studies about the neuroplastic effects of childhood abuse and trauma on the brain, but none of them is specific to NPD. There are studies about brain abnormalities in Borderline and Antisocial Personality Disorders (psychopathy).

Jacobsen: How are narcissistic disorders interpersonal disorders rather than disorders of the self?

Vaknin: The concept of “individual” which regrettably permeates modern psychology is counterfactual. We are formed fully via relationships with others. To conceive of the Self as an outcome of narcissistic introversion (Jung) is disastrously mistaken.

Disorders of the personality are, therefore, problems in inter-relatedness (as the object theorists in the UK in the 1960s had postulated). Narcissism is no exception. The DSM V has adopted this stance in its Alternate Model of NPD (p. 767). I had been advocating it since 1997.

Jacobsen: What are the goals of Cold Therapy?

Vaknin: The main two therapeutic goals are to render the False Self redundant and so drive it to atrophy (“use it or lose it”) and to eliminate the need for narcissistic supply and the dysphorias that accompany its deficiencies.

In short: to get rid of the grandiosity dimension in Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).

To process trauma via skilled reliving (owning the trauma and surviving retraumatization);

To foster more adaptive functioning that is not dependent on outsourced regulation, cognitive distortions (like grandiosity), and artificial constructs (like the False Self);

Replace negative coping (such as avoidance, withdrawal, defiance, or fantasy) with positive coping strategies;

To integrate distressing materials (thoughts, feelings, memories);

To lead to the internal resolution of dissonances, resulting in an equilibrium and homeostasis;

Help the client to evolve life skills such as resilience, empathy, and ego regulation.

Jacobsen: Why are no known, well-established therapies effective in the treatment of narcissistic disorders?

Vaknin:

Behavior Therapy

Replaces problem behaviors with constructive ones via conditioning and reinforcement.

Cognitive Therapy

Changes negative automatic thoughts and schemas that lead to attributional and other biases as well as errors in order to alter problematic behaviors and dysfunctional feelings and behaviors.

CBT

Third wave of behavior therapy:

Primacy of therapeutic relationship, learning principles, analyze triggers and environmental cues, explore schemas and emotions, utilize modelling, homework, and imagery.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Developed by Linehan in 1993 to treat BPD, but used with other personality disorders and disorders of mood, anxiety, eating, and substance abuse. It is deployed mainly with female patients in inpatient or residential settings.

Emphasizes emotional and affect regulation rather than cognitions. 

Concerned with how were schemas formed via dialectic conflicts: seeks to connect affect and need to cognitive inference processes and belief systems so as to be reinterpreted with greater self-awareness.

Identifies fixation or perseveration causes by early developmental deprivation and protective attentional constriction.

Examines effects of negative reinforcement through emotional avoidance or inadequate coping skills rewarded through the partial reinforcement effect.

Involves individual therapy, group skills training, phone contact, and therapist consultation. Focuses on using validation and problem solving to counter severe behavioral dyscontrol, issues of quiet desperation, problems of living, and reducing incompleteness.

Cognitive Behavior Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP)

Developed by McCullough and adapted by Sperry. Not used with BPD.

Clients learn to analyze life situations and manage daily stressors. They evaluate which thoughts and behaviors prevent desired outcomes.

Elicitation and remediation: questions about the situation, the client’s role and functioning in it, and the desired outcome lead to a revision of counterproductive behaviors and cognitions.

Replaces emotional reasoning with consequential one.

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

Developed by Teasdale.

Fosters aware focus on thoughts, feelings, and experiences in the present with an attitude of acceptance and without analysis or judgment. 

Pattern-focused Psychotherapy

Developed by Sperry

Pattern: predictable, consistent, self-perpetuating style of thinking, feeling, acting, coping, and self-defense. Can be adaptive (competent) or maladaptive (inflexible, ineffective, inappropriate, cause symptoms, impair functioning and satisfaction).

Therapy consists of replacing hurtful maladaptive patterns (situational interpretations and behaviors) with helpful adaptive ones. 

Schema Therapy

Developed by Young

Changes maladaptive schemas: 18 enduring and self-defeating ways of regarding oneself and others, arranged in 5 domains. Schemas are perpetuated through coping styles: schema maintenance, avoidance, and compensation.

Schemas can be reconstructed, modified, interpreted, or camouflaged. 

TABLE 1.2 Maladaptive Schemas and Schema Domains

Disconnection and Rejection

• Abandonment/Instability: The belief that significant others will not or cannot provide reliable and stable support.

• Mistrust/Abuse: The belief that others will abuse, humiliate, cheat, lie, manipulate, or take advantage.

• Emotional Deprivation: The belief that one’s desire for emotional support will not be met by others.

• Defectiveness/Shame: The belief that one is defective, bad, unwanted, or inferior in important respects.

• Social Isolation/Alienation: The belief that one is alienated, different from others, or not part of any group.

Impaired Autonomy and Performance

• Dependence/Incompetence: The belief that one is unable to competently meet everyday responsibilities without considerable help from others.

• Vulnerability to Harm or Illness: The exaggerated fear that imminent catastrophe will strike at any time and that one will be unable to prevent it.

• Enmeshment/Undeveloped Self: The belief that one must be emotionally close with others at the expense of full individuation or normal social development.

• Failure: The belief that one will inevitably fail or is fundamentally inadequate in achieving one’s goals.

Impaired Limits

• Entitlement/Grandiosity: The belief that one is superior to others and not bound by the rules and norms that govern normal social interaction.

• Insufficient Self-Control/Self-Discipline: The belief that one is incapable of self-control and frustration tolerance.

Other-Directedness

• Subjugation: The belief that one’s desires, needs, and feelings must be suppressed in order to meet the needs of others and avoid retaliation or criticism.

• Self-Sacrifice: The belief that one must meet the needs of others at the expense of one’s own gratification.

• Approval-Seeking/Recognition-Seeking: The belief that one must constantly seek to belong and be accepted at the expense of developing a true sense of self.

Overvigilance and Inhibition

• Negativity/Pessimism: A pervasive, lifelong focus on the negative aspects of life while minimizing the positive and optimistic aspects.

• Emotional inhibition: The excessive inhibition of spontaneous action, feeling, or communication—usually to avoid disapproval by others, feelings of shame, or losing control of one’s impulses.

• Unrelenting Standards/Hypercriticalness: The belief that striving to meet unrealistically high standards of performance is essential to be accepted and to avoid criticism.

• Punitiveness. The belief that others should be harshly punished for making errors.

Sperry, Len, “Handbook of Diagnosis and Treatment of DSM-5 Personality Disorders: Assessment, Case Conceptualization, and Treatment”, 3^rd Edition, 2016, Routledge

Transference-focused Psychotherapy

Developed by Kernberg

Infants form internal representations of self-others (objects) connected via affect. A personality disorder occurs when positive and negative representations fail to integrate later in life. Such splitting affects all relationships, including the therapeutic one.

Transference to the therapist exposes the faulty relationship template and allows for its empathic correction. Identity integration is accomplished as the patient experiences negative emotions in a safe environment.

Mentalization-based Treatment (MBT)

Developed by Bateman and Fonagy.

Experience secure attachment and enhancing impulse control by empathically and insightfully reflecting on and correctly labelling one’s state of mind, especially one’s powerful emotions, and cognitive errors. This leads to improves relational skills.

Developmental Therapy

Developed mainly by Blocher, Citright, and Sperry

Regards problems in personal growth and needs satisfaction on a dimensional continuum from disordered to adequate to optimal.

Cold Therapy

Developed by Vaknin

Jacobsen: What are the first steps in formal identification and opening treatments of a narcissist with Cold Therapy?

Vaknin: The client present with a diagnosis of NPD by a clinician.

Cold Therapy consists of the re-traumatization of the narcissistic client in a hostile, non-holding environment which resembles the ambience of the original trauma. The adult patient successfully tackles this second round of hurt and thus resolves early childhood conflicts and achieves closure rendering his now maladaptive narcissistic defenses redundant, unnecessary, and obsolete.

Cold Therapy makes use of proprietary techniques such as erasure (suppressing the client’s speech and free expression and gaining clinical information and insights from his reactions to being so stifled). Other techniques include: grandiosity reframing, guided imagery, negative iteration, other-scoring, happiness map, mirroring, escalation, role play, assimilative confabulation, hypervigilant referencing, and re-parenting. It is proving to be an effective treatment for major depressive episodes (see this article about the link between pathological narcissism and depression and this article about depression and regulatory narcissistic supply in narcissism).

More about the therapy:

https://www.scribd.com/document/349440458/Cold-Therapy-Seminar-Level-1-Lecture-Notes

http://www.opastonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/cold-therapy-and-narcissistic-disorders-of-the-self-jcrc-18.pdf

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Professor Vaknin.

Vaknin: Thank you again for your interest in my work.

References

Vaknin, S. (2018). Cold Therapy and Narcissistic Disorders of the Self. Journal of Clinical Review & Case Reports, 3(6), 29-36. https://doi.org/10.33140/JCRC/03/06/00005

vakninsamnarcissist. (2020, January 31). [Prof. Vaknin reflects on life with NPD and the creation of Cold Therapy]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B7-0NCdgQxg/.

Footnotes

[1] Vaknin’s Instagram post (2020), in full, stated:

What a cruel irony it is that I have developed Cold Therapy – the first ever effective treatment (cure, really) for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) – too late to benefit from it myself.

I am 59 years old, my health is failing. My mental illness had consumed my life – is still devouring it – as surely as the bush fires ravage homes in Australia, leaving only the ashes of Me behind.

WARNING

I will block anyone who gives me the feel good New Age crap about how it is never too late in life. Life has an expiry date beyond which it is all blood and tears and stools and wallowing in your own stench of decomposing physical and mental decrepitude. So back off with your American anodyne platitudes about how every age has its charms. Old age sucks 100%. We lie to ourselves about it in order to survive somehow in the face of our own vanishing dismemberment.

NPD is the slowest invisible cancer – but of the soul and mind. It is spiritual AIDS with nothing to abet it. It is all-pervasive, relentless, and merciless. It starts at age 3. It causes people around the narcissist to hurt and torment him purposefully and profusely as a way of getting back at him for his egregious abuse. It is Inferno and I have been its Dante since 1995. No Beatrice can help me, no god, no healer. I have been doomed by my own progenitor to a life of itinerant, profound, debilitating hurt, unlovable, shunned like a leper, feared and loathed and mocked in equal measures.

It is with impotent rage that I bequeath Cold Therapy to a world I care nothing for or about. Rage at the injustice of healing and aiding millions with my pioneering work since 1995 – except the only person who most deserved my love and my devotion and my succor: Sam.

See vakninsamnarcissist (2020).

[2] Vaknin, in “Cold Therapy and Narcissistic Disorders of the Self” (2018), stated:

a. It is not only a regression to an earlier childhood developmental phase;

b. It is not merely a psychological defense;

c. It is not simply an organizing principle or a schema;

d. It is not a personality disorder.

See Vaknin (2018).

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/29

*Edited 2022-01-31.*

The assertive face and voice of Canadian freethought is, more or less, a mosaic with the uniformity of a crumpled piece of paper. There is a series of freethought communities. There are voices for parts of the communities.

However, I see no unified voice. A singular referent for activism, whether as a whole or on particular projects, consistently, which raises an issue to me. I proposed something for some of the ex-Muslim community, humbly (and not-so humbly), which was the idea of the International Coalition of Ex-Muslims.

However, I was several years too late(!) – so missed the mark by a period of years with the proposal, as the inimitable Maryam Namazie of CEMB informed me. Ex-Muslims International, a recent shortening of the older name, was, in fact, founded in July of 2017 at the International Conference on Freedom of Conscience and Expression.*

Within the Canadian freethought landscape, I do not see a positive singular voice for effective political campaigning at the national level. Even with some efforts by others and myself, they tend to be one-ticket items, at most.

When I interviewed a number of humanist or humanistic organizations’ leaders in Canada, “Humanism in Canada: Personal, Professional, and Institutional Histories (Part One),”[1] I found some consistent efforts within the leaderships or themes of values and the like.

At the time, for the interview with Canadian humanist leaders, Spring 2020, Cameron Dunkin was the Acting CEO of Dying With Dignity Canada, Dr. Gus Lyn-Piluso was – and is – the President of Center for Inquiry-Canada, Doug Thomas was – and is – the President of Secular Connexion Séculière, Greg Oliver was – and is – the President of Canadian Secular Alliance, Michel Virard was – and is – the President of Association humaniste du Québec, Dr. Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson was the Vice-President of Humanist Canada, and Seanna Watson was – and is – the Vice-President of Center for Inquiry-Canada.

In other words, out of the small population of Canadian society, in independent research, I found a number of common themes amongst leading humanists in the nation. I conducted group interview of its type to explore the issue, independently.

With a small population in Canada, as a whole – simply contrast the international numbers, came a small number of humanist or humanistic organizations in Canada, those individuals represented the first collective interview in the history of Humanism, as far as I am aware.

While, at the same time, even still, the number of organizations remains small; the organizations continue to make inroads into Canadian society for humanist values, especially critical thinking, science education, and advancement of human rights (e.g., reproductive rights).

There’s a decent number of directly humanist organizations and indirectly humanistic organizations: Humanist Canada[1], Center for Inquiry-Canada[2], Association humaniste du Québec (AhQ)[3], Canadian Secular Alliance[4], Secular Connexion Séculière [5], Mouvement Laïque Québécois[6], Canadian Association for Equality[7], Humanist Freedoms, Canadian Atheists[8], Libres penseurs athées — Atheist Freethinkers (LPA-AFT)[9], Canadian Humanist Publications[10], Fondation Humaniste Du Quebec[11], Dying With Dignity Canada[12], Egale Canada[13], One School System Network[14], Canadian Civil Liberties Union[15], and then a host of smaller or local humanist organizations not devoted to a particular language group or a national reach, or thematic emphasis.

There are North American wide organizations, which means an overlap into Canada and an inclusion of, for example, the United States of America, e.g., Ex-Muslims of North America and Freedom From Religion Foundation. Yet, it’s incredible no single coalition exists for direct political activism in Canada, even with a temporary existence for concerted humanist or humanistic changes to Canadian law and society.

My (rather immodest) proposal would be one akin to the International Coalition of Ex-Muslims, which became Ex-Muslims International[16], with the Canadian Freethought Coalition (CFC) or something akin to this. They’ve done an incredible job for themselves — sincerely from the bottom-up. Many overcoming individual trauma, while still paving paths.

In that, the efforts for a truly humanistic Canada should incorporate an adaptive democratic umbrella organization capable of handling unified or consensus-based political and legal assertiveness for greater efficacy at the national level.

One in which no singular leadership for a national, linguistic, or thematic, organization holds complete or absolute power, while a rotating spokesperson holds the position for speaking on timely humanist issues. Those humanist issues most Canadian humanists want forcefully, assertively directed at the federal level for downstream impacts throughout Canada.

I write this to broach the issue, as I consider this, not only a possibility but, a plausible proposal for all humanists, or humanistically oriented individuals and organizations, in Canada.

Footnotes

*CEMB hosts the largest gathering of ex-Muslims in history in London in July 2017 at the International Conference on Freedom of Conscience and Expression with over 70 notable speakers from 30 countries or the Diaspora gathered in what is dubbed “The Glastonbury of Freethinkers” and “a Conference of Heroes” to honour dissenters and defend apostasy, blasphemy, and secularism. The sold-out conference highlights the voices of those on the frontlines of resistance – many of them persecuted and exiled. The conference made a space for crucial discussions and debates on Islamophobia and its use by Islamists to impose de facto blasphemy laws, the relation between Islam and Islamism as well as communalism’s threat to universal rights, art as resistance and Laicite as a human right. The conference hashtag, #IWant2BFree, trends on Twitter. The conference includes a public art protest of 99 balloons to represent those killed or imprisoned for blasphemy and apostasy around the world. Resolutions against the no platforming of Richard Dawkins and in support of Egyptian atheist Ismail Mohamed and CEMB at Pride are adopted. A Declaration of Freethinkers is adopted at the conference. See https://www.ex-muslim.org.uk/2019/12/cemb-timeline/.

[1] Humanist Canada is comprised of the Board of Directors with Martin Frith (President), Ric Glowienka (Vice-President), Ruth Henrich (Treasurer & Corporate Secretary), Donna Harris (Member), Kathleen Johnson (Member), Meltem Kilicaslan Greisman (Member), Sassan Sanei (Member), and Sonia Mallet (Member), and staff Dr. Anna Popovitch (Program Director), Jag Parmar (Administrative Assistant), and Karina Chu (Social Media Coordinator).

[2] Center for Inquiry-Canada’s Board of Directors is currently comprised of Gus Lyn-Piluso (President), Seanna Watson (Vice-President), Diane Bruce (Critical Thinking Chair), Zack Dumont (Science Chair), Alex Kenjeev (Policy Officer), John Varghese (Communications Liaison), Leslie Rosenblood (Treasurer & Secular Chair), Edan Tasca (Mental Health Chair), and E. Onur C. Romano, and its Leadership Team with Sandra Dunham (Executive Director of Development), Mark Maharaj (Office Manager), David Simmons (Manager of Records & Recording Secretary). Its past Board membership has been S. Wynton Semple, Debora Del Monte, Paul Zammit, Carol Parlow, Richard Thain, Jack Wallas, Zak Fiddes, Lorne Trottier, Ron Lindsay, Thomas Flynn, Derek Rodgers, Barry Karr, Ian McQuaig, Michael Gardiner, Kathryn Calder, Iain Martel, William Cranor, Gary Fitzgibbon, Dorothy Hays, Veronica Abbass, Mike Gray, Joanna Nguyen-Truong, Genessa Radke, Pat O-Brien, Wil McDowall, Danielle Russell, Kevin Smith, Blythe Nilsson, Christopher Myrick, and Sarah Pekeles.

[3] Association humaniste du Québec’s Board of Directors is comprised of Michel Virard (President), Michel Pion (Vice-President & Treasurer), Claude Braun (Administrator & Editor-in-Chief, “Quebec Humaniste”), Daniel Baril (Administrator & Spokesperson), Michel Lincort (Administrator & Secretary), Danielle Russell (Administrator), and Alain Bourgault (Administrator).

[4] Canadian Secular Alliance’s Board of Directors is Bob Lent, Glen MacDonald, Greg Oliver, and Justin Trottier.

[5] Secular Connexion Séculière leadership is comprised ofDoug Thomas (President), Barrie Webster (Vice President), Rick Dondo (Manitoba Provincial Advocate), Kayla Horan-Dmytruk (Saskatchewan Provincial Advocate), Gordon Wolters (Alberta Provincial Advocate), and Alan Danesh (British Columbia Provincial Advocate).

[6] Mouvement Laïque Québécois’s President is Daniel Baril, with assistance from Me Luc Alarie (through the Supreme Curt of Canada in the Ville de Saguenay case) and Me Guillame Rousseau as a lawyer (and associate professor of law at the University of Sherbrooke).

[7] Its current Board of Directors is made of Edward Sullivan (Chair), Sean Sullivan (Vice Chair), James Brown (President), Jill Hendry (Secretary), Lynda Yardley (Treasurer), Justin Trottier (Founder & National Executive Director), Glenn Hendricks (Director of Advancement), Mark Austerberry (Technical Director), and Denise Fong (Outreach Coordinator), and three regional boards with the Ottawa Regional Board made of John Robson (Chair), Eric Verwijs (Secretary), Jean-Jacques Desgranges, John Kingsley, Keith Savage, and Simon Gardner, Alberta Regional Board made of Sean McMurtry (Chair), Joachim Mueller, Neil Scully, Vanessa Farkas-Brahmakshatriya, Tanis Mooore, and Christine Giancarlo, and BC Regional Governance Board comprised of Paul Dowell, Roger Challis, Martin Nugter, Fiona Wang, Liam Wilson, Warren Senkowski, and Mayra F. Paiva, and Equality Advisory Fellows Hon Roger Gallaway, Barbara Kay, Jackie Orsetto, Lionel Tiger, Warren Farrell, Miles Groth, Fred Litwin, Heidi Nabert, Edward Sullivan, James Brown, Janice Fiamengo, Eleanor Levine, Rob Keays, William Spotton, Suzanne Venker, Brian Jenkins, Rev. Alan Steward, Joseph Henry, Walter Fox, Paul Sandor, Sita Kaith, Kush Gupta, Rob Whitley, Gene C. Colman, Dean Harvey, Ralph Shiell, Don Neufeld, Adam Jones, Don Dutton, Don Wright, Paul Nathanson, Tonia Nicholls, Dan Bilsker, Damuel Veissiere, and Carey Linde.

[8] Canadian Atheists is comprised of Randolf Richardson (President), Neil Bernstein (Community Advocate), and Darwin Bedford (Ambassador of Reason).

[9] Its President is David Rand. Its Secretary is Pierre Thibault. Its Treasurer is Marco DeRossi.

[10] Canadian Humanist Publications is comprised of Simon Parcher (President), Madeline Weld (Vice President), Richard Young (Secretary), and Josh Bowie (Book Review Editor), and with “Humanist Perspectives” magazine under it with Madeline Weld and Richard Young as co-editors, Rchard Young as the Art Director, Joan Perry as the Office Manager, and Josh Bower as the Book Review Editor.

[11] Fondation Humaniste Du Quebec is comprised of Sarto Blouin (President), Edouard Boily (Vice-President), Richard Aubert (Secretary), Pierre Lacasse (Treasurer), Marie-France Tremblay, Lina Comtois, Laurent Blouin, Guillaume Carpentier, Bruno Deschênes, and Alain Bourgault.

[12] At present, Dying With Dignity Canada is comprised of staff Helen Long (CEO), Candy Alexander (Development Coordinator), Alexa Bogoslowski (Office Administrator), Sarah Dobec (Communication Specialist), David Gosse (Manager, Volunteer Engagement and Chapter Development), Kelsey Goforth (Senior Program Manager), Nicole Curtis (Program Specialist), Ryan Lindsay (Director, Development), Alisha Martins (Digital Engagement Specialist), Melissa Muller (Development Officer), Samantha Shier (Program Coordinator), and Liberty Vinas (Administrative Coordinator), and Board of Directors with Bev Heim-Myers (Chair), Susan Desjardins (Vice-Chair), Ryan A. Webster (Treasurer), Fancy C. Poitras (Secretary), Wayne Cochrane (Member), James Cowan (Past-Chair, Member), Daphne Gilbert (Member), Roslyn Goldner (Member), Eva Kmiecic (Member), Sherry Moran (Member), Chantal Perrot (Member), Jonathan Reggler (Member), and Tammy Pham (Member), and Disability Advisory Council Linda Jarrett (Executive Member) and Cindy Player (Executive Member), and Patrons Council with Richard W. Ivey, Margaret Atwood, Maude Barlow, Lee Carter, Bill Cunningham and Agi Gabor, Hon David Crombie, Atom Egoyan, Charlotte Gray, Al Hancock, Nancy Ruth, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Clayton Ruby, Hon. Joan Bissett Neiman, David Wilson, and Moses Znaimer, and Clinicians Advisory Council with Valerie Cooper, Dr. Tanja Daws, Dr. Stefanie Green, Dr. Anne Kenshole, Dr. J.R. LaFrance, Dr. Robert Langford, Dr. Georges L’Espérance, Dr. Roey Malleson, Dr. Jean Marmoreo, Erica Maynard, Dr. Peter McKernan, Dr. Chantal Perrot, Dr. Vona Priest, Dr. Jonathan Reggler, Dr. Konia Troutan, Dr. Ken Walker, and Dr. Ellen Wiebe, and a First-Person Advocates’ Initiatives Council with Ed Borchardt, Sandy Doyle, Jenny Hasselman, Sylvia Henshaw, Jack Hopkins, Sue McCaffrey, Tracy McDowell, Paul Morck, Tamara Nazaruk, Chelsea Peddle, Ron Posno, Doniya Quenneville, and Stephen Trepanier.

[13] Egale Canada is comprised of Helen Kennedy (Executive Director), Kendall Forde (Director, Project Management), Jennifer Boyce (Director, Communications & Public Relations), Kim Vance-Mubanga (Director, International Programs), Robyn Johnston (Director, Human Resources), Mark Fellion (Director, Development), BevMitelman (Director, Learning), Valentyna Kulesh (Director, Finance & Administration), Dr. Brittany Jakubiec (Director, Research), and Jacki Lewis (Chair of the Board), Christine Wilson (Vice President), Dan Irving (Secretary), Robert Mitchell (Treasurer), Dali Hammouch (Director), and Susan Rose (Director).

[14] One School System Network is made of Leonard Baak (President and Principal Spokesperson), Geraint (Gegs) Jones (Chairman and Alternate Spokesperson), Paula Conning 9Coordinator, Orangeville and area chapter), and Nadine Clark (Director).

[15] Canadian Civil Liberties Union is made of the Board of Directors with Larry Baldachin, Audrey Boctor, Julie DiLorenzo, Andrew Forde, Joe Freedman, Julianna Greenspan, Nadar Hasan, Patricia Jackson, Anil Kapoor, Jonathan Lisus, Andrew Lokan, John McCamus, Ron Ness, Linda Schuyler, Simron Singh, and Steven Sofer, and staff Abby Deshman, Cara Faith Zwibel, Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, Brenda McPhail, April Julian, Talayeh Shomali, Aruna Aysola, Rnadi Thomson, Kelsey Miki, Mishma Gashyna, Tom Naciuk, and a former General Counsel Emeritus with A. Alan Borovoy.

[16] Ex-Muslims International is a coalition of Ateizm Dernegi (Turkey), Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan, Atheist Iranian Community, Council of Ex-Muslims of Jordan, Council of Ex-Muslims of Morocco. Council of Ex-Muslims of Singapore, MALI — Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles — Maroc, Ex-Muslim Somali Voices, Ex-Muslims of India, Ex-Muslims of Sri Lanka, Ex-Muslims of Tamil Nadu, India, Freethought Lebanon, Manaarah Initiative, Atheist Refugee Relief, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, Council of Ex-Muslims of France, Council of Ex-Muslims of Germany, Council of Ex-Muslims of Scandinavia, Ex-Muslims of Norway, Ex-Muslims of the Netherlands, Faithless Hijabi, Council of Ex-Muslims of New Zealand, Ex-Muslim Support Network of Australia, Ex-Muslims of North America, and Muslimish. It is a large and rapidly growing interconnected activist collective — kudos to them.

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History remains rife with failed ideas and hordes of individuals to pursue them, who create organizations falling into rather dry dust, eventually. Primarily religious interpretations of the cosmos with science taking the hindmost amount to such ideas. One idea in the fray is Creationism. Another is Intelligent Design.

Intelligent Design and Creationism continue to evolve, mutually and separately. By and large, Intelligent Design and Creationism have failed, which means individuals associated with and organizations built around either/both have failed: legally, socially, culturally, scientifically, even philosophically and theologically. Legitimacy for either/both is null. Most educated peoples see them as illegitimate if not bad jokes.

The Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy, on broad Creationism, states, “At a broad level, a Creationist is someone who believes in a god who is absolute creator of heaven and earth, out of nothing, by an act of free will” (Ruse, 2021)

While, in a specific sense, it means “…taking of the Bible, particularly the early chapters of Genesis, as literally true guides to the history of the universe and to the history of life, including us humans, down here on earth” (Ibid.).

In other words, either a supernatural intervening mind starting everything including life or the Bible as the interpretive frame for approximately the same idea, Creationism posits divine intervention. Intelligent Design, the focus for today, refers to a slant or overlay on the core concepts of Creationism.

The Discovery Institute’s Professor Michael J. Behe and Dr. Stephen C. Meyer defined Intelligent Design as the theory “that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection” (Behe & Meyer, 2018).

Now, the idea presents as a scientific theory or, at least, a hypothesis as an alternative to evolution via natural selection. However, when digging deeper, one finds the true machinations behind its presentation, as such.

RationalWiki (2021) defines Intelligent Design, as follows, “Intelligent design creationism (often intelligent design, ID, or IDC) is a pseudoscience that maintains that certain aspects of the physical world, and more specifically life, show signs of having been designed, and hence were designed, by an intelligent being (usually, but not always, the God of the Christian religion).”

Dr. William Dembski, one of the pillars for founding the Intelligent Design movement, stated, “I believe God created the world for a purpose. The Designer of intelligent design is, ultimately, the Christian God” (Environment and Ecology, 2019).”

Also, Dembski stated, “Intelligent design is just the Logos theology of John’s Gospel restated in the idiom of information theory (Dembski, 1999),” and, “Intelligent design opens the whole possibility of us being created in the image of a benevolent God. The job of apologetics is to clear the ground — to clear obstacles that prevent people from coming to the knowledge of Christ. And if there’s anything that I think has blocked the growth of Christ as the free reign of the spirit and people accepting the scripture and Jesus Christ, it is the Darwinian naturalistic view.”

The latter, supposedly, stated at the National Religious Broadcasters’ conference in Anaheim, California on February 6, 2000. In short, and these amount to a smidgen of definitions along the same lines of one another, Intelligent Design is distinct from Creationism.

While, at the same time, Creationism is a foundation stone for modern Intelligent Design. Where, its founders point to the religious, particularly, biblical and Christian roots of Intelligent Design, thus Creationist underpinnings and not overlay.

Ergo, Intelligent Design is not Creationism and Creationism is not Intelligent Design, though Intelligent Design is rooted in Creationism and Creationism is the parent of Intelligent Design.

The late Philip Johnson claimed Christianity as the foundation for Intelligent Design in “Reclaiming America for Christ Conference” (1999):

I have built an intellectual movement in the universities and churches that we call “The Wedge,” which is devoted to scholarship and writing that furthers this program of questioning the materialistic basis of science…

And so we’re the ones that stand for good science, objective reasoning, assumptions on the table, a high level of education, and freedom of conscience to think as we are capable of thinking.

That’s what America stands for, and that’s something we stand for, and that’s something the Christian Church and the Christian Gospel stand for-the truth that makes you free. Let’s recapture that, while we’re recapturing America.

Furthermore, he wrote in 1996, “Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get intelligent design — which really means the reality of God — before the academic world and into the schools” (Clemmitt, 2005).

In short, Creationism is about a supernatural intervening god, often about a biblical Christian God, while Intelligent Design is a social and political tool posed as scientific based on the biblical Christian God in the idiom of information theory, according to the founders of the Intelligent Design movement.

Regarding the actual people and organizations for Intelligent Design, the main one is the Discovery Institute. However, mostly, it becomes confused with Creationism in particular, while, in some sense, committed to both. Professor Michael Behe, Dr. William Dembski, and Philip E. Johnson were, probably, the core people.

Unfortunately, on their life trajectories, Dembski is without academic affiliation; Johnson died with many failures; and, Behe has been ideologically isolated within the university’s biology department. On September 23, 2016, Dembski claimed to be leaving the Intelligent Design movement, including the Discovery Institute fellowship. All associations were cut. Were they, though? No.

However, as one can expect in the socio-political battles of the religious, they never give up, never intended to relent, and continue onwards, as ever; they’re as predictable as the Sun rising. He returned circa February, 2021. All this pertains to an organizational history too.

At one time, there was The International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design (ISCID) and its flagship publication entitled Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design (PCID). It contains all the “idiom of information theory.” You see the overlay.

Intelligent Design isn’t Creationism. Intelligent Design is an evolution of Creationism. It is masked with information-theoretic terminology and concepts. The purpose, as defined by its founders, is dishonest with social and political influence of the religious on an increasingly secular and non-Christian culture.

ISCID is a defunct organization. PCID is a failed publication. The inherent interest is not in the persistence of Creationism, as religious fundamentalists have always acted with zeal, whether a clean & polite presentation or not. That’s old, not new.

The intrinsic intrigue of the operation is the increasing levels of sophisticated gibberish to justify non-sense and religion into society — forcing religion mendaciously on the public. So, who are the agents of dishonest theology?

As defined on the website, “The International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design (ISCID) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which provides a forum for free and uncensored inquiry into complex systems. The day-to-day operation of the society centers on the Archive, to which members and nonmembers may submit articles. Once uploaded onto the archive, each article has a commenting facility to which members may append comments. At the author’s request, after three months on the archive, articles passed on by the editorial board enter the quarterly online peer-reviewed journal of the society: Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design (PCID)” (ISCID, 2011a).

All information Society of Fellows information publicly available (ISCID, 2011b). In terms of the Executive Board or Board, ISCID’s Executive Director, in its main days, was William A. Dembski. Its Managing Director was Micah Sporacio. Its Chief Research Coordinator was Jed Macosko. Its Program Coordinator was Forrest M. Mims III. Its Development Officer was Terry Rickard. Its Office Manager was Stephanie Hoylman.

Yet, they had fellows specializing in different areas affiliated with institutions. Michael Behe (Biochemistry) from Lehigh University. John Bloom (Physics and Philosophy of Science) from Biola University. Walter Bradley (Mechanical Engineering) from Texas A&M University. Neil Broom (Biophysics) from the University of Auckland.

Russell W. Carlson (Molecular Biology) from the University of Georgia, Athens. David K.Y. Chiu (Biocomputing) from the University of Guelph. Robin Collins (Cosmology and Philosophy of Physics) from Mesiah College.

J. Budziszewski (Philosophy and Political Theory) from the University of Texas, Austin. John Angus Campbell (Communications) from the University of Memphis.

William Lane Craig (Philosophy) from the Talbot School of Theology, Biola. Bernard d’Abrera (Lepidoptera) from the British Museum, Natural History. Kenneth de Jong (Linguistics) from Indiana University, Bloomington. Of course, William Dembski in Mathematics. Mark R. Discher (Ethics) from the University of St. Thomas.

David Humphreys (Chemistry) from McMaster University. Cornelius Hunter (Biophysics) from Seagull Technology. Muzaffar Iqbal (Science and Religion from) from Center for Islam and Science. Quinn Tyler Jackson for “Language & Software Systems.”

Daniel Dix (Mathematics) from the University of Southern Carolina. Fred Field (Linguistics) from California State University. Guillermo Gonzalez (Astronomy) from Iowa State University. Bruce L. Gordon (Philosophy of Physics) from Baylor University.

Conrad Johnson (Clinical Neurosciences & Physiology) from Brown Medical School. Robert Kaita (Plasma Physics) from Princeton University. James Keener (Mathematics and Bioengineering) from the University of Utah. Robert C. Koons (Philosophy) from the University of Texas, Austin.

Jed Macosko (Chemistry) from La Sierra University. Bonnie Mallard (Immunology) from the University of Guelph. Forrest M. Mims III for “Atmospheric Science.” Scott Minnich (Microbiology) from the University of Idaho. Paul Nelson (Philosophy of Biology) from the Discovery Institute.

Younghun Kwon (Physics) from Hanyang University. Christopher Michael Langan/Chris Langan/Christopher Langan (Logic, Cosmology, and Reality Theory) from the Mega Foundation and Research Group. Robert Larmer (Philosophy) from the University of New Brunswick.

Martti Leisola (Bioprocess Engineering) from Helsinki University of Technology. Stan Lennard (Medicine) from the University of Washington. John Lennox (Mathematics) from the University of Oxford. Gina Lynne LoSasso (Cognitive Neuroscience and Clinical Neuropsychology) from the Mega Foundation and Research Group.

Filip Palda (Economics) from the l’École Nationale d’Administration Publique, Montreal. Edward T.Peltzer for “Ocean Chemistry.” Alvina Plantinga (Philosophy) from the University of Notre Dame. Martin Poenie (Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology) from the University of Texas, Austin.

Carlos E. Puente (Hydrology and Theoretical Dynamics) from the University of California, Davis. Del Ratzsch (Philosophy of Science) from Calvin College. Jay Wesley Richard (Philosophical Theology) from the Discovery Institute. Terry Rickard (Electrical Engineering) from the Orincon Corporation.

Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D. (Psychiatry/Neuroscience) from the UCLA Department of Psychiatry. Philip Skell (Chemistry) from Penn State University. Frederick Skiff (Physics) from the University of Iowa. Karl D. Stephan (Electrical Engineering) from Southwest Texas State University.

John Roche (History of Science) from the University of Oxford. Andrew Ruys (Bioceramic Engineering) from the University of Sydney. Henry F. Schaefer (Quantum Chemistry) from the University of Georgia, Athens.

Richard Sternberg (Systematics) from NCBI-GenBank (NIH). Frank Tipler (Mathematical Physics) from Tulane University. Jonathan Wells (Developmental Biology) from the Discovery Institute. Finally, Peter Zoeller-Greer (Mathematics, Physics and Information Science) from the State University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt on the Main.

Now, with the number of academic disciplines and institutional associations, obviously, these are smart people, educated individuals. So, it would be inappropriate to claim, “Idiocy,” “Stupidity,” and the like. Individuals with a sincere belief, mostly theological, often Christian, and, in fact, predominantly Euro-American men.

Which is to say, not as a critique of the proposal of Intelligent Design, but, rather, as a sincere sociological analysis, the Intelligent Design movement, by and large, remains comprised of Euro-American Protestant Christian men with advanced degrees and prestigious connections.

Given the theological influences noted by Johnson, and Dembski, above, obviously, the American Protestant Christian communities appear as the source of Intelligent Design with highly educated American Protestant Christian men at the helm.

ISCID offered a number of services. It offered conferences and symposia with the first held on October 2002 to investigate “teleological accounts for the origin of biological information” (ISCID, 2011b).

It provided a “brainstorms discussion forum” “to get preliminary thoughts about complex systems into circulation so that they can receive critical scrutiny and be more fully developed” with “special interest” to “novel intuitions, speculations, hypotheses, conjectures, arguments, and data” (Ibid.)

Brainstorms, in fact, set a standard of not talking about “politics, personalities, and motives” (ISCID, 2012a). They were strict, stating, “Professional courtesy is to be observed at all times. Excessively long and repetitive posts are to be avoided. The start of a thread needs to present some positive insight into complex systems rather than some purely negative criticism. Threads that do not meet these standards will be closed or deleted entirely” (Ibid.).

They had reading discussion groups with books related top ISCID aiming for participation of the author (Ibid.). The had essay contests “in honor of Michael Polanyi with a cash prize of $1,000 [for undergraduates] and a graduate essay contest in honor of John von Neumann with a cash prize of $2,000” (ISCID, 2011b).

The page, on the John von Neumann Essay Prize, stated, “The John von Neumann Essay Prizeis awarded each summer to the best graduate article on complexity, information, and design submitted during the previous academic year. The article must be between 8,000 and 12,000 words (excluding abstract, bibliography, and notes). The prize value is $2,000” (ISCID, 2008).

On the Michael Polanyi Essay Prize, stated, “The Michael Polanyi Essay Prize is awarded each summer to the best undergraduate article on complexity, information, and design submitted during the previous academic year. The article must be between 6,000 and 8,000 words (excluding abstract, bibliography, and notes). The prize value is $1,000” (Ibid.). The essays well before the shutdown of operations in 2011 or the lack of management of web domain in 2011.

Their summer workshops included “bright undergraduate and graduate students as well as exceptional high school juniors and seniors” who could “have the opportunity each summer to converge on Princeton, New Jersey and learn about complex systems from some of the premier researchers in the field” (Ibid.).

Finally, internal to the system, they had a research bibliography as “an open-source, community project to develop the most comprehensive scientific bibliography resource on complex systems, information and design theory, and teleology. Users can submit entries, make comments, and create “folders” containing relevant reference information” (Ibid.).

You could make donations, become a member and gain benefits. The donations had corresponding levels of memberships, including “Regular Membership — $45-$99,” “Sustaining Membership — $100-$249,” “Friend — $250 — $499,” “Patron — $500 — $999,” “Founder — $1000 and above,” and “Lifetime Benefactor — $5000 and above (includes a lifetime membership)” (ISCID, 2013).

There were monthly donations available of “Ten dollars per month,” “Twenty-five dollars per month,” “Fifty dollars per month,” “One hundred dollars per month,” and “Two hundred and fifty dollars per month” (Ibid.).

Their memberships page had two formal membership levels — apparently, differing from donation memberships — with $25.00 for the Student Membership and $40.00 for the Regular Membership (Ibid.).

Members could access “thousands of online science journal articles,” could share “an interest in information- and design-theoretic applications to complex systems,” while membership was “open to anyone: professional, student, or lay person,” could “receive free or discounted access to online conferences, workshops, and reading discussion groups,” as well as “receive free access to ISCID research tools such as the online Bibliography.”

“Member Services,” as a web page, and some of this is repetitive, included an Online Research Library, Member Discussion Board, Edit Your Profile, Directory, Refer a member, ISCID Bibliography, Job Postings, Membership Renewal, Log out, and the beta version of ISCID Encyclopedia of Science and Philosophy (ISCID, 2003).

Their “Research Tools” were, similarly, limited, with services including the ISCID Encyclopedia of Science and Philosophy(Beta), aLiterature Review, anISCID Bibliography, theMESA: Monotonic Evolutionary Simulation Algorithm, and PLoS Biology & Public Library of Science. That’s about it.

Its top-page motto or phrase stated, “Retraining the scientific imagination to see purpose in nature” (Ibid.), which leads to PCID or the flagship journal of ISCID. “Purpose in nature” means teleology, so theology. It was a teleological/theological organization, not scientific.

The above-listed “Society of Fellows” was the advisory board for the peer-review of PCID. The fellows of ISCID, are the advisory board for PCID, are the peer-review for PCID. This was the structure of the organization.

PCID’s Editorial Board — not the Advisory Board/Society of Fellows — was William A. Dembski as General Editor, Jed Macosko as Associate Editor, Bruce Gordon as Associate Editor, James Barham as Book Review Editor, John Bracht as Managing Editor, and Micah Sparacio as Webmaster. Individuals could advertise with them for finance. PCID’s ISSN was 1555–5089.

They had a total of 8 issues: Volume 1.1, January — March 2002, Double Issue, Volumes 1.2 and 1.3, April — September 2002, Volume 1.4, October — December 2002, Double Issue, Volumes 2.1 and 2.2, January — June 2003, Philosophy of Mind Issue, Volume 2.3, October 2003, Volume 3.1, November 2004, Volume 4.1, July 2005, Volume 4.2 November 2005. These were purely electronic and not print versions, which makes sense moving into the 2000s and forward.

PCID was an attempt by Intelligent Design proponents to publish articles without a standard peer review process. The critique of the peer-review process was the lack of impartiality and rigour of the journal, in spite of secular presentation with information-theoretic terminology and academic patois.

The articles needed acceptance into the archive, required basic scholarly standards in relevance to complex systems as a discipline, and only required one ISCID Society of Fellows fellow to publish it. There was, obvious, conflict of interest and, probably, personal relationships between authors and requesters. The standards and output were very low.

As you can see, clear as day, the social and political intent was dishonest, as noted further above. The peer review was, in effect, dishonest, described above. So, as a service, and in concordance with, for most of them, their Saviour, I state, “…the truth will set you free.”

To further the point about low productivity, Volume 1.1, January — March 2002 published 8 articles and 3 book reviews: Inventions, Algorithms, and Biological Design by John Bracht, Are Probabilities Indispensable to the Design Inference? by Robert C. Koons, Back to Stoics: Dynamical Monism as the Foundation for a Reformed Naturalism by James Barham, A Response to Critics of Darwin’s Black Box by Michael J. Behe, Searching for Deep Variation in the Model Systems of Evo-Devo by Paul A. Nelson and Jonathan Wells, Why Natural Selection Can’t Design Anything by William A. Dembski, Dynamical Complexity and Regularity by Richard Johns, Does the association of spectral absorption bands in sunlight with the spectral response of photoreceptors in plants imply coincidence, adaptation or design? by Forrest M. Mims III, Three Issues With “No Free Lunch” by Darel R. Finley, What Have Butterflies Got to Do with Darwin? by William A. Dembski, and Finding Miller’s King by Jed Macosko.

Double Issue, Volumes 1.2 and 1.3, April — September 2002 published 7 articles and 1 interview: The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe: A New Kind of Reality Theory by Christopher Michael Langan, The Impasse between the Design and Evolution of Life by Philip R. Page, On the descriptive terminology of the information transfer between organisms by Koszteyn and Lenartowicz, What is Natural Selection? A Plea for Clarification by Neil Broom, Random Predicate Logic I: A Probabilistic Approach to Vagueness by William A. Dembski, Complex Specification (CS): A New Proposal For Identifying Intelligence,Darel R. Finley, The evolution of complex information systems as movement against the pull of entropy, measured along information-space-time dimensions by Arie S. Issar, and Developing a science and philosophy of consciousness: A chat with David Chalmers.

Volume 1.4, October — December 2002 published 8 papers and 1 interview: Becoming a Disciplined Science: Prospects, Pitfalls, and Reality Check for ID by William A. Dembski, Probabilities of randomly assembling a primitive cell on Earth by Dermott J. Mullan, Evolution and the Second Law of Thermodynamics by Granville Sewell, What Does Evolutionary Computing Say About Intelligent Design? by Karl D. Stephan,Evolution’s Logic of Credulity: An Unfettered Response to Allen Orr, by William A. Dembski, Symmetry in Evolution by Phillip L. Engle, Two Kinds of Causality: Philosophical Reflections on Darwin’s Black Box by Jakob Wolf, Some Theoretical and Practical Results in Context-Sensitive and Adaptive Parsing by Quinn Tyler Jackson, and Complexity and Self-Organization: A chat with Stuart Kauffman.

Double Issue, Volumes 2.1 and 2.2, January — June 2003 published 9 papers, 1 on policy, 1 online simulation, and 2 interviews: An Evaluation of “Ev”
 by I.G.D. Strachan, Refereed Journals: Do They Insure Quality or Enforce Orthodoxy? by Frank J. Tipler, On the Application of Irreducible Complexity by Joshua A. Smart, The Bacterial Flagellum: A Response to Ursula Goodenough by John R. Bracht, A Shot in the Dark by David Owen, Tegmark’s Parallel Universes: A Challenge to Intelligent Design? by Karl D. Stephan, Still Spinning Just Fine: A Response to Ken Miller by William A. Dembski, Probability of randomly assembling a primitive cell on Earth: Part II by Dermott J. Mullan, An Evolutionary Manifesto: A New Hypothesis For Organic Change by John A. Davison, Peer Review or Peer Censorship?
 by William A. Dembski, Vignere Encoded Text Evolution, A 21st Century view of evolution (Transcript of online chat with James Shapiro), and Ontogenetic Depth as a Complexity Metric for the Cambrian Explosion (Transcript of online chat with Paul Nelson).

Philosophy of Mind Issue, Volume 2.3, October 2003 published 1 editorial note, 8 papers, and 1 discussion: It’s on the Mind… by Micah Sparacio, Groundwork for an Emergentist Account of the Mental by Timothy O’Connor, Rational Action, Freedom, and Choice by E.J. Lowe, Functionalism Without Physicalism: Outline of an Emergentist Program by Robert C. Koons, Consciousness and complexity by Todd Moody, How Not To Be A Reductivist by William Hasker, Dennett Denied: A Critique of Dennett’s Evolutionary Account of Intentionality by Angus J. L. Menugem, Thoughts on Thinking Matter by James Barham, and Mental Realism: Rejecting the Causal Closure Thesis and Expanding our Physical Ontology, by Micah Sparacio, and Discussion Forum for PCID Volume 2.3, Philosophy of Mind Issue.

Volume 3.1, November 2004 published 7 papers: Evaluation of neo-Darwinian Theory with Avida Simulations by Royal Truman, Using Intelligent Design Theory to Guide Scientific Research by Jonathan Wells, Problems with Characterizing the Protosome-Deuterostome Ancestor by Paul Nelson and Marcus Ross, Irreducible Complexity Revisited
 by William Dembski, Irreducible Complexity Reduced: An Integrated Approach to the Complexity Space by Eric Anderson, Irreducible Complexity by Stephen Griffith, and Some Implications for the Study of Intelligent Design Derived from Molecular and Microarray Analysis by Fernando Castro-Chavez.

Volume 4.1, July 2005 published 6 articles and 1 book review: Human Origins and Intelligent Design by Casey Luskin, Reflections on Human Origins by William Dembski, Questioning Cosmological Superstition: Separating science from myth in our theory of the universe by Rich Halvorson, What Kind of Revolution is the Design Revolution? by Jakob Wolf, The Case for Instant Evolution by John Davison, The Theory of Evolution in the Perspective of Thermodynamics and Everyday Experience by Wim M. de Jong, Review of Ric Machuga, In Defense of the Soul by Benjamin Wiker, A Review of Life’s Solution by Simon Conway Morris by Marcus Ross, and Is the Evolutionary Ladder a Stairway to Heaven? by Casey Luskin.

Volume 4.2, November 2005 published 5 articles: The Three Domains of Life: A Challenge to the concept of the Universal Cellular Ancestor? by Pattle. P. Pun, Stephen Schuldt, and Benjamin T. Pun, Information as a Measure of Variation by William Dembski, Palindromati by Fernando Castro-Chavez, On Einstein’s Razor by Quinn Tyler Jackson, and Bits, Bytes and Biology by Eric Anderson.

In total, the entire existence of the organization produced about 70 publications. It’s virtually nothing.

The Archive (ISCID, 2012b) went further on the standards for acceptance of articles prior to a single individual selecting or approving publication of an article in the Archive:

1. All discussion of papers in the Archive will take place in the Brainstorms Forum.

2. Anonymous and pseudonymous submissions are allowed (though not considered for PCID)

3. Submissions must provide positive insight into complex systems. Thoughtful and contructive critiques are allowed.

4. Professional courtesy is to be maintained. Precluded from this are discussions of politics, personalities, and motives.

5. Articles that were in the Archive that do not meet these standards have been moved to the News and Features section (Ibid.)

To their credit, “authors retain full copyright of their material. Articles submitted to the archive can be removed at any time at the author’s request. Authors grant to the society the right to display PCID articles on its site in perpetuity” (Ibid.).

The “Society Events” contains some information on undergraduate summer workshops and chat events. The chats events have the richer archival links to events. Those included conversations with Robert Wright, Lynn Caporale, James Gardner, Guenter Albrecht-Buehler, Del Ratzsch, Brig Klyce, Jeffrey M. Schwartz, James Shapiro, Paul Nelson, William Dembski, Stuart Kauffman, David Chalmers, Christopher Langan, and Ray Kurzweil (ISCID, 2012c).

Now, the News section ended on 2005, which was around the loss at the Dover trial. In short, ISCID and PCID died around the time of the most consequential legal loss for the Intelligent Design movement or community.

Reflecting on the above, it’s clear ISCID was a catastrophic failure — in spite of the depth and concertedness of the effort seen in the excavation, and included most of the most prominent and important members of the Intelligent Design community, and failed to rise under the weight of its own impotent theoretical foundations: Christian theology couched in information- and design-theoretic language.

Most of the prominent and important members of the Intelligent Design community are aging or dying. As with Johnson working for the Gospel until death, and Behe continuing in spite of the departmental isolation, and Dembski despite profound failures over years, Intelligent Design advocates will continue in the tracks of the founders, though themselves part of the same aging cohort, in general.

Which is to say, ISCID and PCID were failures, as their foundations were false, and so with Intelligent Design.

References

Behe, M. & Meyer, S.C. (2018, May 10). What is Intelligent Design?. Retrieved from https://www.discovery.org/v/what-is-intelligent-design/.

Clemmitt, M. (2005, July 29). Intelligent Design: Should alternatives to evolutionary theory be taught?. Retrieved from https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2005072902.

Dembski, W. (1999, July/August). Signs of Intelligence: A Primer on the Discernment of Intelligent Design.

Environment and Ecology. (2019). Intelligent Design. Retrieved from www.environment-ecology.com/religion-and-ecology/371-intelligent-design.html.

ISCID. (July 26, 2011b). About ISCID. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20110806053013/http://www.iscid.org/about.php.

ISCID. (April 5, 2013). Donations. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20130405174319/http://www.iscid.org/donations.php.

ISCID. (May 13, 2008). Essay Contests. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20080513011932/http://www.iscid.org/essaycontests.php.

ISCID. (2012c, February 6). ISCID Chat Events. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20120206204926/http://www.iscid.org/chat-events.php.

ISCID. (2003, February 10). Member Services. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20030210105012/http://www.iscid.org/memberservices.php.

ISCID. (2006, September 25). Research Tools. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20060925023031/http://www.iscid.org/research-tools.php.

ISCID. (2011a, July 26). Society of Fellows. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20110726191604/http://www.iscid.org/fellows.php.

ISCID. (2012b, February 4). The Archive. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20120204043714/http://www.iscid.org/archive.php.

ISCID. (2012a, February 05). What is Brainstorms?. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20120205023025/http://www.iscid.org/brainstorms.php.

RationalWiki. (2021, October 18). Intelligent design. Retrieved from https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Intelligent_design.

Ruse, M. (2021, June 21). Creationism. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/creationism/.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/28

Prof. Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited (Amazon) as well as many other books and ebooks about topics in psychology, relationships, philosophy, economics, international affairs, and award-winning short fiction. He is Visiting Professor of Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia (September, 2017 to present) and Professor of Finance and Psychology in SIAS-CIAPS (Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies) (April, 2012 to present). Here we talk briefly about his work on narcissism, generally.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Your raison d’être is narcissism. “Narcissism” is rooted in the Greek myth of Narcissus. Narcissus rejected a nymph, Echo. His punishment: eternal love with his reflection in water. Narcissists, as you state, love their reflection, not themselves. This raises the distinction between the False Self and the True Self. What distinguishes the False Self from the True Self?

Professor Sam Vaknin: The True Self in the unconstellated (unintegrated) precursor to the Self. It includes introjected object-representation (voices and inner objects – “avatars” – which represent caregivers, such as parental figures).

Abuse during the formative years disrupts the integration of the True Self and its replacement by a False Self: a godlike construct that performs several functions.

1.    It serves as a decoy, it “attracts the fire”. It is a proxy for the True Self. It is tough as nails and can absorb any amount of pain, hurt and negative emotions. By inventing it, the child develops immunity to the indifference, manipulation, sadism, smothering, or exploitation – in short: to the abuse – inflicted on him by his parents (or by other Primary Objects in his life). It is a cloak, protecting him, rendering him invisible and omnipotent at the same time.

2.    The False Self is misrepresented by the narcissist as his True Self. The narcissist is saying, in effect: “I am not who you think I am. I am someone else. I am this (False) Self. Therefore, I deserve a better, painless, more considerate treatment.” The False Self, thus, is a contraption intended to alter other people’s behaviour and attitude towards the narcissist.

In a full-fledged narcissist, the False Self imitates the True Self. To do so artfully, it deploys two mechanisms:

Re-Interpretation

It causes the narcissist to re-interpret certain emotions and reactions in a flattering, socially acceptable, light. The narcissist may, for instance, interpret fear as compassion. If the narcissist hurts someone he fears (e.g., an authority figure), he may feel bad afterwards and interpret his discomfort as empathy and compassion. To be afraid is humiliating – to be compassionate is commendable and earns the narcissist social commendation and understanding (narcissistic supply).

Emulation

The narcissist is possessed of an uncanny ability to psychologically penetrate others. Often, this gift is abused and put at the service of the narcissist’s control freakery and sadism. The narcissist uses it liberally to annihilate the natural defences of his victims by faking empathy.

This capacity is coupled with the narcissist’s eerie ability to imitate emotions and their attendant behaviours (affect). The narcissist possesses “emotional resonance tables”. He keeps records of every action and reaction, every utterance and consequence, every datum provided by others regarding their state of mind and emotional make-up. From these, he then constructs a set of formulas, which often result in impeccably accurate renditions of emotional behaviour. This can be enormously deceiving.

Jacobsen: Why does the narcissist love their “reflected-Self,” as in the myth of Narcissus, rather than their True Self?

Vaknin: Because it provides all the above-mentioned functions. For the same reason that people love god. It is a proxy ideal parental figure and it renders the narcissist divine-by-association: omniscient, omnipotent, brilliant, perfect, infallible, and so on. Gradually, the narcissist comes to identify himself (or herself) with the False Self (which started off as a fantastic imaginary friend in a paracosm). Looking at it this way, narcissism is a private religion: the False Self is the deity, the narcissist is the worshipper, and the True Self is the human sacrifice.

Jacobsen: What differentiates the Ego, the Superego, and the Self? What is the nature of narcissism regarding these, in general?

Vaknin: I regard the trilateral model as metaphorical, not as “real” or “objective” in any sense.

In the narcissist, the False Self usurps the role of the Ego and fulfils its functions: mediation between the individual and the world and a sense of personal continuity.

The False Self pretends to be the only self and denies the existence of a True Self. It is also extremely useful (adaptive). Rather than risking constant conflict, the narcissist opts for a solution of “disengagement”.

The classical Ego, proposed by Freud, is partly conscious and partly preconscious and unconscious. The narcissist’s Ego is completely submerged. The preconscious and conscious parts are detached from it by early traumas and form the False Ego.

The Superego in healthy people constantly compares the Ego to the Ego Ideal. The narcissist has a different psychodynamic. The narcissist’s False Self serves as a buffer and as a shock absorber between the True Ego and the narcissist’s sadistic, punishing, immature Superego. The narcissist aspires to become pure Ideal Ego.

The narcissist’s Ego cannot develop because it is deprived of contact with the outside world and, therefore, endures no growth-inducing conflict. The False Self is rigid. The result is that the narcissist is unable to respond and to adapt to threats, illnesses, and to other life crises and circumstances. He is brittle and prone to be broken rather than bent by life’s trials and tribulations.

The Ego remembers, evaluates, plans, responds to the world and acts in it and on it. It is the locus of the “executive functions” of the personality. It integrates the inner world with the outer world, the Id with the Superego. It acts under a “reality principle” rather than a “pleasure principle”.

This means that the Ego is in charge of delaying gratification. It postpones pleasurable acts until they can be carried out both safely and successfully. The Ego is, therefore, in an ungrateful position. Unfulfilled desires produce unease and anxiety. Reckless fulfilment of desires is diametrically opposed to self-preservation. The Ego has to mediate these tensions.

In an effort to thwart anxiety, the Ego invents psychological defence mechanisms. On the one hand the Ego channels fundamental drives. It has to “speak their language”. It must have a primitive, infantile, component. On the other hand, the Ego is in charge of negotiating with the outside world and of securing a realistic and optimal “bargains” for its “client”, the Id. These intellectual and perceptual functions are supervised by the exceptionally strict court of the Superego.

Jacobsen: How do narcissists manage the balance between their sadistic superego and False Self?

Vaknin: The irony is that narcissists are “self-less”. The narcissist’s True Self is introverted and utterly dysfunctional. In healthy people, Ego functions are generated from the inside, from the Ego. In narcissists, the Ego is dormant, comatose. The narcissist needs the input of and feedback from the outside world (from others) in order to perform the most basic Ego functions (e.g., “recognizing” of the world, setting boundaries, forming a self-definition or identity, differentiation, self-esteem, and regulating his sense of self-worth). This input or feedback is known as narcissistic supply” .Only the False Self gets in touch with the world. The True Self is isolated, repressed, unconscious, a shadow.

The False Self is, therefore, a kind of “hive self” or “swarm self”. It is a collage of reflections, a patchwork of outsourced information, titbits garnered from the narcissist’s interlocutors and laboriously cohered and assembled so as to uphold and buttress the narcissist’s inflated, fantastic, and grandiose self-image. This discontinuity accounts for the dissociative nature of pathological narcissism as well as for the narcissist’s seeming inability to learn from the errors of his ways.

In healthy, normal people ego functions are strictly internal processes. In the narcissist, ego functions are imported from the surroundings, they are thoroughly external. Consequently, the narcissist often confuses his inner mental-psychological landscape with the outside world. He tends to fuse and merge his mind and his milieu. He regards significant others and sources of supply as mere extensions of himself and he appropriates them because they fulfil crucial internal roles and, as a result, are perceived by him to be sheer internal objects, devoid of an objective, external, and autonomous existence.

The narcissist is an even more extreme case. His Ego is non-existent. The narcissist has a fake, substitute Ego. This is why his energy is drained. He spends most of it on maintaining, protecting and preserving the warped, unrealistic images of his (False) Self and of his (fake) world. The narcissist is a person exhausted by his own absence.

The healthy Ego preserves some sense of continuity and consistency. It serves as a point of reference. It relates events of the past to actions at present and to plans for the future. It incorporates memory, anticipation, imagination and intellect. It defines where the individual ends and the world begins. Though not coextensive with the body or with the personality, it is a close approximation.

In the narcissistic condition, all these functions are relegated to the False Ego. Its halo of confabulation rubs off on all of them. The narcissist is bound to develop false memories, conjure up false fantasies, anticipate the unrealistic and work his intellect to justify them.

The falsity of the False Self is dual: not only is it not “the real thing” – it also operates on false premises. It is a false and wrong gauge of the world. It falsely and inefficiently regulates the drives. It fails to thwart anxiety.

The False Self provides a false sense of continuity and of a “personal centre”. It weaves an enchanted and grandiose fable as a substitute to reality. The narcissist gravitates out of his self and into a plot, a narrative, a story. He continuously feels that he is a character in a film, a fraudulent invention, or a con artist to be momentarily exposed and summarily socially excluded.

Moreover, the narcissist cannot be consistent or coherent. His False Self is preoccupied with the pursuit of Narcissistic Supply. The narcissist has no boundaries because his Ego is not sufficiently defined or fully differentiated. The only constancy is the narcissist’s feelings of diffusion or annulment. This is especially true in life crises, when the False Ego ceases to function.

The narcissist’s superego is comprised of infantile, harsh, sadistic introjects. It is frozen in time, in an early stage of personal development, devoid of reflective self-awareness. It is much closer to the Id and leverages its aggression against the self.

The narcissist is besieged and tormented by a sadistic Superego which sits in constant judgement. It is an amalgamation of negative evaluations, criticisms, angry or disappointed voices, and disparagement meted out in the narcissist’s formative years and adolescence by parents, peers, role models, and authority figures.

These harsh and repeated comments reverberate throughout the narcissist’s inner landscape, berating him for failing to conform to his unattainable ideals, fantastic goals, and grandiose or impractical plans. The narcissist’s sense of self-worth is, therefore, catapulted from one pole to another: from an inflated view of himself (incommensurate with real life accomplishments) to utter despair and self-denigration.

Hence the narcissist’s need for Narcissistic Supply to regulate this wild pendulum. People’s adulation, admiration, affirmation, and attention restore the narcissist’s self-esteem and self-confidence.

The narcissist’s sadistic and uncompromising Superego affects three facets of his personality:

1.     His sense of self-worth and worthiness (the deeply ingrained conviction that one deserves love, compassion, care, and empathy regardless of what one achieves). The narcissist feels worthless without Narcissistic Supply.

2.     His self-esteem (self-knowledge, the deeply ingrained and realistic appraisal of one’s capacities, skills, limitations, and shortcomings). The narcissist lacks clear boundaries and, therefore, is not sure of his abilities and weaknesses. Hence his grandiose fantasies.

3.     His self-confidence (the deeply ingrained belief, based on lifelong experience, that one can set realistic goals and accomplish them). The narcissist knows that he is a fake and a fraud. He, therefore, does not trust his ability to manage his own affairs and to set practical aims and realize them.

By becoming a success (or at least by appearing to have become one) the narcissist hopes to quell the voices inside him that constantly question his veracity and aptitude. The narcissist’s whole life is a two-fold attempt to both satisfy the inexorable demands of his inner tribunal and to prove wrong its harsh and merciless criticism.

It is this dual and self-contradictory mission, to conform to the edicts of his internal enemies and to prove their very judgement wrong, that is at the root of the narcissist’s unresolved conflicts.

On the one hand, the narcissist accepts the authority of his introjected (internalised) critics and disregards the fact that they hate him and wish him dead. He sacrifices his life to them, hoping that his successes and accomplishments (real or perceived) will ameliorate their rage.

On the other hand, he confronts these very gods with proofs of their fallibility. “You claim that I am worthless and incapable” – he cries – “Well, guess what? You are dead wrong! Look how famous I am, look how rich, how revered, and accomplished!”

But then much rehearsed self-doubt sets in and the narcissist feels yet again compelled to falsify the claims of his trenchant and indefatigable detractors by conquering another woman, giving one more interview, taking over yet another firm, making an extra million, or getting re-elected one more time.

To no avail. The narcissist is his own worst foe. Ironically, it is only when incapacitated that the narcissist gains a modicum of peace of mind. When terminally ill, incarcerated, or inebriated the narcissist can shift the blame for his failures and predicaments to outside agents and objective forces over which he has no control. “It’s not my fault” – he gleefully informs his mental tormentors – “There was nothing I could do about it! Now, go away and leave me be.”

And then – with the narcissist defeated and broken – they do and he is free at last.

More generally:

In the patient with a personality disorder, the sadistic and disparaging inner voices that constitute the Superego (in Freud’s parlance) are implacable. If the patient is successful these introjects, or inner representations (of narcissistic parents, for example), become virulently envious and punitive. If the patient fails in his endeavours, these internalized avatars feel vindicated, elated, euphoric and morally justified in their quest to inflict pain and castigation on the patient.

But why does the patient not resist? Why doesn’t s/he rebel against these embedded tormentors, at least by doubting their omniscience, infallibility, and veracity? Because it feels good to satisfy them (it feels good to cater to mother’s emotional needs and thereby to be a “good boy”, for example). It is a masochistic Stockholm Syndrome, a shared psychosis (follies a plusieurs). The patient doesn’t experiences these harsh juries sitting in judgement over him, his traits, skills, and actions as alien, but as an integral part of himself. Their gratification at his self-immolation is also his.

Jacobsen: What is the fundamental difference between individuals with low to moderate narcissistic tendencies and individuals with a formal diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)?

Vaknin: Len Sperry distinguished between narcissistic style and narcissist disorder. Millon contributed the mezzanine level: narcissistic personality. These are gradations. The differences between these three reflect a higher intensity, all-pervasiveness (effects on all realms of life) and the escalation of the effects of the various narcissistic behaviors and traits on the individual and on his human environment.

Jacobsen: Narcissism comes with internal processes and externalized behaviours, including abusive. What is the internal landscape, or matrix of cognitive and emotional processes, of a narcissist? What are the externalizing behaviours of narcissism, the signifiers?

Vaknin: Both types of narcissists – overt and covert (fragile, shy, vulnerable, inverted) – are invested in extracting narcissistic supply to regulate their fluctuating sense of self-worth. They also lack empathy.

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM, 2013) includes a dimensional model of NPD.

The DSM V re-defines personality disorders thus:

“The essential features of a personality disorder are impairments in personality (self and interpersonal) functioning and the presence of pathological personality traits.”

According to the Alternative DSM V Model for Personality Disorders (p.767), the following criteria must be met to diagnose Narcissistic Personality Disorder (in parentheses my comments):

Moderate or greater impairment in personality functioning in either identity, or self-direction (should be: in both.)

Identity

The narcissist keeps referring to others excessively in order to regulate his self-esteem (really, sense of self-worth) and for “self-definition” (to define his identity.) His self-appraisal is exaggerated, whether it is inflated, deflated, or fluctuating between these two poles and his emotional regulation reflects these vacillations.

(Finally, the DSM V accepted what I have been saying for decades: that narcissists can have an “inferiority complex” and feel worthless and bad; that they go through cycles of ups and downs in their self-evaluation; and that this cycling influences their mood and affect).

Self-direction

The narcissist sets goals in order to gain approval from others (narcissistic supply; the DSM V ignores the fact that the narcissist finds disapproval equally rewarding as long as it places him firmly in the limelight.) The narcissist lacks self-awareness as far as his motivation goes (and as far as everything else besides.)

The narcissist’s personal standards and benchmarks are either too high (which supports his grandiosity), or too low (buttresses his sense of entitlement, which is incommensurate with his real-life performance.)

Impairments in interpersonal functioning in either empathy or intimacy (should be: in both.)

Empathy

The narcissist finds it difficult to identify with the emotions and needs of others, but is very attuned to their reactions when they are relevant to himself (cold empathy.) Consequently, he overestimates the effect he has on others or underestimates it (the classic narcissist never underestimates the effect he has on others – but the inverted narcissist does.)

Intimacy

The narcissist’s relationships are self-serving and, therefore shallow and superficial. They are centred around and geared at the regulation of his self-esteem (obtaining narcissistic supply for the regulation of his labile sense of self-worth.)

The narcissist is not “genuinely” interested in his intimate partner’s experiences (implying that he does fake such interest convincingly.) The narcissist emphasizes his need for personal gain (by using the word “need”, the DSM V acknowledges the compulsive and addictive nature of narcissistic supply). These twin fixtures of the narcissist’s relationships render them one-sided: no mutuality or reciprocity (no intimacy).

Pathological personality traits

Antagonism characterized by grandiosity and attention-seeking

Grandiosity

The aforementioned feeling of entitlement. The DSM V adds that it can be either overt or covert (which corresponds to my taxonomy of classic and inverted narcissist.)

Grandiosity is characterized by self-centredness; a firmly-held conviction of superiority (arrogance or haughtiness); and condescending or patronizing attitudes.

Attention-seeking

The narcissist puts inordinate effort, time, and resources into attracting others (sources of narcissistic supply) and placing himself at the focus and centre of attention. He seeks admiration (the DSM V gets it completely wrong here: the narcissist does prefer to be admired and adulated, but, failing that, any kind of attention would do, even if it is negative.)

The diagnostic criteria end with disclaimers and differential diagnoses, which reflect years of accumulated research and newly-gained knowledge:

The above enumerated impairments should be “stable across time and consistent across situations … not better understood as normative for the individual’s developmental stage or socio-cultural environment … are not solely due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., severe head trauma).”

It is important to note that the DSM is used mostly in North America. The rest of the world uses local variants of the ICD.

There is a revolutionary paradigm shift regarding personality disorders in the 11th edition of the ICD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems), published by the WHO (World Health Organization). Watch this video for more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZB0JE4mzaw

Jacobsen: Those externalized behaviours can be abusive, e.g., narcissistic abuse. What is narcissistic abuse?

Vaknin: In 1995, I coined the phrase “narcissistic abuse” to describe a subtype of abusive behavior that was all-pervasive (across multiple areas of life) and involved a plethora of behaviors and manipulative or coercive techniques.

Narcissistic abuse differed from all other types of abuse in its range, sophistication, duration, versatility, and express and premeditated intention to negate and vitiate the victim’s personal autonomy, agency, self-efficacy, and wellbeing.

The victims of narcissistic abuse appeared to present a clinical picture substantially different to victims of other, more pinpointed and goal-oriented types of abuse. They were more depressed and anxious, disoriented, aggressive (defiant reactance), dissociative, and trapped or hopeless owing to learned (intermittently reinforced or operant conditioned) helplessness. In short: they were in the throes of trauma bonding (Stockholm syndrome), a kind of cultish shared psychosis (folies a deux).

Repeated abuse has long lasting pernicious and traumatic effects such as panic attacks, hypervigilance, sleep disturbances, flashbacks (intrusive memories), suicidal ideation, and psychosomatic symptoms. The victims experience shame, depression, anxiety, embarrassment, guilt, humiliation, abandonment, and an enhanced sense of vulnerability.

C-PTSD (Complex PTSD) has been proposed as a new mental health diagnosis by Dr. Judith Herman of Harvard University to account for the impact of extended periods of trauma and abuse.

Jacobsen: For the most extreme cases of narcissism to the most minute, what are the principles for dealing with them if one cannot enact the no contact rule

Vaknin: Here is a video that describes all the techniques I know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euGhNMifaw8

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Professor Vaknin.

Vaknin: Thank you again for your patience and perseverance!

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/28

So, how academically productive was the Intelligent Design movement in its most singular project, the International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design?

Not much. By which I mean, ignoring popular books, and the like, what was the productivity of the proposition of Intelligent Design at its height when it founded a full-purpose organization and journal to challenge evolution via natural selection?

The International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design (ISCID) self-defined as a “cross-disciplinary professional society that investigates complex systems apart from external programmatic constraints like materialism, naturalism, or reductionism. The society provides a forum for formulating, testing, and disseminating research on complex systems through critique, peer review, and publication. Its aim is to pursue the theoretical development, empirical application, and philosophical implications of information- and design-theoretic concepts for complex systems.”

The language of ISCID reflected information- and design-theoretic concepts of Information Theory without a necessary foundation in it, but, rather, a more direct ground in teleology and theology.

To quote the motto at the top of the organization web page, “Retraining the scientific imagination to see purpose in nature.” “Purpose in nature” means a teleological or theological foundation in place of a naturalistic scientific one. So, ISCID was a teleological-theological organization, which would extend to its publication, Progress in Complexity, Information and Design or PCID.

I was wondering about the social and political efforts of highly educated and intelligent fundamentalist religious people through the “Teach the Controversy” campaign and others.

The long list of Intelligent Design organizations, too, with the International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design and its Progress in Complexity, Information and Design, the Discovery Institute[1], the Center for Science and Culture[2], Truth in Science[3], the Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Center[4], the Biologic Institute[5], the Access Research Network[6], the Foundation for Thought and Ethics[7], Michael Polanyi Center[8], and a number of others.

ISCID had a “Society of Fellows”[9] as the Advisory Board for PCID. So, the fellows of ISCID were the advisory board for PCID were the peer-review for PCID. This was the structure of the organization into the publication, intrinsically harkening to a direct conflict of interest.

PCID’s Editorial Board — not the Advisory Board/Society of Fellows — was William A. Dembski as General Editor, Jed Macosko as Associate Editor, Bruce Gordon as Associate Editor, James Barham as Book Review Editor, John Bracht as Managing Editor, and Micah Sparacio as Webmaster. PCID’s ISSN was 1555–5089.

They had a total of 8 issues: Volume 4.2, November 2005, Volume 4.1, July 2005, Volume 3.1, November 2004, Philosophy of Mind Issue,
 Volume 2.3, October 2003, Double Issue, Volumes 2.1 and 2.2, January — June 2003, Volume 1.4, October — December 2002, Double Issue, Volumes 1.2 and 1.3, April — September 2002, and Volume 1.1, January — March 2002. This was an electronic publication.

PCID attempted to and did publish articles without standard peer review. It lacked impartiality, rigour, and had conflicts of interest. The articles needed acceptance into the archive, then only a single ISCID Society of Fellows fellow was needed to publish it. Regardless of the dishonest approach to academic inquiry, what, to the original point, was the productivity of PCID of ISCID?

Volume 1.1, January — March 2002 published 8 articles and 3 book reviews: Inventions, Algorithms, and Biological Designby John Bracht, Are Probabilities Indispensable to the Design Inference?by Robert C. Koons, Back to Stoics: Dynamical Monism as the Foundation for a Reformed Naturalismby James Barham, A Response to Critics of Darwin’s Black Box by Michael J. Behe, Searching for Deep Variation in the Model Systems of Evo-Devo by Paul A. Nelson and Jonathan Wells, Why Natural Selection Can’t Design Anythingby William A. Dembski, Dynamical Complexity and Regularityby Richard Johns, Does the association of spectral absorption bands in sunlight with the spectral response of photoreceptors in plants imply coincidence, adaptation or design?by Forrest M. Mims III, Three Issues With “No Free Lunch” by Darel R. Finley, What Have Butterflies Got to Do with Darwin? by William A. Dembski, and Finding Miller’s King by Jed Macosko.

Double Issue, Volumes 1.2 and 1.3, April — September 2002 published 7 articles and 1 interview: The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe: A New Kind of Reality Theoryby Christopher Michael Langan, The Impasse between the Design and Evolution of Lifeby Philip R. Page, On the descriptive terminology of the information transfer between organismsby Koszteyn and Lenartowicz, What is Natural Selection? A Plea for Clarificationby Neil Broom, Random Predicate Logic I: A Probabilistic Approach to Vaguenessby William A. Dembski, Complex Specification (CS): A New Proposal For Identifying Intelligence,Darel R. Finley, The evolution of complex information systems as movement against the pull of entropy, measured along information-space-time dimensionsby Arie S. Issar, and Developing a science and philosophy of consciousness: A chat with David Chalmers.

Volume 1.4, October — December 2002 published 8 papers and 1 interview: Becoming a Disciplined Science: Prospects, Pitfalls, and Reality Check for ID by William A. Dembski, Probabilities of randomly assembling a primitive cell on Earth by Dermott J. Mullan, Evolution and the Second Law of Thermodynamicsby Granville Sewell, What Does Evolutionary Computing Say About Intelligent Design? by Karl D. Stephan,Evolution’s Logic of Credulity: An Unfettered Response to Allen Orr, by William A. Dembski, Symmetry in Evolution by Phillip L. Engle, Two Kinds of Causality: Philosophical Reflections on Darwin’s Black Box by Jakob Wolf, Some Theoretical and Practical Results in Context-Sensitive and Adaptive Parsing by Quinn Tyler Jackson, and Complexity and Self-Organization: A chat with Stuart Kauffman.

Double Issue, Volumes 2.1 and 2.2, January — June 2003 published 9 papers, 1 on policy, 1 online simulation, and 2 interviews: An Evaluation of “Ev”
 by I.G.D. Strachan, Refereed Journals: Do They Insure Quality or Enforce Orthodoxy?by Frank J. Tipler, On the Application of Irreducible Complexityby Joshua A. Smart, The Bacterial Flagellum: A Response to Ursula Goodenoughby John R. Bracht, A Shot in the Dark by David Owen, Tegmark’s Parallel Universes: A Challenge to Intelligent Design?by Karl D. Stephan, Still Spinning Just Fine: A Response to Ken Millerby William A. Dembski, Probability of randomly assembling a primitive cell on Earth: Part IIby Dermott J. Mullan, An Evolutionary Manifesto: A New Hypothesis For Organic Changeby John A. Davison, Peer Review or Peer Censorship?
 by William A. Dembski, Vignere Encoded Text Evolution, A 21st Century view of evolution (Transcript of online chat with James Shapiro), and Ontogenetic Depth as a Complexity Metric for the Cambrian Explosion (Transcript of online chat with Paul Nelson).

Philosophy of Mind Issue, Volume 2.3, October 2003 published 1 editorial note, 8 papers, and 1 discussion: It’s on the Mind…by Micah Sparacio, Groundwork for an Emergentist Account of the Mentalby Timothy O’Connor, Rational Action, Freedom, and Choiceby E.J. Lowe, Functionalism Without Physicalism: Outline of an Emergentist Programby Robert C. Koons, Consciousness and complexityby Todd Moody, How Not To Be A Reductivistby William Hasker, Dennett Denied: A Critique of Dennett’s Evolutionary Account of Intentionalityby Angus J. L. Menugem, Thoughts on Thinking Matterby James Barham, and Mental Realism: Rejecting the Causal Closure Thesis and Expanding our Physical Ontology, by Micah Sparacio, and Discussion Forum for PCID Volume 2.3, Philosophy of Mind Issue.

Volume 3.1, November 2004 published 7 papers: Evaluation of neo-Darwinian Theory with Avida Simulations by Royal Truman, Using Intelligent Design Theory to Guide Scientific Researchby Jonathan Wells, Problems with Characterizing the Protosome-Deuterostome Ancestor by Paul Nelson and Marcus Ross, Irreducible Complexity Revisited
 by William Dembski, Irreducible Complexity Reduced: An Integrated Approach to the Complexity Spaceby Eric Anderson, Irreducible Complexity by Stephen Griffith, and Some Implications for the Study of Intelligent Design Derived from Molecular and Microarray Analysisby Fernando Castro-Chavez.

Volume 4.1, July 2005 published 6 articles and 1 book review: Human Origins and Intelligent Designby Casey Luskin, Reflections on Human Originsby William Dembski, Questioning Cosmological Superstition: Separating science from myth in our theory of the universe by Rich Halvorson, What Kind of Revolution is the Design Revolution?by Jakob Wolf, The Case for Instant Evolutionby John Davison, The Theory of Evolution in the Perspective of Thermodynamics and Everyday Experienceby Wim M. de Jong, Review of Ric Machuga, In Defense of the Soulby Benjamin Wiker, A Review of Life’s Solution by Simon Conway Morrisby Marcus Ross, and Is the Evolutionary Ladder a Stairway to Heaven?by Casey Luskin.

Volume 4.2, November 2005 published 5 articles: The Three Domains of Life: A Challenge to the concept of the Universal Cellular Ancestor? by Pattle. P. Pun, Stephen Schuldt, and Benjamin T. Pun, Information as a Measure of Variationby William Dembski, Palindromatiby Fernando Castro-Chavez, On Einstein’s Razorby Quinn Tyler Jackson, and Bits, Bytes and Biologyby Eric Anderson.

In total, the entire existence of the organization produced 8+3+7+1+8+1+9+1+1+2+1+8+1+7+6+1+5 equals 70 items, if the count is right — or thereabouts. That’s, basically, nothing of consequence. The articles, as far as I know, have been cited by almost no one, which is to state unequivocally, “Intelligent Design failed as an intellectual movement.” It’s an academic joke.

Yet, individuals persist with the only persons with the hope for acceptance, which is misrepresentation to the general public, i.e., lying to the public. In short, professional researchers, by a vast margin, don’t give a damn about Intelligent Design. They don’t use its concepts or work. It’s seen as a useless field, as seen in the, by citation count, utterly worthless publications listed above.

In sum, the Intelligent Design movement has been a catastrophic failure, academically speaking: thus, unproductive and worthless at its height when the most concerted and serious effort was put forward by its academics and autodidacts (Q.E.D.).

Footnotes

[1] The Discovery Institute is comprised of staff Pam Bailey (Dallas Operations Manager, Discovery Institute Dallas), Caitlin Bassett (Policy Analyst and Communications Liaison, Center for Science & Culture and Center on Wealth & Poverty), Steven J. Buri (President), Jennifer Burke (Development and Communications Manager), Bruce Chapman (Chairman of the Board), Robert L. Crowther, II (Director of Communications, Center for Science & Culture), John Felts (Education & Outreach Coordinator), Keri D. Ingraham (Director, American Center for Transforming Education), Nathan Jacobson (Web Designer and Developer), David Klinghoffer (Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News & Science Today, Center for Science & Culture), Jessica Lambert (Development Assistant, Center for Science & Culture), Casey Luskin (Associate Director, Center for Science & Culture), Andrew McDiarmid (Media Relations Specialist and Assistant to CSC Director Dr. Stephen Meyer), Jackson Meyer (Program Assistant and Event Coordinator), Stephen C. Meyer (Director, Center for Science & Culture), Brian Miller (Research Coordinator, Center for Science & Culture), Dan Nutley (Director, IT), Erik L. Nutley (Program Director), Scott S. Powell (Senior Fellow, Center on Wealth & Poverty), Daniel Reeves (Director, Education & Outreach), Ted Robinson (Development Volunteer, Center for Science & Culture), Eric Schneider (Stewardship Officer, Major Gifts, Center for Science & Culture), Steve Schwarz (Director of Finance & Operations), Donna J. Scott (Development Assistant, Center for Science & Culture), Leslie Thompson (Finance Assistant), Kelley J. Unger (Director, Discovery Society, Center for Science & Culture), Gary Varner (Assistant to the Managing and Associate Directors), Andrea Waggoner (Donor Care Coordinator, Center for Science & Culture), John G. West (Vice President, Discovery Institute, and Managing Director, Center for Science & Culture), Thomas Winkler (Regional Ambassador, Center for Science and Culture), and Jonathan Witt (Executive Editor, Discovery Institute Press, Senior Fellow and Senior Project Manager, Center).

[2] The Centre for Science and Culture is comprised of Program Director Stephen C. Meyer, Managing Director John G. West, Senior Fellows Günter Bechly, Michael J. Behe, David Berlinski, Paul Chien, Michael Denton, David DeWolf, Marcos Eberlin, Ann Gauger, Guillermo Gonzalez, Bruce L. Gordon, Richard Gunasekera, Michael Newton Keas, David Klinghoffer, Paul Nelson, Bijan Nemati, Jay W. Richards, Richard Sternberg, Richard Weikart, Jonathan Wells, John G. West, Benjamin Wiker, Jonathan Witt, and Fellows John Bloom, Raymond Bohlin, Walter Bradley, J. Budziszewski, Robert Lowry Clinton, Jack Collins, William Lane Craig, Michael Flannery, Brian Frederick, Cornelius G. Hunter, Robert Kaita, Dean Kenyon, Jonathan McLatchie, Scott Minnich, J.P. Moreland, Nancy Pearcey, Pattle Pak-Toe Pun, John Mark N Reynolds, Henry F. Schaefer III, Geoffrey Simmons, Wolfgang Smith, Charles Thaxton, and Forrest M Mims.

[3] As of 2007, Truth in Science was comprised of the Board of Directors Stephen A. Hyde (Chairman), Professor Andrew McIntosh, Phillip Metcalfe (Vice Chairman), John Perfect, and Maurice Roberts, Council of Reference members Stuart Burgess, John Blanchard, Gerard A. Chrispin, George Curry, David Harding, Pastor of Milnrow Evangelical Church, Lancashire, Dr Russell Healey, Derek Linkens, John MacArthur, Albert N. Martin, and Steve Taylor, and a Scientific Panel membership with Geoff Barnard, Paul Garner, Arthur Jones, and Tim Wells.

[4] Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Center is comprised of Administration Team Mario Lopez (Information Support Technician), Dennis LaVorgna (Chief Financial Officer), Ryan Huxley (President & Director of Public Relations), Casey Luskin, and Steve Renner, and Advisory Board John Baumgardner, William Dembski, Michael Behe, Mark Hartwig, the late Phillip Johnson, Jay Wesley Richards, Dennis Wagner, and Jonathan Wells, and Board of Directors with Ryan Huxley (Board Chair), Eddie Colanter (Vice-Chair & Co-Founder), Brit Colanter, H. Wayne House, Stephen J. Huxlery, Dennis LaVorgna (Chief Financial Officer), Mario Lopez, and Casey Luskin (Co-Founder & Secretary).

[5] Biologic Institute is comprised of Douglas Axe (Director), Günter Bechly (Senior Research Scientist), Stuart Burgess, Brendan Dixon, Winston Ewert (Senior Research Scientist), Ann Gauger (Senior Research Scientist), Guillermo Gonzalez, David Keller, Matti Leisola, Philip Lu, Robert J. Marks II, Colin Reeves, Richard Sternberg, Jonathan Wells, and Lisanne Winslow.

[6] Access Research Network is directed by Dennis Wagner, Steve Meyer, Mark Hartwig, and Paul Nelson.

[7] Jon A. Buell was the Founder and President, and William A. Dembski was the Academic Editor, for the failed organization.

[8] William Dembski was the co-founder with Bruce L. Gordon. It is defunct.

[9] “On a Mission For Never: Dr. William Dembski (1960-)” (2022) stated:

[2] The Executive Board or Board of ISCID was the Executive Director as William A. Dembski. Its Managing Director was Micah Sporacio. Its Chief Research Coordinator was Jed Macosko. Its Program Coordinator was Forrest M. Mims III. Its Development Officer was Terry Rickard. Its Office Manager was Stephanie Hoylman.

They had a Society of Fellows. Those fellows had listed specializations and institutional affiliation. Michael Behe (Biochemistry) from Lehigh University. John Bloom (Physics and Philosophy of Science) from Biola University. Walter Bradley (Mechanical Engineering) from Texas A&M University. Neil Broom (Biophysics) from the University of Auckland.

J. Budziszewski (Philosophy and Political Theory) from the University of Texas, Austin. John Angus Campbell (Communications) from the University of Memphis. Russell W. Carlson (Molecular Biology) from the University of Georgia, Athens. David K.Y. Chiu (Biocomputing) from the University of Guelph. Robin Collins (Cosmology and Philosophy of Physics) from Mesiah College.

William Lane Craig (Philosophy) from the Talbot School of Theology, Biola. Bernard d’Abrera (Lepidoptera) from the British Museum, Natural History. Kenneth de Jong (Linguistics) from Indiana University, Bloomington. Of course, William Dembski in Mathematics. Mark R. Discher (Ethics) from the University of St. Thomas.

Daniel Dix (Mathematics) from the University of Southern Carolina. Fred Field (Linguistics) from California State University. Guillermo Gonzalez (Astronomy) from Iowa State University. Bruce L. Gordon (Philosophy of Physics) from Baylor University.

David Humphreys (Chemistry) from McMaster University. Cornelius Hunter (Biophysics) from Seagull Technology. Muzaffar Iqbal (Science and Religion from) from Center for Islam and Science. Quinn Tyler Jackson for “Language & Software Systems.”

Conrad Johnson (Clinical Neurosciences & Physiology) from Brown Medical School. Robert Kaita (Plasma Physics) from Princeton University. James Keener (Mathematics and Bioengineering) from the University of Utah. Robert C. Koons (Philosophy) from the University of Texas, Austin.

Younghun Kwon (Physics) from Hanyang University. Christopher Michael Langan/Chris Langan/Christopher Langan (Logic, Cosmology, and Reality Theory) from the Mega Foundation and Research Group. Robert Larmer (Philosophy) from the University of New Brunswick.

Martti Leisola (Bioprocess Engineering) from Helsinki University of Technology. Stan Lennard (Medicine) from the University of Washington. John Lennox (Mathematics) from the University of Oxford. Gina Lynne LoSasso (Cognitive Neuroscience and Clinical Neuropsychology) from the Mega Foundation and Research Group.

Jed Macosko (Chemistry) from La Sierra University. Bonnie Mallard (Immunology) from the University of Guelph. Forrest M. Mims III for “Atmospheric Science.” Scott Minnich (Microbiology) from the University of Idaho. Paul Nelson (Philosophy of Biology) from the Discovery Institute.

Filip Palda (Economics) from the l’École Nationale d’Administration Publique, Montreal. Edward T.Peltzer for “Ocean Chemistry.” Alvina Plantinga (Philosophy) from the University of Notre Dame. Martin Poenie (Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology) from the University of Texas, Austin.

Carlos E. Puente (Hydrology and Theoretical Dynamics) from the University of California, Davis. Del Ratzsch (Philosophy of Science) from Calvin College. Jay Wesley Richard (Philosophical Theology) from the Discovery Institute. Terry Rickard (Electrical Engineering) from the Orincon Corporation.

John Roche (History of Science) from the University of Oxford. Andrew Ruys (Bioceramic Engineering) from the University of Sydney. Henry F. Schaefer (Quantum Chemistry) from the University of Georgia, Athens.

Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D. (Psychiatry/Neuroscience) from the UCLA Department of Psychiatry. Philip Skell (Chemistry) from Penn State University. Frederick Skiff (Physics) from the University of Iowa. Karl D. Stephan (Electrical Engineering) from Southwest Texas State University.

Richard Sternberg (Systematics) from NCBI-GenBank (NIH). Frank Tipler (Mathematical Physics) from Tulane University. Jonathan Wells (Developmental Biology) from the Discovery Institute. Finally, Peter Zoeller-Greer (Mathematics, Physics and Information Science) from the State University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt on the Main.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/28

The American Civil Liberties Union describes Intelligent Design as follows, “Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific set of beliefs based on the notion that life on earth is so complex that it cannot be explained by the scientific theory of evolution and therefore must have been designed by a supernatural entity.”

LiveScience describes Intelligent Design as follows, “Creationism’s latest embodiment is intelligent design (ID), a conjecture that certain features of the natural world are so intricate and so perfectly tuned for life that they could only have been designed by a Supreme Being.”

Professor Michael Ruse describes Intelligent Design as follows, “Intelligent Design Theory is the claim that some features of organisms are so complex – ‘irreducibly complex’ – that they could not possibly have come into existence through normal causes, through processes of blind law, and hence demand the supposition of a designer who thought them up and put them into place.”

Wikipedia describes Intelligent Design as follows, “Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as ‘an evidence-based scientific theory about life’s origins’. Proponents claim that ‘certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection.’ ID is a form of creationism that lacks empirical support and offers no testable or tenable hypotheses, and is therefore not science.”

RationalWiki describes Intelligent Design as follows, “Intelligent design creationism (often intelligent design, ID, or IDC) is a pseudoscience that maintains that certain aspects of the physical world, and more specifically life, show signs of having been designed, and hence were designed, by an intelligent being (usually, but not always, the God of the Christian religion).”

The National Center for Science Education describes Intelligent Design as follows, “‘Intelligent Design’ creationism (IDC) is a successor to the ‘creation science’ movement, which dates back to the 1960s. The IDC movement began in the middle 1980s as an antievolution movement which could include young earth, old earth, and progressive creationists; theistic evolutionists, however, were not welcome. The movement increased in popularity in the 1990s with the publication of books by law professor Phillip Johnson and the founding in 1996 of the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (now the Center for Science and Culture.) The term ‘intelligent design’ was adopted as a replacement for ‘Creation science,’ which was ruled to represent a particular religious belief in the Supreme Court case Edwards v. Aguillard in 1987.”

Intelligent Design remains an evolution on Creationism with the three main co-founders, most likely, seen in Phillip E. Johnson, Michael Behe, and William Dembski through the Discovery Institute and The International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design.

Phillip E. Johnson (June 18, 1940 – November 2, 2019) died as one of the co-founders, self-described as the father, of Intelligent Design, the Wedge Strategy, and the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture.

Professor Michael Behe is (January 18, 1952 – Present) one of the co-founders of Intelligent Design with the concept of Irreducible Complexity, participant in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 400 F. Supp. 2d 707 (M.D. Pa. 2005) case, and a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture.

Dr. William Dembski (July 18, 1960 – Present) is one of the co-founders of Intelligent Design with the concept of Specified Complexity, and was a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture.

The main co-founders of the ideas and institutions of Intelligent Design are dead or aging. It’s struggling, greatly. In the history of research into this domain, the idea is examination of the actual patterns of behaviour rather than statements about oneself or by others.

Dr. William Dembski is a smart, educated, affable, and persistent person. However, even in spite of the robust efforts within the domain of Intelligent Design, he resigned every single formal association with the Intelligent Design community, which includes the Discovery Institute fellowship (held for two decades at the time). The resignation occurred on September 23, 2016. This comes with a caveat of a return about one year ago.

He understands – must, in full, the decisions made at each stage of professional development. Individuals and organizations since the 1990s or earlier have been working against the dishonest incursion of religious orthodoxy into public schools and scientific culture, including sincere believers, e.g., Ken Miller and others.

Thus, the opposition to Intelligent Design is not religious or non-religious; similarly, with David Berlinski’s agnosticism leaning towards theism, Intelligent Design isn’t always Protestant Christian.^[1]

Dembski, amongst other founders, has been clear about the intent and ultimate conclusion of Intelligent Design, in spite of presentation in modernistic information- and design-theoretic terminology as, fundamentally, about the “Christian God.”

One clear example is in the creation of an organization by Dembski, The International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design^[2] (ISCID), and its flagship publication, Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design (PCID).

It was a 501(c)3 non-profit devoted to design-and information-theoretic research through the journal, PCID. It folded and ceased operations as recent as 2011. Obscure and prominent members of the Intelligent Design community contributed to it. This is common, failures.

This reflects the persistent and personal history of Dembski. After graduate school, Dembski failed to acquire a university position, so was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow only at the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. That was a loss.

He founded the Michael Polanyi Center and then only had Bruce L. Gordon to start without selection via the regular consultation channels in a university. Dembski after some controversy with the President of the university at the time, Robert B. Sloan, was removed as director of the center. That was a loss.

There was a lost legal case – famous – in 2005 entitled the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District or Dover trial. The verdict was Intelligent Design was not tested in the proper process of peer-review in a scientific journal. That was a loss.

With The Inner Life of the Cell, a graduate student, S.A. Smith, brought forward the issue of use of unlicensed content, so misuse of content. Dembski was warned about it. He went ahead and used it, anyway. That was a loss.

Dembski helped form the Evolutionary Informatics Lab in the Summer of 2007. Baylor administration deleted the website. The reason: It violated university policy. A policy against personal views presented as if representative of Baylor University’s views. The website was reposted with a 108-word disclaimer. Dembski doesn’t run it. The disclaimer states the university’s views aren’t there, in short. That was a loss.

Dembski, rather sadly, in fact, took a son to Todd Bentley for faith healing hoping for a miraculous cure for the autism of his son. Faith healing does not work, though one can understand the sense of desperation or hope for a miracle at the hands of a charlatan (Todd Bentley). That was, unfortunately, a loss.

With the resignation from all associations in 2016, and the earlier collapse of ISCID and failure of PCID, those amount to a retreat and a double loss, respectively. In short, the resignation from Intelligent Design was preceded by years and years of professional failures. Although, onwards as ever (as predictable as ever), Dembski returned in February, 2021.

This is the pattern within the Intelligent Design movement as a whole. Fundamentally, it is about the presentation of an information- and design-theoretic linguistic frame within a secular – as in divorced from religious convictions – orientation for social and political influence of religion on the general public.

In the words of Dembski, it is about religion, theology, God, and, in particular, the Protestant Christian interpretation of the Theity (intervening god), “Intelligent design opens the whole possibility of us being created in the image of a benevolent God. The job of apologetics is to clear the ground — to clear obstacles that prevent people from coming to the knowledge of Christ. And if there’s anything that I think has blocked the growth of Christ as the free reign of the spirit and people accepting the scripture and Jesus Christ, it is the Darwinian naturalistic view.”

Also, Dembski stated, “I believe God created the world for a purpose. The Designer of intelligent design is, ultimately, the Christian God.” In short, and to quote him again, “Intelligent design is just the Logos theology of John’s Gospel restated in the idiom of information theory.”

Dr. William A. Dembski, in this sense, is the incarnation of the proverbial canary in the coal mine for Intelligent Design and Creationism. As with Johnson, they either pretend to retreat/never give up, or simply die. With an aging leadership and movement, this will possibly be the trajectory for them – an unto death path of failures.

Therefore, science-minded individuals, whether religious or not, must remain vigilant, even hypervigilant of pseudoscience, whether Intelligent Design, Creationism, or otherwise.

Footnotes

^[1] As an aside, if wanting to give resources or congratulations/gratitude to individuals doing great work in advancement of scientific education on behalf of the public, the National Center for Science Education is incredible.

Its Board is comprised of Kenneth R. Miller (President), Michael Haas (Treasurer), Benjamin D. Santer (Secretary), Vicki Chandler, Sarah B. George, Joseph L. Graves Jr., Michael B. Lubic, Michael E. Mann, Naomi Oreskes, and Barry Polisky.

Its staff includes Ann Reid (Executive Director), Lin Andrews (Director of Teacher Support), Glenn Branch (Deputy Director), Stuart Fogg (IT Specialist), Heather Grimes (Program Coordinator), Cari Herndon (Curriculum Specialist), Nina Hollenberg (Member Relations Manager), Rae Holzman (Director of Operations), Deb Janes (Director of Development), Paul Oh (Director of Communications), DeeDee Wright (Assistant Director of Teacher Support and Science Education Research Specialist), and Buster Yamamoto Reid (Director of Fun).

Barbara Forrest, Nick Matzke, Kevin Padian, Robert T. Pennock, Neil Shubin, Eugenie Scott/Genie Scott, and a host of others, have been incredibly important, too, and so deserve tremendous accolades for their life of efforts.

^[2] The Executive Board or Board of ISCID was the Executive Director as William A. Dembski. Its Managing Director was Micah Sporacio. Its Chief Research Coordinator was Jed Macosko. Its Program Coordinator was Forrest M. Mims III. Its Development Officer was Terry Rickard. Its Office Manager was Stephanie Hoylman.

They had a Society of Fellows. Those fellows had listed specializations and institutional affiliation. Michael Behe (Biochemistry) from Lehigh University. John Bloom (Physics and Philosophy of Science) from Biola University. Walter Bradley (Mechanical Engineering) from Texas A&M University. Neil Broom (Biophysics) from the University of Auckland.

J. Budziszewski (Philosophy and Political Theory) from the University of Texas, Austin. John Angus Campbell (Communications) from the University of Memphis. Russell W. Carlson (Molecular Biology) from the University of Georgia, Athens. David K.Y. Chiu (Biocomputing) from the University of Guelph. Robin Collins (Cosmology and Philosophy of Physics) from Mesiah College.

William Lane Craig (Philosophy) from the Talbot School of Theology, Biola. Bernard d’Abrera (Lepidoptera) from the British Museum, Natural History. Kenneth de Jong (Linguistics) from Indiana University, Bloomington. Of course, William Dembski in Mathematics. Mark R. Discher (Ethics) from the University of St. Thomas.

Daniel Dix (Mathematics) from the University of Southern Carolina. Fred Field (Linguistics) from California State University. Guillermo Gonzalez (Astronomy) from Iowa State University. Bruce L. Gordon (Philosophy of Physics) from Baylor University.

David Humphreys (Chemistry) from McMaster University. Cornelius Hunter (Biophysics) from Seagull Technology. Muzaffar Iqbal (Science and Religion from) from Center for Islam and Science. Quinn Tyler Jackson for “Language & Software Systems.”

Conrad Johnson (Clinical Neurosciences & Physiology) from Brown Medical School. Robert Kaita (Plasma Physics) from Princeton University. James Keener (Mathematics and Bioengineering) from the University of Utah. Robert C. Koons (Philosophy) from the University of Texas, Austin.

Younghun Kwon (Physics) from Hanyang University. Christopher Michael Langan/Chris Langan/Christopher Langan (Logic, Cosmology, and Reality Theory) from the Mega Foundation and Research Group. Robert Larmer (Philosophy) from the University of New Brunswick.

Martti Leisola (Bioprocess Engineering) from Helsinki University of Technology. Stan Lennard (Medicine) from the University of Washington. John Lennox (Mathematics) from the University of Oxford. Gina Lynne LoSasso (Cognitive Neuroscience and Clinical Neuropsychology) from the Mega Foundation and Research Group.

Jed Macosko (Chemistry) from La Sierra University. Bonnie Mallard (Immunology) from the University of Guelph. Forrest M. Mims III for “Atmospheric Science.” Scott Minnich (Microbiology) from the University of Idaho. Paul Nelson (Philosophy of Biology) from the Discovery Institute.

Filip Palda (Economics) from the l’École Nationale d’Administration Publique, Montreal. Edward T.Peltzer for “Ocean Chemistry.” Alvina Plantinga (Philosophy) from the University of Notre Dame. Martin Poenie (Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology) from the University of Texas, Austin.

Carlos E. Puente (Hydrology and Theoretical Dynamics) from the University of California, Davis. Del Ratzsch (Philosophy of Science) from Calvin College. Jay Wesley Richard (Philosophical Theology) from the Discovery Institute. Terry Rickard (Electrical Engineering) from the Orincon Corporation.

John Roche (History of Science) from the University of Oxford. Andrew Ruys (Bioceramic Engineering) from the University of Sydney. Henry F. Schaefer (Quantum Chemistry) from the University of Georgia, Athens.

Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D. (Psychiatry/Neuroscience) from the UCLA Department of Psychiatry. Philip Skell (Chemistry) from Penn State University. Frederick Skiff (Physics) from the University of Iowa. Karl D. Stephan (Electrical Engineering) from Southwest Texas State University.

Richard Sternberg (Systematics) from NCBI-GenBank (NIH). Frank Tipler (Mathematical Physics) from Tulane University. Jonathan Wells (Developmental Biology) from the Discovery Institute. Finally, Peter Zoeller-Greer (Mathematics, Physics and Information Science) from the State University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt on the Main.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/27

A binary theologian, a ‘virgin,’ sodomites and phonies, and an elderly pederast walk into a bar, what is the highly unlikely outcome though probable interpretation?

—

Christian is a Philosopher that comes from Belgium. What identifies him the most and above all is simplicity, for everything is better with “vanilla ice cream.” Perhaps, for this reason, his intellectual passion is criticism and irony, in the sense of trying to reveal what “hides behind the mask,” and give birth to the true. For him, ignorance and knowledge never “cross paths.” What he likes the most in his leisure time, is to go for a walk with his wife.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: There’s an old Roman Catholic Christian fundamentalist phrase, “God wills it,” which is said Deus Vult in the original Latin. In 1096, it was the chant for the First Crusade. Many modern Roman Catholics harbour a wish to attain a crusaders mindset in combatting everything un-Christian/non-Christian/not them. They name groups after it, publications under it, and, in this sense, harken back to a time when Roman Catholics waged holy war. They want holy war in a time of global secularization and the rise of women. The extraordinary psychological and ideological insecurity is telling. In fact, studies have been produced, wherein psychopaths are known to want to become CEOs and the like; they’re drawn to these professions. However, lesser known, a highly ranked profession on the list of careers preferred by psychopaths: Clergy. It’s all highly informative. I take this long winding path due to our prior writing on this subject matter of the Roman Catholic Church and an apparent trembling upper lip based on our words from lots of disgruntled readers. You were trained within the Vatican, as a non-Catholic, under the auspices of Opus Dei in an expensive Opus Dei schooling, working on a Ph.D. in metaphysics in Rome, while meeting the hierarchy and, thus, knowing the structural dynamics of the Roman Catholic Church from the inside for an extended amount of time. In short, you can be, by some minds’ qualitative metrics, seen as a sincere threat. Gnoseology deals with metaphysics, epistemology, ontology, logics, empirics, consciousness, and being, as a start. This means, as well, the foundations of the Roman Catholic Christian faith or religion, not simply a new basis on knowing. In some sense, your freemasonic personal history, Opus Dei familial story, Jewish origin, academic training within Rome, and the like, created one of the most potent brews for critical commentary. As an aside, for those reading, if within a Roman Catholic relationship, community, or family happening to feel oppressive or coercive or restrictive to personal boundaries and freedoms, or an individual distant and questioning the theology and their faith, there are options to transition out of the Roman Catholic Church, including various atheist, agnostic, freethinker, and humanist organization, even theist and atheist Satanic organizations with some political activism. You can find atheist resources at https://www.atheistsites.net. Your local freemasonic hall would happily invite a tour or a new membership. Humanists International has a directory of humanist organizations at https://humanists.international/about/our-members/. The Satanic Temple has plenty of local chapters listed at https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/join-us. You can learn a bit about the public knowledge basics of freemasonry at https://beafreemason.org/. There is a revivalist movement around Paganism. You can find those online, whether neo-Pagan, humanistic Paganism, and the like. Secular and humanistic versions of religious organizations exist all over the world. Of course, wonderful feminist organizations are everywhere, too – simply Google “Feminism” or “feminist organizations,” etc. You’ll find your way. So, know, you’re not alone, have options, already have the internal strength within you, and can find a fit based on personal temperament and psychological profile – find what works for you, not what’s forced on you. You can always email me at Scott.D.Jacobsen@Gmail.Com. Back to Gnoseology, how is “supreme wisdom” defined here, as in “The Devil’s Chaplain: God Cannot Create the Nothing”?

Dr. Christian Sorensen: In my opinion, the supreme wisdom is certainly something not explicitly verbalizable or  writable through any  type of content ; and much less has a sacred, universal and immutable character.  The reason for the aforementioned, has to do with a purely logical order, since intelligence always seeks to find answers in confrontation with the unknown. Therefore, if the supreme wisdom was represented by some kind of knowledge, in terms of anything identifiable  with the truth, it would necessarily have resolved to some extent the process of intellectual search ; at least with  partially cognitively constructed responses, capable of actually appeasing the sensation of existential emptiness. If the above, would have been in such manner, then supreme wisdow, could have summoned towards an intersubjective noetic consensus, and should have  redounded in  favor of  commonwealth;  all of which could not be more anachronistic and further from reality.  In consequence, I  consider that rather it’s  related to a hypothetical place, than with an inductive or deductible knowledge, which instead I would denominate : as  somewhat found in another place ; in the sense of being vinculated to a hollow space, and that will make possible a synthetic spiral chain of antithetical premises. Furthermore, what is going to be recognized empirical and commonly as this species of wisdom, especially from a fundamentalist religious perspective, as occurs with the Roman Catholic Church, would regard more with a formula to perversely  legitimize  physical and psychological abuse of conscience, by emphasizing notably the sexual connotation of these ; and through sickly focusing on gender discrimination of them,  since what most obsesses the power structure of  catholicism, is the  repression and subjugation of the screams of silence  deployed from their corrupt control networks, which is not at all surprising for their limited intelligence, but that nevertheless stuns for their stupidity  without limits; because not even the pontiff emeritus, manages to hide its puerile attempt at seduction with the most helpless victims.

Jacobsen: What are the limits of the experimental-empirical method? What are the limitations of the hypothetico-deductive method? Those defined within the sphere of “individual scientific disciplines.”

Sorensen: I consider that both methods have limitations that are equivalent, since they operate circularly and tend to reverberate tautologically   on similar  points. Said circularity, would hardly admit a cyclical dynamics, due to the fact that it does not incorporates a tertiary and integral term : capable of representing a higher synthesis around its hypothetical approaches on behalf  of the particular terms induced, and of the generalities deduced from the discursive conclusions.  Regarding the experimental empirical method, which is a reduction of the deductive hypothetical method, applied in the field of individual sciences, the bias  is even greater ; since the hypothetical statements  are not going to be able of being empirically refutable. Likewise even if they were, only  their character of falsehood and of provisional validity, could  be affirmed with certainty.

Jacobsen: How is this individual reason “becoming consciousness along time”?

Sorensen: The individual reason, will become  consciousness along time, in  what I am going to denominate conscious reason; and as such would be  recognized  in the inverse  process of  « zeitgeist », regarding which, there is a greater gradient in favor of  unquestionable answers as counterpose to what  would be unanswerable questions.  In consequence,  consciousness is going  to installed, at the moment in which  a discontinuity or cut occurs at the level of discursive synthesis ; and  as an outcome, of what I consider integral or comprehensive antithetical terms. According to the last,  opposites would return  and convert again in thesis, in order to constitute  questions of problematic nature.

Jacobsen: The “macro or universal reason” as a “permanent consciousness.” How is this functioning in relation to the “consciousness along time”? Why the asymptotic revelation in time? Does this mean accessibility for all beings with reason to this unfolding?

Sorensen: The macro  or universal reason unfolds, because from my point of view,  this is only relative  to consciousness along time, but is never vinculated with respect to permanent consciousness ; since in the dimension of the latter, time would only be absolute: that is to say,  identical to what is understood as an omnipresent temporality.  Its revelation, for his part, seen from a dimension of temporality, is asymptotic , because this reason from its ontological evolution; would  be in a permanent process of retractive compression and extensive decompression, without  having a determinable origin or end. The being with reason, on the other side, would be completely interdicted during this  revelation or unfolding; since the being  with reason and the last, would flow as two parallel lines,  and only  phenomenologically, that is to say hypothetically, would  converge at some supposed vanishing point.

Jacobsen: Why is there this logical break between the theological mythologies and the theology? How does this play out in a critical analysis of the creation story of Roman Catholicism with a dying and resurrected God-man, a virginal birth, and a variety of miraculous occurrences within the narratives?

Sorensen: In my opinion theology, is  essentially mythological and therefore antithetical to reason, since the means to approach it, always concerns faith, which represents  necessarily a supernatural gift from God ; and in consequence, absolutely denies what the will to power could be. Indeed then, it’s a present, that God confers as a  theological virtue ; in order to accept  unwaveringly, religious beliefs, as dogmas.  The logical break is twofold, because in its origin, it is  imperatively based on faith and not on reason; and due to the fact, that commutes the myth for ideas with the pretense of being clear and distinct, when actually they are just   allegorical and fabulous speculations, devoid of all logical consistency and of any  coherent meaning. Actually,  not only  transgresses  logical principles of  identity, non-contradiction and exclusive third party ;  but also brutally distorts and subverts reality.  Through this sort of magic mechanism, this  violates all sense and judgement of reality ; even going to the point of considering the  person of Jesus as a demigod, and  his apostles as saints, when historically deep down, they were just a sectarian group of phonies, who did nothing but to sodomize each other. Or even, to venerate a woman as a virgin,  when in reality what she did was to hide in the crowd, so as not to be publicly stoned to death ; for being a fornicating adolescent, who felt overwhelmed by her low passions. And as if the above were not enough, in order to put a finishing touch , the immaculate, gets married with an elderly man, who today would have been accused of pederast ;  but to whom the Roman Catholic Church scandalous and aberrantly, venerates to this day, as a holy and chaste male.

Jacobsen: How is the light peering into the Roman Catholic, and even Islamic, theological worlds now?

Sorensen: In the Roman Catholic theological world, par excellence, the light is a sort of halo, that penetrates through the hole of a cavern, in order to project inside it, not only monstrous images and deceptive shadows ; but also  to circulate the figures of people tied to each other and queuing, to be dragged and thrown into an abyss unseen, by a hierophant who dupes them with the surrounding darkness.

Jacobsen: What is the idea behind a single universal subject that’s there and an eternal becoming of what will arrive? Are there any forerunners to this idea?

Sorensen: The background of said idea, unlike what some precursors such as Spinoza proposed, is that what exists, and which represents representatively the single universal subject ; has a pulsatile expanding and retracting cyclicity, whatsoever in no case, would be equivalent to a periodic circularity. Therefore the above, could never be understood, as a subjective process of ontological repetition. Quite the contrary, it should be comprehended, as a process of spiral movements, where it would only be possible to discern, the folding points at every turn with respect to which, it could only be affirmed that they are coincident with the moments repeated in each of the turns.  The deductible therefore, would be a subjectivity that remains asymptotically unfinished,  in the twilight of time and in the becoming of eternity.

Jacobsen: What is the basic formulation of this “trinitarian logic”?

Sorensen: Trinitarian logic, fundamentally expels from the symbolic universe of the subject, understood as individual reason ; the concepts and the idea of antithesis and opposition, respectively, regarding being and not-being. The above means,  that both : concepts and idea, would act operationally in unison. In consequence, negation as such, would not exist ; and only the potentially becoming of something, in terms of  somewhat that interrupts its being for beginning anything  else,  might occur. Therefore then, what I will name the tertiary term,  will not be more than the generalization of a continuous sum of infinite deductions, in the discursive process of reasoning ; that would enable to admit, a conclusive synthesis as  hypothetically valid, but not necessarily as an empirically formal truth.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Dr. Sorensen.

Sorensen: I expect that not only the angel snuggles up: but also the nun.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/26

Prof. Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited as well as many other books and ebooks about topics in psychology, relationships, philosophy, economics, international affairs, and award-winning short fiction. He is Visiting Professor of Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia and Professor of Finance and Psychology in SIAS-CIAPS (Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies). Here we talk briefly about his philosophy of nothingness.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Our focus today is the proposal of “nothingness” in a specific sense by you. To start in negation, what is not “nothingness,” in your sense?

Professor Sam Vaknin: Nothingness is not about being a nobody and doing nothing. It is not about self-negation, self-denial, idleness, fatalism, or surrender.

Jacobsen: Following from the previous question, what is nothingness?

Vaknin: Nothingness is about choosing to be human, not a lobster. It is about putting firm boundaries between you and the world. It is about choosing happiness – not dominance. It is accomplishing from within, not from without. It is about not letting others regulate your emotions, moods, and thinking. It is about being an authentic YOU.

Jacobsen: How does this nothingness connect to Neo-Daoism and Buddhism?

Vaknin: It would be best to watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8ePaN70SyM&t=1s

Jacobsen: We live, as many know, in an era of narcissism. You brought this issue to light in 1995, particularly pathological narcissism. What are the roots of the ongoing rise in individual and collective narcissism?

Vaknin: The need to be seen and noticed in an overcrowded and terrifyingly atomized world. Ironically, narcissism is a cry for help, a desperate attempt to reconnect. There is no such thing as an “individual”: we are all the products of our interactions with others (object relations). But, increasingly, technology is rendering us self-sufficient and isolated. So, our social instincts metastasize into narcissism: dominance and hierarchy replace sharing and networking.

Jacobsen: How does one choose happiness over dominance, authenticity over being fake, and humanity rather than lobster-kind, with this form of nothingness?

Vaknin: We need to choose happiness over dominance (be human, not a lobster); Choose Meaning over complexity; Choose fuzziness, incompleteness, imperfection, uncertainty, and unpredictability (in short: choose life) over illusory and fallacious order, structure, rules, and perfection imposed on reality (in short: death); Choose the path over any destination, the journey over any goal, the process over any outcome, the questions over any answers; Be an authentic person with a single inner voice, proud of the internal, not the external.

Jacobsen: What is the importance of living a life worth remembering in the philosophy of nothingness?

Vaknin: Identity depends on having a continuous memory of a life fully lived and actualized. At the end of it all, if your life were a movie, would you want to watch it from beginning to end? Nothingness consists of directing your life in accordance with an idiosyncratic autobiographical script: yours, no one else’s. Being authentic means becoming the single story which only you can tell.

Jacobsen: What type of personality or person can accept nothingness in its fullest sense?

Vaknin: Only those who are grandiose are incapable of Nothingness. Grandiosity is the illusion that one is godlike and, therefore, encompasses everything and everyone. Grandiosity, therefore, precludes authenticity because it outsources one’s identity and renders it reliant on input from others (hive mind).

Jacobsen: How is nothingness an antidote to narcissism?

Vaknin: Narcissism is ersatz, the only self is false, others are instrumentalized and used to regulate one’s sense of faux cohering oneness. Nothingness is echt, harking back to the only true, authentic voice, eliminating all other introjects, not using others to regulate one’s internal psychological landscape. Narcissism is alienation, it interpellates in a society of the spectacle. Nothingness gives rise to true intimacy.

Jacobsen: What is the ultimate wisdom in the philosophy of nothingness?

Vaknin: Identify the only voice inside you that is truly you. Peel the onion until nothing is left behind but its smell. Rid yourself of introjected socialization. Become.

Jacobsen: Then, to conclude, what is the motto or catchphrase of nothingness in this sense?

Vaknin: Do unto yourself what you want others to do to you.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Professor Vaknin.

Vaknin: Much obliged for having me. Always a pleasure.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/24

The world of intelligence testing comes with a wide range of communities and individuals, and tests. Those communities comprise many of the same people with the smaller societies and many more new people with the larger societies.

Although, a few people simply qualify for and apply to an extraordinarily large number of societies, and so become members of them. Such as it is, there have been growing efforts to recognize individuals within the communities for achievements in different domains.

One such effort comes from the World Genius Directory of Jason Betts. Since 2013, there have been awards for individuals within the theoretically high-range testing communities. It seems like an positive effort and came into the email for me.

Many within the high-IQ communities can recognize some of the names from the previous years’ awards. The titles of the awards are ‘World Genius Directory [Year] Genius of the Year – [Region]’ with, typically, three per year and, once, four in a year (the inaugural year).

The standardized regions recognized with the World Genius Directory Genius of the Year awards are Europe, Asia, and America. I remain intrigued by these communities, so went and did some interviews with some of the communities’ membership. They’re interesting people, mostly affable, and open to a chat with a stray Canadian.

The World Genius Directory listing merely recognizes, with a standard of alternative test approval, individuals who score high on tests requiring puzzle solving skills. The hope is alternative tests, as the main set of listed tests, reflect a broader capacity of global information processing.

In some sense, it represents a grassroots effort of recognition of expert puzzle solvers in verbal, numerical, and spatial domains. From 2013 to 2015, they had recognized longstanding names in the communities.

The awardees in 2013, Dr Evangelos Katsioulis (Greece), Dr Manahel Thabet (Yemen), Mr. Rick Rosner (United States), and Dr Jason Betts (Australia); in 2014, Mr. Marco Ripà (Italy), (Australia), and Ms. Karyn Peters (United States); in 2015, Mr. Iakovos Koukas (Greece), Mr. Satoki Takeichi (Japan), and Dr Gregory Grove (United States).

Similarly for 2016 to 2018, some new and some more known names, in 2016, Mr. Tommi Laiho (Finland), Ms. Aishwarya Trivedi (India), and Mr. Jeffery Ford (United States); in 2017, Mr. Marios Prodromou (Greece),  Mr. Sung-Jin Kim (South Korea), Mr. Julien Arpin (Canada); in 2018, Mr. Dalibor Marincic (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Mr. Naoki Kouda (Japan), Dr Bishoy Goubran (United States).

In 2019 to 2022, there was another mix of new and longstanding members: in 2019, Mr. Tor Jørgensen (Norway), Mr. Sunder Rangarajan (India), Mr. Victor Hingsberg (Canada); in 2020, Mr. Domagoj Kutle (Croatia), Dr Jason Betts (Australia), Mr. Daniel Pohl (Canada); in 2021, Ms. Anja Jaenicke (Germany), Mr. Nitish Joshi (India), (United States); and, in 2022, Mr. Graham Powell (United Kingdom), Mr. YoungHoon Kim (South Korea), Mr. Beau Clemmons (United States).

The alternative high-range testing community comes in such a wide variety from the defunct societies to the highly active societies. Yet, there are attempts to recognize one another and motivate one another. The awards are one means by which to do it.

“The World Genius Directory Geniuses” is a listing from the World Genius Directory listing some of the individuals who have scored highly on mainstream intelligence tests and alternative tests. Even if one takes the top 100 names from the scoring rank, many of the names present are awardees, naturally. Active members are active members, after all:

198 Dr Evangelos Katsioulis, Greece, NVCP, www.katsioulis.com

195 Heinrich Siemens, Germany, CIT5, www.tweeback.com/autoren/heinrich_siemens

192 Rick Rosner, United States, Mathema, www.facebook.com/rick.rosner

192 Mislav Predavec, Croatia, LS24, www.generiq.net

190 Kenneth Ferrell, United States, Hieroglyphica, www.kef.highrangeiqtests.com

190 Dany Provost, Canada, PIGS1°, www.lesaffaires.com/blogues/dany-provost

190 WenChin Sui, China, Numerus Classic, www.facebook.com/wenchin.sui

190 Marios Prodromou, Cyprus, Mach, www.facebook.com/metratonivvi

190 Fengzhi Wu, China, Numerus, www.facebook.com/iamFengzhiWu

190 Cường Đồng, Vietnam, Numerus, www.dongkhaccuong.com

190 Tomáš Perna, Czech Republic, ZEN, www.facebook.com/tomas.perna.7

188 Mahir Wu, China, Silent Numbers, www.facebook.com/mahir.wu

185 WeiJie Wang, China, WIT, www.blog.sina.com.cn/u/2194191722

185 Kirk Kirkpatrick, United States, Stanford-Binet, www.facebook.com/macrhino

185 Erik Hæreid, Norway, N-VRA80, www.isi-s.iqsociety.org/mem361.html

185 Christian Sorensen, Belgium, WAIS, www.isi-s.iqsociety.org

185 Rickard Sagirbey, Turkey, Alphabet, www.facebook.com/Neurobuilder

185 Tianxi Yu, China, Numerus Classic, www.facebook.com/tianxi.yu.71

184 Dr Stefano Pierazzoli, Italy, Anoteleia44, http://www.isi-s.iqsociety.org/mem461.html

184 YoungHoon Kim, South Korea, Silent Eagle, https://www.facebook.com/reality180

183 Nikola Poljak, Croatia, Mathodica22, www.phy.pmf.unizg.hr/~npoljak

182 Misaki Ota, Japan, SLSE48, www.facebook.com/oota.misaki.5

182 Caner Sakar, Germany, WIQC, http://profiles.google.com/sakarcaner/about

182 Sadateru Tokumaru, Japan, Algebrica, www.facebook.com/Sadateru.Tokumaru

181 Hansheng Qiao, China, SLSE48, http://hriq.org

181 Lei Xue, China, Silent Spacial, http://leixue.sxl.cn

180 Leela Papadioti, Greece, Mach, www.facebook.com/l33la

180 YoungHoon Kim, South Korea, WAIS, https://www.facebook.com/reality180

180 Zoran Bijac, Croatia, Simtollect, www.globeiq.net

180 Iakovos Koukas, Greece, Verbatim, www.facebook.com/iakovos.koukas

180 Fumihiko Minagawa, Japan, Ninja, www.facebook.com/fumihiko.minagawa

180 Maximilian-Andrei Druţă, Romania, WARP, www.facebook.com/max.druta

180 Takuma Onishi, Japan, Mach, www.facebook.com/takuma.ohnishi

180 Niels Ellevang, Denmark, FreeFall II, www.facebook.com/niels.ellevang

179 Gaetano Morelli, Italy, Mathodica22, www.facebook.com/tany.morelli

179 Gabriele Tessaro, Italy, Anoteleia44, www.facebook.com/gabriele.tessaro.7

178 Dr Evangelos Katsioulis, Greece, CFIT, www.katsioulis.com

178 Dr George Petasis, Cyprus, CFIT, www.georgepetasis.com

178 Tim Roberts, Australia, Titan Test, www.unsolvedproblems.org

178 Dr Benoit Desjardins, United States, Titan Test, www.facebook.com/bdmdphd

178 Mizuki Tomaiwa, Japan, CFIT, https://www.facebook.com/mizuki.tomaiwa

177 Tiberiu Sammak, Romania, AdSub, www.facebook.com/tiberiu.sammak

177 Huiquan Liu, China, AdSub, www.facebook.com/sjtulhq

176 Karyn Peters, United States of America, LAIT, www.facebook.com/karynpeters

176 Zhibin Zhang, China, SLSE48, www.olymp.iqsociety.org/olympians/zhibin-zhang

176 James Dorsey, United States, Numeralis Intelligenia, www.OpalQuestGroup.com

175 Takahiro Kitagawa, Japan, WAIS, www.facebook.com/marubake.no.shiwaza

175 Peter Rodgers, Australia, WIT, http://iqmind.academia.edu/PeterRodgers

175 Brendan Harris, Canada, PIGS1°, www.brendanharris.t15.org

175 Tommy Sandvik, Finland, WARP, www.facebook.com/tommy.sandvik

175 Yosirou Sawayanagi, Japan, SAM Light, www.kawauso.com

175 Susumu Ota, Japan, WAIS, www.facebook.com/susumu.ota.5

175 Veronica Palladino, Italy, Lexiq, http://plus.google.com/113427077760507189284

175 Mhedi Banafshei, United Kingdom, Verbatim, www.facebook.com/mhedi.banafshe

174 Santanu Sengupta, India, JCCES, www.in.linkedin.com/pub/santanu-sengupta/3/50/113

174 Ivan Ivec, Croatia, Algebrica, www.ivec.ultimaiq.net

174 Baku Saito, Japan, SPEED, www.facebook.com/baku.saito.5

174 Anthony Sepulveda, United States, Cosmic, www.deviantart.com/asepulvedastudios

174 Domagoj Kutle, Croatia, Spectra, www.facebook.com/domagoj.kutle

173 Yoshiyuki Shimizu, Japan, SLSE48, www.facebook.com/yoshiyuki.shimizu.54

173 Sandra Schlick, Switzerland, Concep-T, http://home.balcab.ch/sandra.schlick

173 Arttu Purmonen, Finland, Qrosswords, http://fi.linkedin.com/in/arttu-purmonen-5b077918

172 Xiang Zhang, China, SLSE48, www.hi.baidu.com/new/likaihaiyang

172 Dr Claus Volko, Austria, ENNDT, www.cdvolko.net

172 John Argenti, United States, GENE Verbal IV, http://www.facebook.com/john.argenti

172 Hans Sjöberg, Sweden, GENE Verbal III, http://sweiq.iq-metod.se

172 Tonny Sellén, Sweden, GENE Verbal III, http://site0ne.webnode.se

172 Dr Paul Moroz, Australia, VGT, www.joondaluphealthcampus.com.au/ID=6795

172 Yuki Sunagawa, Japan, Lexiq, www.facebook.com/Revirdnas

172 Dr Jason Betts, Australia, GENE Verbal III, www.emeraldalchemy.com

172 Tor Jørgensen, Norway, Lexiq, www.facebook.com/torarnejorgensen

172 Yohei Furutono, Japan, GIFT Numerical III, www.facebook.com/YoheiFurutono

172 Takashi Egawano, Japan, Ninja, www.facebook.com/ore808

172 Tomohiko Nakamura, Japan, Ninja, www.facebook.com/Tomohiko.Nakamura.30

172 Dr Ivan Rašić, Croatia, Vortex, www.instagram.com/dr.ivanrasic

172 Rick Farrar, United States, PatNum, www.facebook.com/rick.farrar.581

172 Nitish Joshi, India, Lexiq, www.linkedin.com/in/nitish-joshi-1a4696170

172 Igor Dorfman, Israel, Lexiq, www.facebook.com/IgorDorfman11

172 Andre Gangvik, Norway, DynamIQ, www.linkedin.com/in/arne-andre-gangvik-9a5658a4

172 Jwajung Kim, South Korea, PatNum, www.instagram.com/kimjwajeong

172 Davor Glumpak, Croatia, PatNum, www.facebook.com/davor.glumpak

172 Kenshin Tomie, Japan, LSHR Light, www.facebook.com/kenshin.tomie

171 Mick Dempsey, United Kingdom, Verba66, www.facebook.com/mick.dempsey3

171 Altug Alkan, Turkey, NRA, www.hell.iqsociety.org/subscribers/altug-alkan

171 Patrick Liljegren, Sweden, OASIS, www.youtube.com/c/RotationMaster

170 Marco Ripà, Italy, 9I6, www.facebook.com/marcokrt

170 Dionysios Maroudas, Greece, Verbatim, www.facebook.com/dios.mars

170 Richard Sheen, New Zealand, NIT-I Spatial, www.facebook.com/richard.sheen.37

170 Ivan Godic, Serbia, GIFT Classic, www.facebook.com/ivan.godic

170 Kirk Butt, Canada, GENE Verbal IV, www.facebook.com/kirk.butt.1

170 Dr Jason Betts, Australia, Spat-1, www.emeraldalchemy.com

170 Charoula Katzioti, Greece, GIFT Numerical III, www.facebook.com/charakatzioti

170 Tomáš Perna, Czech Republic, Spat-1, www.facebook.com/tomas.perna.7

170 Dalibor Marincic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, GIFT Verbal A+B, www.facebook.com/dalibormarincic

170 Željko Zahtila, Australia, Numerus, www.facebook.com/zeljko.zahtila

169 Stephan Wagner-Damianowitsch, Serbia, NVCP, www.facebook.com/s.m.wagner.damianowitsch

169 Shohei Nagayama, Japan, SLSE I, www.facebook.com/shohei.nagayama.37

168 Satoki Takeichi, Japan, SLSE I, www.facebook.com/satoki.takeichi

168 Daming Gao, China, Numerus Light, www.user.qzone.qq.com/18485941

168 Yoshihito Niimura, Japan, Simtollect, http://www.facebook.com/yoshihiton

Insofar as can be seen, the communities are small. However, this, by definition, means small in a statistical sense: Smart people are outnumbered by not as smart people, as a statistical inevitability. Thus, any community will be smaller if comprised of them, and smaller if on the higher ends of the scale of intelligence. As well, it means small in raw size. Mostly, one sees the same names or people.

The awards, such as the Genius of the Year of the World Genius Directory, are one means by which to recognize the time commitment and problem-solving capacity of members of these alternative communities, as one can see in the wide distribution of scores.

It’s different than popular media claims to smartest person in the world, smartest man in the world, and the like[1]. At one point, I did gather some of the uses of “IQ” as a catch-all to claim the smartest this-or-that person[2], while compiling the rankings[3] and then amalgamating the individuals[4], at the time.

The claims are numerous and, typically, arise out of amateur journalism, statistical ignorance, and lack of fact-checking, while based in some truth, i.e., some individuals did score high on some tests – a mix of myth, partial verification, and a state of apparent mental confusion.

Nonetheless, I wish the awardees the best in their efforts and the communities in their work to use their talents for good rather than bad. Some might ask, “What are they doing with their intelligence if they’re so super-smart?”

In some manner, they were, mostly, born with it. It unfolded as a snowflake unfolds over time. Yet, the generativity of nature produces the capacity in steps, so the seedlings were always present. Nature is in charge for the most part.

If they were born with it, and if they live with it, who better to determine its vector, trajectory, than them, or the individual smart person? Everyone needs guidance, and the like, but every smart person can use the capacities, or not, as they see fit, probably.

Awards are merely one moment to recognize some who chose to do well on a test with their talents, and to recognize contributors to community. What’s wrong with that? It depends on the point of view.

——

[1] One sees occasional news items for claimants, including Rick Rosner/Richard Rosner, Marilyn vos Savant/Marilyn Mach vos Savant, William James Sidis/Bill Sidis/William Sidis, Chris Langan/Christopher Langan/Christopher Michael Langan, Evangelos Katsioulis/Dr. Evangelos Katsioulis/“Evan Cat,” Kim Ung-Yong, Terence Tao, and so and so forth.

[2] “IQ Reportage in the Popular Media – Fads and Fun of a Dying Popularity” says:

• [1] Natasha Bertrand wrote “The 40 smartest people of all time” in Business Insider.
• Marissa Laliberte wrote “8 People with Higher IQs Than Einstein” in Reader’s Digest.
• Timothy J. Legg, Ph.D., CRNP wrote “What IQ Measurements Indicate — and What They Don’t” in Healthline.
• Tibi Puiu wrote “What is the highest IQ in the world (and should you actually care?)” in ZME Science.
• Maryn Liles wrote “Who Has the Highest IQ in the World? 35 People Who Are Even Smarter Than Einstein” in Parade Magazine.
• Kendra Cherry (reviewed by Amy Morin, LCSW) wrote “What Is a Genius IQ Score?” in VeryWellMind.
• Harsh Gupta wrote “What Is The Highest IQ In The World Ever Recorded?” in Science ABC.
• Duncan Madden wrote “Ranked: The 25 Smartest Countries In The World” in Forbes.
• “IQ compared by countries” was written in WorldData.Info.
• Michele Debczak wrote “An 11-Year-Old Just Earned the Highest IQ Score Possible” in MentalFloss.
• Osien Kuumar wrote “Here Is A List Of The 27 Smartest People On The Planet” in ScoopWhoop.
• “Ramarni Wilfred tops Bill Gates and Einstein with his IQ” was written in BBC News.
• Avi Selk wrote “Trump says he’s a genius. A study found these other presidents actually were.” in the Washington Post.
• James Smart wrote “Of All Things: Which president had the highest IQ?” in The Review.
• “14 of the highest IQs on television” was written in RadioTimes.
• Danny Dukker wrote “15 NBA Players with the Highest Basketball I.Q.” in Bleacher Report.
• Harry Shukman wrote “Experts have worked out which majors have the highest IQ” in The Tab.
• Amanda Woods wrote “Genius British girl, 10, has higher IQ than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking” in the New York Post.
• Benjamin VanHoose wrote “8-Year-Old Mexican Girl, Who Was Bullied and Labeled ‘Weird,’ Has Higher IQ Than Einstein: Report” in People Magazine.
• Esther Trattner wrote “The Smartest and Least Brainy Presidents, by IQ Scores” in MoneyWise.
• Nicholas Pace wrote “Study Determines Which Gamers Have the Highest IQ” in Gamerant.
• Ari Feldman wrote “The Man With The World’s Highest IQ, Christopher Langan, Is Gaining A Following On The Far Right” in the Forward.
• “Meet the 11-year-old Indian girl who’s smarter than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking” was written in YourStory.
• Katie Serena wrote “Meet Marilyn Vos Savant, The Woman With The World’s Highest IQ” in All That’s Interesting.
• “No Dumb Blonde: Fair-Haired Women Have the Highest IQ” was published in Men’s Journal.
• Bridgett McCusker wrote “The 13 Presidents with the Highest IQ Scores” in MSN.
• Dana Givens wrote “MEET THE 16-YEAR-OLD GENIUS WHOSE IQ IS HIGHER THAN BILL GATES AND ALBERT EINSTEIN” in Black Enterprise.
• Tiffany Silva wrote “THESE THREE LITTLE BLACK GENIUSES HAVE HIGHEST IQ’S IN WORLD” in BCKOnline.
• “SERIAL KILLERS’ IQS RANKED” was published in Crime and Investigation.
• Patrick J. Kiger wrote “What Was Albert Einstein’s IQ?” in Biography.
• Timothy L. O’Brien wrote “Trump Has the Highest IQ. He Says So Himself.” in Bloomberg Opinion.
• Jamila Gandhi wrote “The World’s Highest IQs” in Forbes.
• Andrew Restucci wrote “Trump fixates on IQ as a measure of self-worth” in Politico.
• Sophie Tanno wrote “Primary schoolgirl, 10, gets highest possible IQ score in Mensa test – beating Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking” in the DailyMail.
• Sam Becker wrote “10 Jobs Where Employees Tend to Have the Highest IQs” in CheatSheet.
• “Who Has The Highest IQ Alive? Smartest Person In The World” was written in The CEO Magazine.
• “Dr Evangelos Katsioulis has the World’s Highest IQ” was written in Greek City Times.
• Zachary Crockett wrote “The Time Everyone “Corrected” the World’s Smartest Woman” in Priceonomics.
• “​Top 10 people have highest IQ scores in the World (P.2)” was written in IQ-Test.Net.
• Laura Dorwart wrote “6 YouTube Channels That Can Help You Find a Job During the Coronavirus Outbreak” in CheatSheet.
• Damian Carrington wrote “Children raised in greener areas have higher IQ, study finds” in The Guardian.
• Scott Barry Kaufman wrote “Can Intelligence Buy You Happiness?” in Scientific American.
• Juan Ramos wrote “Here Is The Highest Possible IQ And The People Who Hold The World Record” in ScienceTrends.
• “What is a “genius?” The 10 highest IQs alive today” was written in ScalarLearning.
• Zameena Mejia wrote “As leaders in DC squabble over who’s smarter, here’s the IQ score Warren Buffett says is all you need to succeed” in CNBC.
• Carole Fader wrote “Fact Check: How smart is President-elect Donald Trump? IQ score isn’t official” in The Florida-Times Union.
• Casey Leins wrote “The Smartest States in America” in U.S. News.
• Bill Murphy, Jr. wrote “We Compared the Average IQ Scores in All 50 States, and the Results Are Opening” in Inc.
• “The Smartest Man In The World – IQ 200 – Is Convinced The U.S. Election Was Stolen” was written in the National Pulse.
• “Highest IQ in the world” was written in LOVE Air Coffee.
• Jacob Hancock wrote “Wonderlic scores in the NFL: Highest, lowest test scores in Combine history” in SportingNews.
• Alaa Elassar wrote “A 3-year-old boy has just become the youngest member of Mensa UK, the largest international high IQ society” in CNN.
• “The 50 Greatest Living Geniuses” was written in TheBestSchools.
• Caroline Picard and Blake Bakkila wrote “The 10 Smartest Dog Breeds That Would Ace Any IQ Test” in GoodHouseKeeping.
• Mike Sager wrote “The Smartest Man in America” in Esquire Magazine.
• James Williamson wrote “Rainbow Six Siege & Among Us Players Allegedly Have The Highest IQ” in ScreenRant.
• Dwain Price wrote “TYRELL TERRY USES HIS RECORD-BREAKING BASKETBALL IQ TO HIS ADVANTAGE” in Maverick.
• Jon Bitner wrote “Recent Study Reveals PC Gamers Are Smarter Than Console Gamers (But Rainbow Six Siege Players Are Smartest Of All)” in the Gamer.
• Sam Lehman-Wilzig wrote “The Totally Taboo Topic: Why Are American Jews So Successful?” in The Times of Israel.
• Chris Leitner wrote “Does high IQ make a better investor?” in Livewire.
• “Top 10 celebrities with highest IQ as of 2020” was written in Tuko.
• Shana Lebowitz wrote “Do You Have a High IQ? 17 Signs That Say You Do” in Business Insider.
• Brian Resnick wrote “IQ, explained in 9 charts” in Vox.
• “Countries by IQ – Average IQ by Country 2020” was written in World Population Review.
• David Robson wrote “Has humanity reached ‘peak intelligence’?” in BBC News.
• “10 People With The Highest IQ Ever Recorded” was written in O, Pish Posh!.
• Aiden Mason wrote “20 Celebrities with Ridiculously High IQs” in TVOM.
• “This bird has higher IQ level than apes” was written in India Today.
• “Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops” was written in ABC News.
• Ellen Littman, Ph.D. wrote ““I’m Smart, So I Should Be Able to Overpower ADHD. Right?”” in Additude.
• “Stars with high IQs” was written in CBS News.
• Robert Johnson wrote “The 19 Smartest People The World Has Ever Seen” in Business Insider.
• “30 Smartest People Alive Today” was written in SuperScholar.
• Jim Dykstra wrote “THESE ARE THE SMARTEST LIVING PEOPLE IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW” in Grunge.
• Paul Ratner wrote “24 of the smartest people who ever lived” in BigThink.
• Shikha Goyalwrote “Top 10 most intelligent people on Earth” in Jagran Josh.
• “Who Are the Smartest People in the World?” was written in Mindflash.
• Fiona MacDonald wrote “This Controversial Infographic Lists The 10 Smartest People in The World” in ScienceAlert.
• “The Story of the Smartest Man Who Ever Lived and Why You Haven’t Heard of Him” was written in BrightSide.
• “13 Most Intelligent People In The History Of The World” was written in FinancesOnline.
• Lisa Kremer wrote “The Smartest Person In the World Refuses To Be Trapped By Fate” in Do It.
• Dina Spector and Shlomo Sprung wrote “The 16 Smartest People on Earth” in Yahoo!Finance.
• Rachel Seigel wrote “45 Brainy Facts About The World’s Smartest People” in Factinate.
• Maria Gabriela wrote “Top 10 Smartest People 2019” in Strangelist.

[3] “IQ Reportage in the Popular Media – Fads and Fun of a Dying Popularity” says, “The various directories, listings, and rankings were analyzed with the compiled ranking as follows, incorporating ‘ESOTERIQ Society of Masaaki Yamauchi (incorporative of some of the Giga Society of Paul Cooijmans), GENIUS High IQ Network of Dr. Iakovos Koukas, GFIS IQ List/Dinghong Yao IQ Ranking List of Dinghong Yao, GIFTED High IQ Network of Dr. Iakovos Koukas, Hall of IQ Scores of Konstantinos Ntalachanis, Hall of Sophia of Guillermo Alejandro Escárcega Pliego, HRIQ Ranking List of Qiao Hansheng, Mahir Wu Ranking List of Mahir Wu, Real IQ Listing of Dr. Ivan Ivec, Svenska IQ-Listan of Hans Sjöberg and Alexi Edin, VeNuS Ranking List of Domagoj Kutle/Domagoj Domo Kutle, WIQF Listing[2] of Marco Ripà and Dr. Manahel Thabet, World Famous IQ Scores of Dr. Ivan Ivec, World Genius Directory of Jason Betts, and World Highest IQ Scores of Mislav Predavec.’”

[4] “IQ Reportage in the Popular Media – Fads and Fun of a Dying Popularity” says:

Compilation Ranking

1. William James Sidis at unmeasurable sigma (no test named)
2. Konstantinos Ntalachanis at 8.67-sigma on D.O.S. and at 6.00-sigma on Monster IQ Test
3. Wen Luo at 7.73-sigma on RIDDLES
4. Dr. Iakovo Koukas/Iakovos Koukas at 6.93-sigma on MATRIQ
5. Dr. Evangelos Katsioulis/Evangelos Katsioulis at 6.53-sigma on NVCP-R and at 6.06-sigma on Cooijmans Multiple-Choice #3
6. Dr. Heinrich Siemens/Heinrich Siemens at 6.31-sigma on CIT-5
7. Yukun Wang at 6.31-sigma on RIDDLES
8. Tor Arne Jørgensen at 6.27-sigma on MATRIQ
9. Rick Rosner at 6.13-sigma on Mathema
10. Mislav Predavec at 6.13-sigma on Logicaus Strictimanus 24 (LS24)
11. Dr. Christopher Harding/Dr. Christopher Philip Harding at 6.06-sigma on Stanford-Binet
12. Junxie Huang at 6.00+-sigma on FREE FALL (Part II) and at 6.00+-sigma on Challenger
13. Tanxi Yu at 6.00+-sigma on Numerus
14. José González Molinero/Jose Gonzalez Molinero at 6.00+-sigma on FREE FALL (Part II)
15. Matthew Scillitani at 6.00-sigma on Psychometric Qrosswords
16. Mahir Wu at 6.00-sigma on Silent Numbers
17. Kenneth Ferrell at 6.00-sigma on Hieroglyphica
18. Dany Provost at 6.00-sigma on PIGS1°
19. Wen-Chin Sui at 6.00-sigma on Numerus Classic
20. Marios Prodromou at 6.00-sigma on MACH
21. Thansie Yu at 6.00-sigma on N-World
22. Dong Kha Cuong/Cường Đồng at 6.00-sigma on Numerus
23. Thomas R. A. Wolf at or above 6.00-sigma (no test named)
24. Andrea Gunnarsson at or above 6.00-sigma (no test named)
25. Scott Ben Durgin at or above 6.00-sigma (no test named)
26. Rolf Mifflin at or above 6.00-sigma (no test named)
27. Paul Johns at or above 6.00-sigma (no test named)
28. Christopher Harding at or above 6.00-sigma (no test named)
29. Kevin Langdon at or above 6.00-sigma (no test named)
    
30. Photo by Enric Moreu on Unsplash

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/21

What is honour? Pakistan has the highest number of honour killings of any nation-state in the entire world. Is this an honourable state of affairs for the State?

In Pakistan, most appear to be women; women are murdered for dishonouring the family honour more than men in Pakistan. Is this honouring women?

Gulalai Ismail fled from Pakistan because of the impacts on her from the military forces and the theocratic control mechanisms, so a dual network of control in which a women’s rights defender had to flee. Her and her sister, Saba Ismail, have been highly important to articulating the rights of women and girls. Is this an honourable set of systems for governance?

They spoke to Pashtun rights; they spoke to rights of women survivors of sexual violence by state forces. That’s religious and armed forces oppressing and threatening the lives of family and individual women for arguing for the equal status of women. Is this reflective of an honourable religious leadership and armed forces?

I see nothing honourable in trying to kill, scare, or imprison, individuals who fight for equality, justice, and fairness. Nothing is new in Pakistan in regard to this. What about actual murders? Are these honourable? In fact, are these common or uncommon?

‘Qandeel Baloch’/Fouzia Azeem was murdered by her brother, M. Waseem, via drugging and asphyxiation for bringing disrepute to the family’s honour.

Ayman Udas was shot by two of her brothers.

Tasleem Khatoon Solangi was tortured and killed.

Three teens and two middle-aged women were beaten, shot, and buried alive in Balochistan in 2008.

Farzana Iqbal, née Parveen, was shot to death.

Saba Qaiser was beaten and shot in the head, though amazingly survived.

Samia Shahid was raped and strangled to death.

A Pakistani mother has burned her daughter alive.

Rozi Khan and Zainab Khan were shot; in fact, Rozi was shot to death.

In 2018, a 19-year-old woman was murdered in Karachi, Pakistan, and claimed as a “sinful woman.”

Shafilea Iftikhar Ahmed was murdered for becoming too westernized.

Sandeela Kanwal was murdered by her father.

Ghazala Khan was shot and killed by her brother.

Rukhsana Naz was murdered by family members.

Aqsa Parvez was murdered by her father, via strangulation.

Hina Saleem was murdered by her father slitting her throat 28 times.

Sadia Sheikh was shot to death by her brother.

The Kohistan video showed, at least, three girls murdered.

Samia Sarwar was shot to death.

What is honourable in these acts? Is the goal to make women’s rights defenders, such as Gulalai Ismail and Saba Ismail, or simply women and men making free and personally informed choices, subject to threat & fear of murder by close family – including father, mother, or brother – or the State?

Blasphemy is similar to these cases in the illegitimate use of force and threat of murder against innocent people who merely use words or make free choices in expression, similarly as women and men make free choices stated as dishonouring the family or otherwise.

‘Ayaz Nizami’/Abdul Waheed has received the death penalty for blasphemy, for words, as an example.

A god, Allah, infinitely powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, cannot carry out these acts for him, requires state apparatuses, religious fundamentalists, military personnel, and public conscience incapable of handling criticism, free women, or the mere existence of atheists in their midst. “But why go public with the words?”

Fair enough, some can live freely expressing opinions and others cannot. Inherently hypocritical, but open and honest in it, “But isn’t this all in the past?” Not truly, Abdul Waheed’s case is happening now.

Taimoor Raza was sentenced to death for ‘committing blasphemy’ on Facebook within the last little while.

80 people are imprisoned for blasphemy right now: Abdul Waheed is the most notable case as a public agnostic/atheist. Half of the 80, at least, have been sentenced to death, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The honour killings have been happening over the past two decades or so, in and out of Pakistan for those with Pakistani heritage – probably longer. It’s the culture of family honour entrenched as a mechanism to murder dissenters, exported or kept internal to the country, which is the issue.

Even recently, Aneeqa Ateeq, she was lured into a religious discussion group on WhatsApp and made comments about ‘holy personages,’ obviously critical. She has been sentenced to death.

So, I, and countless others like me, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, ask, “What is the honour here?”

What is honourable in killing others by the State, by religious dictates, by armed forces, by family (father, mother, or brother), or otherwise?

Did not the Quran state, “Therefore We ordained for the Children of Israel that he who slays a soul unless it be (in punishment) for murder or for spreading mischief on earth shall be as if he had slain all mankind; and he who saves a life shall be as if he had given life to all mankind.”? [Surah Al-Ma’idah Ayat 32 (5:32 Quran)]

If one praises the murderers, one praises those whom The Holy Quran claims have “slain all mankind.” You make the vote when you pick the side – and apathy is picking the side of the murderer, too, in many ways, passively, because a human being’s life has been taken wrongfully.

Blasphemy or dishonour to family, murder is murder and is a dishonourable act; and, indeed, we all know this, but, sometimes, act otherwise, and will continue to do so, I presume to the deaf to the message of this article or the blind to the meaning of its intent: Universalism for all humanity.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/21

Long fore-running the days of all the major visitation spots in British Columbia, before the time of the founding of Canada on July 1, 1867, prior to the foundation of Fort Langley (though concomitant with it, later), definitively before the title of “Fort Langley National Historical Site of Canada,” or the places of art and the galleries[1], the accommodations[2], the restaurants[3], the businesses dealing in finance and real estate[4], the floral and bridal and antique shops[5], the gift and health & beauty shops[6], visitation spots and services[7], or any of the local community groups and activities and events and items[8], or the introduction of highly educated and well-to-do Evangelical Christians throughout the area from Trinity Western University, the fights at the Supreme Court of Canada for the Evangelical law school, the infamous artist and developer fights[9], or the civic debates of the Township of Langley Cllrs.[10], or such inane, and banal and almost pointless, meanderings as written by the current author on the subject(s) surrounding Fort Langley[11], there existed one individual by the name of Jim Douglas, or Sir James Douglas, KCB[12] (no known relation).*[13] A man whose life seems more titivating with nuance added to the story, small enhancements made clear, while learning more about him: Mr. Mix-A-Lot.

So many parties wish to lay claim to the titular ownership of “Fort Langley National Historic Site of Canada,” only a few wish to understand without claiming it. There’s a vast gulf between the former and the latter only learned through hard experience and conversations with the peoples of the area, settler or not. Douglas was the Governor of British Columbia 1858–1864 and of Vancouver Island 1851 to 1864. He did not start here. Born August 15th, 1803, in Demerara, Guyana (formerly British Guiana), his legacy between and death — on August 2nd, 1877 — remains the founding of British Columbia or, more colloquially, as “The Father of British Columbia.” Neither a minor figure in the community village nor in the provincial history, he set the tone and calibre of the attractiveness of the colonial outposts here. He assisted the Hudson Bay Company acquire a trade monopoly in the Pacific Northwest, as the Chief Factor of HBC from 1839 to 1858. He helped establish British rule west of the Rocky Mountains as the governor of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. A part of this had to do with the negotiation of land purchases with the First Nations. His career took him through the Fraser River Gold Rush, Cariboo Gold Rush, and the Fraser Canyon War.

Guyana, at the time of his birth, was a Dutch colony. His father, John Douglas, owned a cotton and sugar plantation in Demerara. John was a Scottish Merchant who came from the Earls of Angus. One of the oldest of the known mormaerdoms, regional/provincial rulers. His mother, Martha Ann Ritchie, was born in Bardados as a free woman of colour. ‘Person of colour’ referred to someone of mixed African and European heritage. In other words, a non-enslaved mixed ‘race’ woman. Martha met John while he was on the plantation business. They never married and had three children with John returning to Scotland, and who married in 1809 to begin anew with another family. Sir James Douglas — a man of mixed ‘race’ or ethnic heritage — and his brother, Alexander Douglas, were sent to Lanark, Scotland, to become educated. James never went back to Demerara and never saw his mother again — such were the times. They had three children together, though they never married. John Douglas returned to Scotland, where he married in 1809 and started a second family.

With the North West Company or the NWC, (Sir James) Douglas was 15 when he became a part of the working staff. He apprenticed with them, then sailed to Montreal, so was working in the fur trade learning its accounting practices. There was a period of intense competition between the NWC and the Hudson Bay Company or the HBC at the time. It was a mostly economic battle between trade giants. Douglas was caught in this as a teenager. Apparently, in 1820, he fought an HBC guide, Patrick Cunningham, in a bloodless duel. When the NWC merged with the HBC, Douglas became employed by the HBC. The HBC won the economic war. His first posting was in 1826 at Fort St. James in the mainland of modern British Columbia. Chief Factor, William Connolly, requested Douglas to become part of the overland fur brigade at Fort Alexandria to Fort Vancouver. Such as the times were, Douglas, in fact, married Connolly’s daughter, Amelia. Now, bearing in mind, Douglas comes from a mixed-race mother or free woman of colour and a Scottish father; Amelia’s mother was Cree. Ergo, a mixed ethnic background — First Nations and European — wife, Amelia, and mixed Guyanese and Scottish husband, James (Douglas), for a mixed ethnic coupling.

Which is to say, taking a moment to opine, even for today, this retains a character of the revolutionary to it. In that, even within the modern discourse of inter-ethnic couples, striving new paths and creating bridges in Afro-Canadian and Indigenous lives, Douglas simply did it. He did more, talked less. Amelia and James married on April 27th, 1828, and, again, at an Anglican ceremony in Fort Vancouver (1837). Something of a renewal of vows, presumably, and a sacralization of the union under the auspices of the Anglican Church. Within Fort Vancouver, Chief Factor John McLoughlin was the boss of Douglas, while Douglas was the superintendent of Columbia District fur trade for two decades. Douglas went to Alaska in 1840 to negotiate trade/boundary deals with the Russian American Company. Much of Douglas’s efforts vis-à-vis trade and boundary building appears part of a local effort against international efforts, including the Russians, though more acutely the Americans, with an increase in the American influence on the Pacific Northwest, Douglas started the construction of Fort Victoria (1843). Circa 1846, British North America in the West and the United States had a border set at the 49th parallel based on the Oregon Treaty (June 15th, 1846). Originally, the land was jointly held by the Americans and the British through the 1818 Treaty. This was monumental to British-American relations. The HBC moved from Fort Vancouver, presumably as a response. Douglas began a new fur brigade from Fort Langley to New Caledonia, then Fort Victoria became the place for furs shipped from the interior for the HBC.

With the continued threat of American expansionism, Vancouver Island was made a Crown colony (January 13th, 1849). Douglas was appointed an agent for the HBC on the island. Interestingly, in a twist of finance and trade overruling political power, Richard Blanshard was chosen by the British government as the governor; however, as it turns out, Blanshard found most of the associations were held in the hands of the HBC with the individual British colonists mostly associated with the HBC and power invested in the chief factor of the HBC — by that time, James Douglas, himself. In short, he chose to resign and leave Vancouver Island (August, 1851). ‘Why bother?,’ in other words. On October 30th, 1851, Sir James Douglas was selected as governor. In association with the HBC and while the governor, he was criticized for a conflict of interest. Even further, and not to his credit, Douglas appointed his brother-in-law as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the time. Circa 1856, Douglas was — by definition — elitist in considering people wanting the rule classes to make the decisions for them. Sort of, ‘Get them, the fray, out of our hair, and let us get one with making the important decisions,’ as the attitude, that’s astonishing for someone of mixed ethnic heritage from Demerara. When making a legislative assembly — based on a request from the Colonial Office, Douglas put property qualifications on the right to vote. In other words, only a few could count for membership in the assembly: land-owners versus the rest, in short. Sir James Douglas was not democratic; he was anti-democracy, or a timocratist erring more on land-ownership side rather than the inherent sense of honour. In ironic fashion, we, in modern democratic Canada, honour Sir James Douglas, the timocrat who opposed universal suffrage.[14]

Between 1850 and 1854, Douglas negotiated land treaties with First Nations on Vancouver Island. 14 in total. The Fort Victoria Treaties or Douglas Treaties were cash, clothing, blankets, hunting and fishing rights, etc., in barter for land. In traditional colonial fashion, Douglas left the terms of the agreements blank at the time of the signing. So, the clauses were added at a later time. Is anyone else seeing a problem here? Douglas, in this wrinkle, too, was not a saint; he was through-and-through a settler in mind. Some oral history from the Indigenous claim the signatories — the Indigenous signatories — thought the signings were land sharing deals or peace signings, so sharing and not ceding land. Do you see the issue? The X signed looked like the Christian symbol of the cross, so a spiritual gesture — not the proverbial John Handcock, and so on and so forth. With the coming of Americans from California, too, during the Fraser River Gold Rush, the numbers of Americans to British subjects began to swell. So as to protect the land for the Crown (the British rulers), Douglas claimed the land and minerals for them. Licenses were given to miners to prevent invasion. This was seen as an attempt to keep HBC monopolization. He was reprimanded by the Colonial Office.

Douglas was a completely sympathetic individual to the British. He was a loyalist. Even so far as to go to the San Francisco Black community to find migrants sympathetic to the Crown, the issue was the increasing numbers of American migrants coming to the areas around Douglas without necessary identity links to Britain. Since the United States Supreme Court declared free and enslaved Black Americans unable to acquire citizenship in 1857, Douglas, ever the man looking for opportunities, offered citizenship after 5 years of land ownership. A few hundred Black American families moved to the colony in Victoria. In some ways, one can ask, “Is this good or bad?” It was politically opportunistic in service to the British; it was socially beneficial in giving the disenfranchisemed some modicum of enfranchisement. It depends on the aperture and the angle of the lighting.

Nlaka’pamux communities were the Indigenous communities along the Fraser River. Douglas worried of bloodshed between the Nlaka’pamux and the American miners, and warned the British who could not respond in time. American miners came and reached the lower Fraser River. Sexual violence was reported to happen against the Nlaka’pamux women. Gold was mined without Nlaka’pamux communities’ consultation. Nlaka’pamux fishing was interrupted. Nlaka’pamux communities armed to protect themselves, some of them. Douglas ordered one gunboat on the Fraser River and wanted licenses from miners who went to find gold. Having no army, so no force, and asking for help from the British, the British responded to the plea for help: Staking a claim to the Fraser River as part of the Crown. Alas, August, 1858 found Nlaka’pamux communities and the miners at war. Some 36 people (5 chiefs) were murdered, 3 were imprisoned, and unknown others were wounded. 5 Nlaka’pamux communities were burned down by the miners. By August 22nd, a truce was set. Comically, Douglas arrived with 35 armed men from the British government, though the fighting had ended by that point — fruitless pursuit of peace when a truce has been brokered.

Gold changes everything. Britain chose to remove the HBC privileges during March of 1859 with the discovery of gold. Douglas was made governor of British Columbia while on condition of no more ties to the fur trade industry. Although, governor of Vancouver Island at the time. He was inaugurated as governor of British Columbia in — of all places — Fort Langley, then made Companion of the Order of the Bath for work as governor on Vancouver Island. Fort Langley almost became the first capital of British Columbia. On January 6th, 1859, Royal Engineer Commanding Officer Colonel Richard Clement Moody went by Fort Langley en route to Yale. After visitation of the site, he decided a better place would be New Westminster, which became the first capital of British Columbia. With 1866 came the merger of the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, thereafter, Victoria became the capital of British Columbia. Douglas focused on the welfare of miners and setting reserves, via gold commissioners, for the Indigenous peoples. He, probably, didn’t want a repeat of war, as before, and worked on a land policy inclusive of mineral rights. In 1860, British Columbians wanted a form of popular government. He had to be confronted by the citizens, in other words. Whatever the response, the citizens were not happy with Douglas’s response to them. They petitioned the London Colonial Office in 1863. Douglas, subsequently, retired in 1864; these petitioners may or may not have influenced the decision. He was given the title of “Sir” as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, thusly came to be known — to the plains-folk of the land of Fort Langley — as Sir James Douglas of Douglas Day fame. He died of a heart attack on August 2nd, 1877, incidentally the informal birth date of In-Sight Publishing (2012). All information above is publicly available on the “Father of British Columbia.” A governor, a chief factor, a British loyalist or someone tied deeply to the Crown, a latecomer to war needs, a diplomat knowing the influence of material goods to keep communities at peace, a mixed-ethnicity man (European and Guyanese) married to a mixed-ethnicity woman (First Nations and European) in an inter-ethnic union, someone opposed to popular democracy in favour of a form of ‘democracy’ more closely resembling timocracy or rulership by those who own land. Neither entirely evil nor wholly good, a mixed man of mixed heritage with mixed morals leaving a mixed legacy as “The Father of British Columbia.”

[1] Gallery 204, Kube Gallery, Berga Gallery, Barbara Boldt Studio, Jelly Digital Marketing, Fort Photo Images, Photography Elements, Fort Gallery Artists Collective, Fort Langley Artists Group, Elaine Brewer White Studio, The Neighborhood Art School, FREE iWork PAGES Templates, Old Dog Dons ~ Fort Sketches, Van Gogh Painting & Restoration, K’wy’i’y’e Spring Salmon Studio, Susan Galick Fine Art Studio, The Pencil Studio, Artist Linda Muttitt, and Susan Falk — Artist.

[2] Wisteria House in the Fort, Cranberry Country Inn B&B, Princess & the Pea B&B Langley, Fort Langley Camping, Vacation rental management, Lifty Life Hospitality.

[3] Trading Post Brewing Taphouse & Eatery, The Fort Pub & Grill, Wendel’s Books and Cafe, Mangia E Scappa Italian Foods, Seasons Fine Supplements & Juice Bar, lelem’ Arts & Cultural Cafe, Little Donkey Food & Drink, Rail and River Bistro, Saba Café & Bistro, Republica Roasters, Blacksmith Bakery, Beatniks Bistro, Planet 50’s Cafe, Into Chocolate, The Fort Wine Co., Bobs Growcery (Veggie Bob’s Kitchen Café), Lee’s Market, and Subway.

[4] RE/MAX Award Winning Service, Royal LePage Sterling, RE/MAX — Dean Hooseman, RE/MAX — Gloria McGalliard, Royale LePage- Lisa Bakx, Mortgage Professional Nadia Causley, Ivory Accounting and Advisory Services (formerly de Verteuil & Company), Coast Capital Savings — Fort Langley, Ivory Planning Group, Stocking & Cumming, CA, The Paper Clip Bookkeeping, and Nadia ~ Mortgage Services, Stocking & Cumming — CPA, Business Accounting Langley.

[5] Floralista Flower Studio, Niche Boutique Florals, Ivory Bridal — Dresses, Fort Lang Foto, Country Lane Antiques, and Rempel Mercantile.

[6] The Fort Finery, Gallery Beads and Gifts, Chuckling Duckling Farm, Peridot Decorative Homewear, Floralista Flower Design Studio, Blueberry Meadows Interiors, Sxwimela Boutique and Giftstore, Watermelon Tree Baby & Kids, Kizmit Gift Gallery, Bella & Wren Design, Treasure Landing, Fort Langley Cyclery, The Fort Finery, Cranberries Naturally, Floralista Flower Studio, The Happy Kitchen, Aimee B Clothing And Accessories, Pacific Bottleworks Company, DDBooski Clothing, Dove Coterie, A Quilted Stitch, Bagheera Boutique, Roxanns Hats, Diana’s Sheepskins & Gifts, Roxanns of Fort Langley, Aimee B Clothing, I.D. Salon, SuCasa Spa & Laser Hair Removal, ThriveLife Counselling & Wellness, Pharmasave Fort Langley, Incrediball — The Core Store, Fort Langley Dental Office, Fort Family Chiropractic, Evergreen Chiropractic, Fort Physio Clinic, Fort Sport and Family Physio, Health Roots & Reflexology, Hardman Acupuncturist & TCM, Fort Langley Massage Therapy, TAP True Aromatherapy Products, Integrated Health Clinic, Fort Langley Colonics, Rees Personal Training, ID Hair Salon, TinyKittens Society, and Fort Langley Colonics.

[7] Fort Langley Community Hall, Fort Langley Spirit Square, B.C. Farm Machinery Museum, Langley Centennial Museum, Heritage C.N. Rail Station, Fort Langley Firehall #2, Fort Langley Golf Course, Redwoods Golf Course, Pagoda Ridge Golf Course, Double Header Sport Fishing, Fort Langley Air Floatplane Tours, Mountain View Conservation Centre, Park Lane ~ Bedford Landing, Dogwood Christmas Tree Farm, Trinity Western University, Fort Langley Evangelical Free Church, Living Waters Church, Fraser Point Church — Meeting Place, St George’s Anglican Church, United Churches of Langley — St. Andrew’s Chapel, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Fraser Point Church Offices, Jubilee Church, and Fellowship Pacific, Brae Island Regional Park, Fort Langley Cemetery, Fort Langley Veterinary Clinic, Waldo & Tubbs Pet Supplies, Strands Bead Company, Spacial Effects Design Inc., Thunderbird Show Park, Dogwood Christmas Tree Farm, Devry Greenhouses, Cedar Rim Nursery, Krause Berry Farms, Driediger Farms, Fort Langley Dental Office, Fort Langley Locksmith, Expedia Cruise Ship Center, Goretti Faria — Family Therapy, Fort Langley Childcare, Fort Langley Web Design, Paper Clip Bookeeping, Stirling Noyes | Design and Marketing, Maven Fort Langley, Fort Horseless Carriage Service Ltd., Spacial Effects Design Inc., Custom Line Homes, Coast Pro Contracting, Site Lines Architecture, Special Effects Interior Design, Fort Fabrication and Welding Ltd., Fort Langley Lumber, Cassian Contracting, B&D Excavating, Local Musician John Gilliat, Heritage Music School, Red Stone Alley Blues Band, Cascades Casino, and Krazy Bobs Music Emporium.

[8] Seyem’ Qwantlen Business Group, Fort Langley Youth Rowing Society, Fort Langley Community Rowing Club, Fort Langley Canoe Club, History of Fort Langley, History of the Albion Ferry, Langley Weavers and Spinners Guild, Biodegradeables ~ Organic Recycling, Eric Woodward Foundation, The Fort Langley Project, Fort Langley Community Association, Langley Heritage Association, Fort Langley BIA (Dissolved), Fort Langley Canoe Club, Fort Langley Canoe Club Paddle Pushers, Fort Langley Canoe Club Sun Dragons, Fort Langley Canoe Club Fraser Dragons, Fort Langley Canoe Club Spirit of a Renegade, Fort Langley Canoe Club Dragon Spirit, Fort Langley Canoe Club Dragon Alliance, Fort Langley Canoe Club Women on Water, Fort Langley Canoe Club Chicks Ahoy, Fort Langley Canoe Club Kindred Spirits, Fort Langley Canoe Club Fort Fusion, Fort Langley Canoe Club Fortified, Fort Langley Canoe Club Vikings, Fort Langley Canoe Club Fort Fury, and Fort Langley Canoe Club Abreast with Fortitude, Fort Langley Canoe Club Dragonflies, Fort Langley Canoe Club — Kayak, Cranberry Festival, Bloom Designer Market, Fort Langley Mayday Parade, Historic Fort Half Marathon, St. George’s British Motoring Show, Fort Langley Celebration of the Arts, Chief Sepass Theatre, Fort Langley Farmer’s Market, The Fort Wine Company, Circle Farm Self Guided Tours, Double Header Sport Fishing, and, formerly, the Albion Ferry (before 2010).

[9] In the recent years, the infamous fights happened between prominent Kwelexwelsten, Kwantlen First Nation artist, Brandon Gabriel (Brandon Gabriel-Kwelexwecten) — and owner of Well Seasoned gourmet foods inc. (2004-) and former Township of Langley Cllr. (2014–2018), Angie Quaale — and developer and Cllr. Eric Woodward.

[10] Mayor Jack Froese, Councillor Petrina Arnason, Councillor David Davis, Councillor Steve Ferguson, Councillor Margaret Kunst, Councillor Bob Long, Councillor Kim Richter, Councillor Blair Whitmarsh, and Councillor Eric Woodward.

[11] “Addendum on Wagner Hills Farm Society/Ministries,” “Municipal Case Study: British Columbia and Permissive Tax Exemptions,” “Suffering’s Fortress — Not Bad or Lost People, But Bad and Lost Theology,” “The Fantastic Capacity for Believing the Incredible,” “The Message of William Marrion Branham: Responses Commentary,” “Freethought for the Small Towns: Case Study,” and “Canadians’ and Others’ Convictions to Divine Interventionism in the Matters of the Origins and Evolution.”

[12] Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

[13] All hyperlinks and publicly acquired information available here.

[14] Fort Langley celebrates Douglas Day in honour of Sir James Douglas.

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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

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© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/13

Canadians, based on research published as recently as March, 2021, disaffirm or reject non-scientific ideas or mythologies posed as literal truths vis-à-vis biology. Most Canadians – 57% – affirm “human beings evolved from less advanced forms of life over millions of years.”

This statement exemplifies a scientifically educated and empirically healthy country. The education system has worked, especially when compared to most other countries in the world – even if simply moving across the Southern border.

However, or “but,” the social and political fight will continue with the fervently religious – mostly, except for David Berlinski – wanting to introduce creationism into the formal curriculum of the young.

Duly note, for those without a basic knowledge of scientific principles or modern scientific processes, none of this has gone through rigorous peer-review at highly educated and qualified levels. Even if so, not in a standard sense, it’s problematic.

Apparently, the spread of misinformed views has continued more into the general public, not on the scientific facts ground, more on the teaching grounds. Over the past two or so years, Canadians have incrementally moved towards wanting creationism taught in school. So, they don’t believe in it, mostly, but want it taught in the schools, generally.

The original idea behind Intelligent Design and creationism was precisely this wish – to innervate the school systems without scientific evidence, but with religious ideology. There were a large number of court cases in the United States defending scientific education in the biology classes.

It is theology masquerading as science. This has always been the case, including the most glaring case with the “Wedge Strategy” made public, which was a political and social action plan of the Discovery Institute. One is reminded of the failed International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design (ISCID) and defunctProgress in Complexity, Information, and Design.

If the world denies the reality of their reality, then they simply move to create a blanket of make-believe. This is theocratic activity and intent. No doubt about it. Canadians must remain vigilant against it.

According to the reliable national survey, 44% of Canadians consider divine creation of live and the universe worth teaching in the school curriculum. This makes sense if a comparative religions course, and divine creation of the universe has no place in an astronomy or a biology class. The 44% is up six points from November 2019 with a similar survey.

However, 34% of Canadians would not allow teachers to discuss creationism, while 23% are unsure. The support for the inclusion of creationism is unsurprisingly high in Alberta at 53%, surprisingly in Quebec at 50%, unsurprisingly among those without much historical context in general with those aged 18 to 34 at 51%, and among men at 46%. So, women, the old, and every other province get the idea.

Mario Canseco, President of Research Co., said, “A majority of Canadians who identify as Christians (55%) are in favour of the teaching of creationism in Canada’s schools… The proportion drops dramatically among those who have no religion (22%), agnostics (15%) and atheists (12%).”

Creationism has its highest belief in Alberta at 36%, Atlantic Canada at 33%. Then it begins to normalize to national levels in Manitoba at 26%, Quebec at 25%, Ontario at 24%, and British Columbia at 22%.

The fight against theocratic incursions and ignorance continues in Canada, too.

With files from ResearchCo

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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

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© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/13

From the belief in prayers as an efficacious form of solving infection of a virus or other physical ailments to the active social and political efforts to ram creationism down the public’s throat — primarily done through the churches and creation science organizations in the country, not all religions, honestly, mostly some of the more hardcore Christian religion in Canadian society retains a highly negative impact on all of us.

It becomes particularly pronounced in the midst of pandemic circumstances when ignorant and faith-based lack of caution create havoc for the rest of the population. If death or injurious health by the coronavirus is the personal wish, then this can a respected freedom; however, the harm to others by engagement in public activities becomes another matter entirely. Something of concern to all Canadians, including other Christians who regard scientific knowledge with a modicum of respect.

Read the headlines, examine the articles, look at the criminal cases having to be launched against communities and religious leaders, these are almost always Christian in this country. It’s shameful immorality and proud ignorance on the march to kill and harm themselves and others.

The virus doesn’t care about how many times, “Hail Mary,” is said with sincere faith. It doesn’t care about the prayers, about church service, about the Bible, even about Jesus. Your fellow Canadians care. Because you’re harming yourselves, dutifully without care, and others, unfortunately. Words are cheap in pandemics.

“Sorry,” doesn’t cut it. “Sorry,” doesn’t bring back the dead or return an individual to relative lifelong optimal health. You’re at fault and should be legally and financially liable, for one, and are being lambasted and shamed publicly, for two (rightfully).

A case in point within the most recent news, a church in Courtenay had a retreat, Consumed Youth Conference. It happened between November 19 and 21 at Northgate Church. 350 kids from Grades 6 to 12. One mother Jessica Livingstone, from Campbell River, spoke out about it. Same with Stephani Hyde who has been “indirectly impacted” by the event based on 15 exposures at her daughter’s school with some linked to the event.

Livingstone said, after having seen a video of event, “There are no masks. There are no hand-washing stations. There was no social distancing. You know it was just a bunch of youth and adults basically in a Petri dish.”

“I’ve had to keep my children home from school for the last two weeks and home school them,” Hyde said.

Hyde believes the church owes the community an apology.

It doesn’t seem to cut it, honestly. Religions are given undue privileges in this country, especially the Christian religion. This can be seen with religious exemptions, which become a sort of loop hole for public image managers of the churches.

For example, Northgate Church’s communications manager, Matt Morrison, said, “At the time, the public health order was that this would fall into the religious exemption order, which meant no vaccine mandates were required and there were no capacity limits.”

This is the problem. The churches and said church communities, in general, play, by a first-order set of rules excluding them from restrictions and requirements in a pandemic required of others at different times and places in the country. Why? Then there’s the crocodile tears apology, always.

The church posted a statement on the website, saying, in part, “There is a lot of disappointment across the valley and so for any part that Northgate might have played in that we want you to know we’re truly sorry.”

Your young, and others, were unduly affected by your irresponsibility. It carries the same insincerity in its predictability of image management as, ‘Super sorry ‘bout that, bro.’

“Sorry,” doesn’t cut it. Canadians should re-examine the role of religions in Canadian society when coming into conflict with obvious knowns about science and public health.

It has been continually like this within pandemic contexts, but it has a long history.

With files from ChekNews

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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/11

So, you want to be an independent journalist. First lesson: Take a different point of view.

As an independent journalist living in North America, the social and political contexts, and the historical life, of an environment affect you. The narratives can come forward at seemingly random times and different opinions about events become apparent, as opinions are like cells; everyone has them.

As frequent readers of materials in a wide range of content on most continents, excluding Antarctica, by me will gather, I live in a small town called Fort Langley in the Township of Langley known for a fundamentalist Christian community.

When doing field work, I can take different points of view into account. While doing so, these can come into casual conversations. These can be formal dialogues. These can exist as informal, off-the-record discussions over food with members of community.

Trinity Western University is the most prominent university in Canada for private universities, for Christian universities, for Evangelicals. A university with a student population larger than the local community. In this context, it becomes important to analyze.

Examine the fundaments, the basics of the theological community. A community of religious individuals devout, worshipful, Evangelical, and divinely inspired by their theity, Christ Almighty as declared in the Bible. Those in whom “pretty childish” myths — to quote Albert Einstein — are taken as literal truths upon which to live one’s life. Thusly, a community of pretty childish moral stories and, therefore, morality.

At one point, a community covenant was mandatory for all faculty, staff, administration… and students.

In 2018, unfortunate — for them, they lost 7–2 in a nationally infamous court case at the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court of Canada. Upon failing to achieve law school status, they removed mandatory status of the Community Covenant. However, this was only for students, not staff, faculty, or administration.

In this sense, they didn’t remove the authority structure upon which the Community Covenant could be enforced; the students are awash in a theology against homosexual unions with only an affirmation of heterosexual unions, which was the — ahem — crux of the issue for them.

Now, the moral of the story is the morals; they aren’t truly there. In fact, as with the longest-standing president of any Canadian university, of any type, in Canadian history, there was a controversial case. It was former TWU president Neil Snider acting as president for over 30 years and then receiving — well before MeToo — a sexual harassment claim.

In the 2000s, a former employee made a formal sexual harassment complaint against Snider. The former employee did this through the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. The student newspaper, at the time, claimed the charge was not only against Snider, but also against the university, as a whole, for failing to respond “adequately” to the filing.

Now, bear in mind, Snider lead the university from a few hundred to several thousand students. The complaint was dropped with some promises of changes to the internal systems. Now, the moral of the story isn’t the morals here. Although, the hypocrisy is glaring because this starts with the presumably highest moral exemplar within the university at the time.

In some field work, I have come across some different views on this case. Some students, probably a lot, have zero idea about this case. One current member on the pay roll stated anonymously, ‘Snider was a sexual predator.’ Another former member who knew him noted how his wife or partner had died. They went into a long harangue about the difficulties of it — no doubt. Also, no doubt excuse-making about to ensue. They claimed, “He was lonely.”

A lonely man, therefore, unimpeachable; this gives a sense of the contexts in which authority and theology combine to create a veil of excusing the inexcusable at a postsecondary institution proclaiming itself living in the image of Christ. I don’t recall that parable.

In journalism, the different points of view can give light into the statistical perspectival imagination of a community or present glaring hypocrisies in the midst of obvious truisms. If you wish to pursue a life in independent journalism, you will have more freedom of expression and more consequences; however, often, this will make your path an alone one, assiduous, and finding challenge in challenging centers of unjustifiable power.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/01/07

Yahya Ekhou is a human rights activist and writer from Mauritania. He earned a master’s degree in NGO Management. He founded and is the President of the Network of Liberals in Mauritania. As well, he is the head of the Estidama Foundation for NGO Capacity Building in Mauritania. Some distinctions include winning the 2017 Arab Youth Excellence Award presented in Cairo, Egypt, by the League of Arab States and the Arab Youth Council. He frequents international conferences. His autobiography will be published this year under the title Free People Cannot Be Tamed.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is the background narrative in freethought for you?

Yahya Ekhou: Free thought for me is to have the right to express my convictions freely and to correct the notion that atheism is a disease or mental deformity that must be cured.

What I believe is unbelief.

Atheism is an instinct.

Jacobsen: How did your scope of the world and critical thinking widen over time in earlier life?

Ekhou: I belong to a very religious family and have studied the Qur’an and Islamic law. The front of the mosque answered me, go pray and do not ask such questions again.

This answer was the beginning of the research journey, the more you delve into the research, new questions appear.

Do religions unite us or divide us?

All religions say that religion unites people.

But the truth is that it unites believers only.

As for the unbelievers, they are the misguided unbelievers, etc.

They must be cursed and hated because they are infidels.

Until I got to Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion

This book has been instrumental in answering many of my questions

The internet really helped me find information

Because there is a severe censorship of information and books in Mauritania.

Jacobsen: What happened to your nationality? Why? How common is this?

Ekhou: Mauritania has the toughest blasphemy law in the world.

Whereas Article 5 of the Mauritanian constitution states that “Islam is the religion of the state and the people,” which means non-Muslims have neither rights nor citizenship, as it is an Islamic republic like Iran and Afghanistan.

Also, Article 306 of the Mauritanian Penal Code states that “Whoever changes or changes his religion shall be killed and shall not be repented.”

Anyone who leaves Islam will move.

A religious fatwa was issued to kill me, and as a result, demonstrations took place in Mauritania calling for my killing, after I wrote an article on Facebook entitled “Why does God not protect the believers in Him?”

An international arrest warrant was issued against me to take me back to Mauritania.

In addition, my Mauritanian citizenship was revoked.

Revocation of citizenship is a type of repression and silencing of various voices demanding equal citizenship rights that are not linked to belief.

With all this, there is a major international media blackout on what is happening inside Mauritania, for several purely economic reasons.

He cares more about the power of the state than the person.

The type of nationality you hold will determine the degree of attention you will receive from the international media and international organizations.

The interest in Iran and Saudi Arabia can be summed up in one word, “oil.”

Jacobsen: What is the state of Mauritania for ex-Muslims now?

Ekhou: Ex-Muslims live in a very miserable situation, as there are many of them in prisons, and many have been executed.

In the shadow of international silence, because as you know, no one knows anything about Mauritania or cares about it because it is not the focus of the world’s attention economically, culturally or politically.

Jacobsen: As you became an atheist, what were some of the consequences in social and professional life? Did this impact life with family?

Ekhou: The social system in Mauritania is a tribal system, and I belong to one of the largest tribes, the “Tijkant” tribe, which leads the religious trend in Mauritania.

And for this reason, my family tried to kill me and disavowed me. It also tried to kill my sister because she supported me and she is now residing in Egypt.

Now I don’t have any contact with my family.

One of the harshest consequences is that the social institution made up of tribes and state institutions unites, so anyone who criticizes religion or embraces a different ideology or religion or calls for the secularization of the state to eliminate religious laws.

His rights are violated by force of law.

Jacobsen: For the founding of The Liberals Network Mauritania, what is the importance of providing a voice to different, more centrist views, in the midst of a highly conservative Islamic context?

Ekhou: The motive for which I founded this organization is my conviction that rights are not given but taken away.

If you don’t claim your rights, you won’t get them automatically.

Dictatorship societies do not change automatically to democratic societies, for example, Europe is experiencing today’s freedom and rights that thousands of writers, activists and intellectuals paid for with their lives.

I believe in the need to change the situation inside Mauritania for the better.

With the efforts of young people who have become aware that we are in an era that no longer accepts selectivity in giving rights.

Everyone deserves equal citizenship rights, no matter what they believe in. I want Mauritania to be secularized so that the rights are for all.

What I’m trying to do is that it’s not just about what happened to me, but about thousands of activists and young people inside Mauritanian prisons. I’m the only one who has the chance to be the voice of the oppressed inside Mauritania.

I will use my stay in Europe to highlight the situation of freedoms in Mauritania.

The Mauritanians tried to silence me with threats, and even force, only I was subjected to an attempted murder inside Germany.

Because it bothers them to tell the world what is happening inside Mauritania.

Jacobsen: How did you get to Germany?

Ekhou: After my family tried to kill me, I ran out of Mauritania.

It was a long road from Mauritania to Mali, Egypt, then Turkey, and then Germany.

Gaining my freedom wasn’t a path strewn with roses.

Jacobsen: How can individuals or organizations contact you?

Ekhou: I’m looking forward to have contact with any person or organization interested about my story or my country through my personal account on Twitter and Facebook “Yahya Ekhou” or the website of the Liberals Network in Mauritania.

https://liberals-mauritania.org

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Yahya.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/10/08

Christian is a Philosopher that comes from Belgium. What identifies him the most and above all is simplicity, for everything is better with “vanilla ice cream.” Perhaps, for this reason, his intellectual passion is criticism and irony, in the sense of trying to reveal what “hides behind the mask,” and give birth to the true. For him, ignorance and knowledge never “cross paths.” What he likes the most in his leisure time, is to go for a walk with his wife.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Let’s take a step back before the conversation to set a tone, as far as I know, on one of the more established high-IQ rankings, for those who care for such things deeply or have a passing interest, if you parse them, you have the highest mainstream intelligence test extrapolated score at 185+ (S.D. 15) on the WAIS or an IQ test considered, by many, the gold standard at the moment with an accepted verification on a high-IQ ranking. On the alternative tests, Rick Rosner appears to have the most consistent highest rankings on the alternative tests with a large number of scores in the 180s and 190s. The main ranking taken into account: The World Genius Directory. At one slice of time a while ago, all known were examined and presented in some publicly searchable articles. Now, Ashkenazi Jewish heritage individuals, genetically, based on research, seem to have the highest ethnic grouping score. You’re both Jewish. Jewish intellectual achievement seems markedly above the norm of most cultural groups. Intellectual output of note appears much higher on a per capita basis for Jewish heritage peoples with an emphasis on the Ashkenazim out of the Ashkenazim, Ethiopian, Mizrahim, Sephardim, and other Jewish peoples. There’s more to the reasoning. However, this seems like a sliver of the shorthand, to me, especially if you look at the highest scores on alternative tests more closely. This doesn’t negate the impressiveness of all high-scorers’ scores to members of the high-IQ communities who partake of these niche activities and the respect for all individuals by most others within the communities of the high-IQ. Most of the communities may disagree, but respect and provide dignity to one another, while despairing about the state of the high-IQ. Although, whether mainstream tests or alternative tests, there will be some overlapping and other non-overlapping caveats to claims of the highest this-or-that or scores claimed. What does a distinct score on a gold standard test mean to you?

Dr. Christian Sorensen: On the one hand, it means that said score is a fact that certainly represents a higher value than indicated, although it lacks the quantifiable certainty of its limit, and on the other hand, it is a representative-representative, that from the point of view of what a noetic consensus means, constitutes an objective reality.

Jacobsen: How does this impact relations with others in the high-IQ communities?

Sorensen: I think it has a cacophonic effect on their brains, in the sense that it sounds profane to them, and therefore  disrespectful and shocking.

Jacobsen: What is the essence of Jewish intellectual life?

Sorensen: The critical spirit that suppresses the spirit of truth, and in consequence, that eclipses the faith in the name of light.

Jacobsen: Why is Jewish intellectual achievement such a per capita outlier?

Sorensen: Because they’re based on a divergent style of thinking, that is essentially unpredictable, and for this reason, escapes the norm.

Jacobsen: How do different Jewish peoples view one another – listed above, e.g., Ashkenazim, Ethiopian, Mizrahim, Sephardim, and other Jewish peoples?

Sorensen: I would say that more than how the different Jewish peoples see each other, it’s the manner in which  the Ashkenazis perceive the rest, although at the same time  the last prefer not to see the first ones even in paint, who evidently  interpret them  in a derogatory sense, and from this perspective, as intellectually inferior; matter over which their explanations  attribute the cause to ethnic mixtures regarding peoples of Arab and African origin, which subsequently,  are going to  correlate with  lower degrees of cortical thickness evolution at the level of cerebral  functioning.

Jacobsen: What controversies have followed the high intelligence score for you?

Sorensen: It has led me to be the creator of the  reverse attraction law, which  pragmatically speaking, implies being a stone guest wherever I am.

Jacobsen: How have you been followed, studied, and treated as if a laboratory animal growing up and into the present if at all?

Sorensen: With social distancing, due to the risk for the observer of being a victim of cross contamination,  caused by the effects of  subliminal cognitive manipulation,  that could induce on him a loss of behavioral control, and consequently,  lead to an idiopathic existential crisis.

Jacobsen: How does higher intelligence help and hinder intimate relationships?

Sorensen: I would rather say that higher intelligence prevents intimate relationships, because it’s a kind of not exhilarating trait (although my wife thinks otherwise), and  hinders or obstructs these, by  the oversaturation of dissimilar emotional mechanisms.

Jacobsen: What peculiarities of thought come forward earlier in life for you?

Sorensen: The fixed idea around the why of why, accompanied by a feeling of loneliness.

Jacobsen: What patterns of childlike curiosity have continued into the present? 

Sorensen: The feeling of being motivated more by unanswerable questions, than by unquestionable answers.

Jacobsen: One bonus question, how many languages do you know and to what proficiency in each?

Sorensen: Twelve languages, ​​with advance level of proficiency in each of them, although I have a preference in favor of some of these, especially in regards to their  logical structuring over the ones that are essentially analog. The average time it takes me to learn a spoken and written language, without classes, since I have never taken them because they bore   me, and without dedicating myself exclusively to that, is two to three weeks.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Dr. Sorensen. 

Sorensen: The pleasure was mine.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/09

*Interview conducted June 23, 2020.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Okay, so, there was a reckoning with Me Too. It was Time’s Up. It was a whole host of sub-women’s MeToos within that. What are some of the next steps after this?

Rick Rosner: The next steps probably won’t pertain to me two times up as much as other social movements. MeToo is still happening today. Ron Jeremy, the guy who’s been a porn star for 35 or 40 years, was charged with rape. Several prominent people were charged with raping. Danny Masterson, who I think was on That 70s Show, was charged with rape of a Hollywood producer, was charged with close to half a dozen rapes from 2012 to 2014. So, Time’s Up, MeToo will continue. But more people are focused on, right now, fixing the cops. Because we’ve had a number of notorious murders done by cops. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, which may be less familiar to you in Canada, but she’s a woman. And I think in Louisville, Kentucky, where three cops were exercising a no-knock warrant.

And I think they got the wrong house or it was just like a supplementary house. And they busted down the door. And Breonna Taylor’s husband had a gun. And a no-knock warrant means the cops don’t have to identify themselves as cops. So, they just kick in the door. The husband took a shot at them and they shot Breonna Taylor like eight times or eight shots hit her. And one cop has been fired, but no cop has been charged in that. It’s hard. Anyway, these things keep happening. Cops being murderous and cops keep avoiding serious charges after the obvious assassination of largely blameless people. So, that’s the thing that people are looking at right now.

Jacobsen: And we’re dealing with a statistical thing here, too, where there will be some false accusations. There will be a small number, but there will be some.

Rosner: What, against the cops or against people?

Jacobsen: Yes, in either case, whether it’s something like a MeToo, or whether it’s something like cops.

Rosner: Yes, but okay, so, because there are also cops who’ve been killed for no reason, David, I forget his last name. Cops have been killed during these, at least half a dozen cops have been killed. Might be much higher than that, like 20. I haven’t looked it up lately. Cops who are killed during the protests, rioting.

Jacobsen: And we go to the original question theme. Excuse me.

Rosner: Hold on. One more thing, which is, black people are more than two times as likely to be killed by cops than non-black people. So, that’s that, anyway, go back to your original question.

Jacobsen: Sure. I look at the statistics. I wanted to look for boring bureaucrat, official sources. And the ones that came up were the FBI and the Home Office of the U.K. I believe the research was done independently. I know the Home Office in the UK used a thousand or two thousand cases for this research.

Rosner: Which statistics? Statistics about cops or Me Too.

Jacobsen: MeToo or related to it. But before that became a movement, it was to do with not just violence against women. It was to do with extreme violence against women in the form of rape. And in those cases, they found that only 8% were unfounded. So, I would interpret that as not enough information or the personal side.

Rosner: Yes, I’ve looked at those studies too. I took a bunch of women’s studies in college. I was taught that the percentage of false accusations of sexual assault and related stuff is no higher than for any other crime. And in actuality, you’re only a few percent, no more than 5%. And then I looked at the studies and I found that the studies are more equivocal than that, because it’s hard. Because murder is a very clearly defined crime. It’s not entirely cut and dried, but murder pretty much requires a dead person. Sexual harassment and sexual assault, the whole spectrum from harassment to rape, encompasses more stuff.

And so, when you look at studies and plus different studies have different definitions of each aspect of sexual assault, it’s harder to get a consensus. Also, it’s hard to get a consensus about sexual assault because it’s one of the least reported. Murders get reported. You’ve got a dead body. Robberies get reported. Sexual assaults often have a lower rate of being reported.

Jacobsen: In the cases of murder, the other person cannot respond, in all the other cases the person can respond, hopefully.

Rosner: Yes. But anyway, so, it’s hard to say for sure what the, and also it depends on your definition of what is well-founded.

Jacobsen: To me, these would be as founded as other research into these kind of murky or grey areas of the law and of jurisprudence. But I would say that we do have some data, we have to work with that data. However weak. And so we have that data.

Rosner: It’s tough to lock some of this shit down, like, when cops have historically been bad at dealing with sexual assault. Colleges have been terrible at dealing with sexual assault. When you have changing understandings of what sexual assault and rape are. For instance, 20 years ago, consent that is initially given and then withdrawn wouldn’t have been considered rape in a lot of places. 30, 40 years ago, 50 years ago, 60 years ago, 80 years ago, there was no such thing. There was no legal class of marital rape in most US states. And it only started turning around, I think, in the 70s and 80s. So, things change in our understanding of stuff. What’s his face? Master in none. What’s his name?

Jacobsen: I don’t know. I’m going to agree, but I don’t know who.

Rosner: Yes. So, he’s written on sex and romance and dating. But that didn’t stop him from being accused of being sexually coercive based on this woman who went on a date with him and she felt forced by him. He went down on her. He thought she was giving clear signals that that was something she was especially into. And he faced a lot of criticism. And before everybody kind of decided, I think, that it didn’t amount to rape.

So, he seems to have recovered from that. But that was based on the woman just feeling uneasy about an awkward date. James Franco has been accused of sexual coercion based on him being a movie star. And that guy does all sorts of shit, including, I guess, running acting classes when he feels like it. He would have sex with some of the women in his acting classes and they felt like the power differential was such that it created a coercive situation. He doesn’t seem to have suffered from that. Louis C.K. has had his career destroyed because it came out… well, he destroyed his career through his sexual behavior. It’s not that other people destroyed his career. He destroyed his career because he had a habit of cornering young female rookie comedians and making them watch him jerk off.

Jacobsen: So here’s the question: If we take all of those cases looking at the collective, we look at all of those cases. We take them into account and we compare the 70s, the 80s and the 20^th and 21^st centuries. What do you make of it? Is it better? Is it worse?

Rosner: It’s certainly better because people have more clues. I remember my friends and me growing up in the 70s. We were all the class of ‘78 and we were just clueless about almost all aspects of sex. We didn’t have sex with anybody except my one cool friend. And then another one of my friends managed to get a girlfriend right at the end, right before graduating high school. But anyway, we were largely clueless. And so, a lot of the bad things we didn’t do sexually; we didn’t do, because we couldn’t get close enough to anybody to have sex. Otherwise, we may have done shitty stuff out of ignorance. Though I do feel that, I had a certain amount of naive, clueless decency. But my ignorance was such that I still might have fucked up and did fuck up.

I don’t think I wrecked anybody’s life through bad sexual behaviour. But, I certainly had sex with various women that were probably not great sex for either person. And even if you’re completely well informed, obviously, you can’t avoid that, sometimes. But we were clueless, is the point. And now, people are wildly unclueless. At least, if they choose to be a part of the world and not like an Incel dickhead, but if you consume enough media, like my wife and I have noticed in the stuff we’ve been watching on Netflix and HBO this week, there are just penises everywhere. Like we’ve been watching a show, which is about wild behaviour among teens. And, dick pics are involved. Remember the old show from 60 years ago? You probably have never seen, but you should remember the name Perry Mason, the courtroom drama.

Jacobsen: Oh, yes, of course, it’s great.

Rosner: Ok, so, Raymond Burr, he usually gets the perpetrator to confess in the last scene. HBO just resurrected Perry Mason. But he’s not a lawyer, yet. I don’t know if he’ll ever be a lawyer. Now, he’s a down on his heels private eye. And we just watched the first episode. I thought it was pretty great. It had a huge fucking penis in it. He’d been hired by a movie studio to catch one of their stars fucking up, so they could terminate his contract because the talkies have come in and his voice is no good for the talkies. He was a silent star. He’s the guy who looks like, Hardy of Laurel and Hardy or Fatty Arbuckle.

And Perry Mason cracks him down to where he’s banging or he’s having a weird kind of sex with this woman and takes some pictures of him and he gets caught taking the pictures. And this fat guy runs down the street after him with his big old Johnson flopping all over the place chasing Perry Mason fully naked. And it’s like when you think of Perry Mason, you don’t think of dicks flapping around.

Jacobsen: But that’s a larger phenomenon. That’s a larger commentary on the pornification of culture.

Rosner: But that’s not porn. That’s gritty. It’s a gritty show.

Jacobsen: That’s nudity. And pornography is about nudity. So, I think some overlap between gritty and porn, and nudity.

Rosner: I’ll fight you on that. They’re just trying to be as gritty as possible.

Jacobsen: I think they’re trying to be as gritty, where “as gritty” means “as porny,” as possible.

Rosner: No. Because it’s not something that the producers of the show would expect you to beat off to. And I don’t think most viewers would beat off to what’s going on. And the show Euphoria, one of the main characters is a trans girl who’s – I don’t know – 16, 17, who has scary sex with people. She picks up hotel room sex with people she meets on the Internet. So, there’s all this stuff that you see. All we had in the 70s were dumb sex comedies where, sweet white boys, guys, who are portrayed as good guys would try to lose their virginity. And now, you’re seeing a more balanced picture of all aspects of sex. Also, people are having less sex, especially young people.

Jacobsen: And if people are having less sex, is there a kind of balance there between what’s portrayed externally in media and how we behave internally in the home?

Rosner: I don’t know. It’s not like the media that we consume shows everybody having sex anywhere. In the 70s, media showed, or at least implied, that cool people had a lot of sex and that you were weird if you didn’t want to have sex. And now, there’s a presentation of people as sex being just one aspect of some people’s lives. Like the other main character on that show is a drug addict, she is largely asexual. Even though, she’s kind of a cute high school girl. Nobody would have been permitted to be this girl on Saved by the Bell, except in maybe a very special episode. And plus, like, I don’t know the last thing Carol and I watched on Netflix was this show called Disclosure, which is about how trans people have finally become reasonably portrayed in media to some extent and to their years of being portrayed horribly.

Jacobsen: Ok. I’m going to play the lawmaker here, and play cop. Ok, great, if we have these shows and you reflect on the past because of the original question, where is this heading? Where is the direction of this now?

Rosner: Yes. Well, you also asked me before, are things better now than before? I said, “Yes.”

Jacobsen: Ok, so, they’re better now looking forward. Are they going to get better?

Rosner: Yes, I think I’ve done with Lance; I’ve done a lot of arguing about trans people.

Jacobsen: Does he think they are mentally ill as many conservative commentators think about?

Rosner: He does. He thinks that being trans. It means having a mental illness that makes you chop off your genitals. But I have to debunk that because of the people who have surgery at all. Only one-half of one percent have bottom surgery. It’s a crazy low number because it’s brutal surgery. And the outcomes are often not optimal. If you have penis to vagina surgery, then you have to work the area afterwards with dildos of increasing size to make sure that your vaginal canal, your surgically created vaginal canal, stays big enough for sex. So, that’s a miserable exercise. And it is surgery that, compared to a lot of surgeries, has a fairly low satisfaction rate. But the good thing here about transness is that most trans people don’t have surgery.

And, I don’t know what the statistics are on people doing hormones. It’s obviously a lot more than people having surgery. But that people feel free to live trans life without surgery, I think is a major step forward. Like, maybe, one of the most famous trans people as Caitlyn Jenner. And she had top surgery. And I think she had surgery to sort of feminize her nose, probably to get rid of her Adam’s apple. But I think she left her dick alone. And that’s a good thing, because you shouldn’t have to go through this horrible butchery to live the life as the gender that you are; that you feel you are. And I think if I were a younger person, there are a lot of options; it’s a range like every other, or hot trans people – and there are trans people who aren’t hot.

But I always felt like I had a better shot with, on a per capita basis. Like, present me to a group of women and present me to a group of trans women, I always felt like my chances would be better with the trans women. And that’s kind of weird and ridiculous, but that’s how I felt. And back in the 80s, I could have at least made out with a very hot trans woman that I knew from the bars I worked at, and also I knew her as a woman at night in bars. And I knew her in the daytime from on campus and at night when she was a woman, she was just super hot. And we were flirting and I could have gone and made out with her.

And I was afraid to because I was worried about the dick that I was going to be around. And now I think if I were twenty-five years old now instead of then, I wouldn’t be as afraid of making out with some hot woman who has a penis. It wouldn’t be that big a deal. And I’d get to make out with a hot woman because that was like a thing I always wanted to do. And, my wife is attractive, but she’s not a fucking 6-foot ballistic redhead. And anyway, so, I think it’s a step forward that trans people can be accepted and don’t have to go to ridiculous lengths to transform their bodies.

Jacobsen: Can we close this on an agreement, the idea that things have gotten better, but there have been bumps in the getting better?

Rosner: Yes. we’re living – Americans, the whole fucking world is living – in a huge bump right now. Coronavirus fucked up everything. In America, we elected a guy who claimed he would be the best president for gay people. He might still claim it because nothing stops him from saying fucking anything he fucking wants, and when Trump was running and also when he said he’d be the best president ever for LGBTQ people, I think he’s claimed to be the best president ever for gay people. And he’s obviously a piece of shit for gay people, and especially for trans people. He’s trying to remove all sorts of protection from them. He’s made it so that trans people can’t serve in the military.

Trump’s administration has been a huge step back in whatever areas he can get his fat little hands-on for trans people and just a certain extent for gay people. He’s a voice of intolerance. So, yes. at the same time, media has fucking gotten a gazillion times better with trans people. And also for anybody who wants to have sex, that doesn’t leave you scarred for life. But Trump himself is a huge step back. He’s been credibly accused of rape or sexual assault or harassment by more than two dozen women. And he got elected despite it. So, yes, it’s a mixed fucking bag.

*High range testing (HRT) should be taken with honest skepticism grounded in the limited empirical development of the field at present, even in spite of honest and sincere efforts. If a higher general intelligence score, then the greater the variability in, and margin of error in, the general intelligence scores because of the greater rarity in the population.*

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/04/08

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Another important part of or side of life together with someone, apart from the idealism, is practical application, simply the enjoyable to the modestly annoying activities of life, e.g., chores to fresh clothes, plain steamed broccoli in a random shack to a spicy roast beef sandwich at Wolfie’s Miami Beach, kale to peanut butter & jelly sandwich, black licorice and hard candy to chocolate fudge cake and Entenmann’s chocolate fudge, or a trip to the dentist to a trip to the beach. The little things, what comes to mind when you think about the little things in a life with a partner?

Mr. Christian Sorensen: She is like king Midas, because everything she touches turns into gold, I always tell her that with her hands she works wonders. For everything, seeks balance and ideal harmony. Though I have never been able to understand, why  tends to place all things on the edge of surfaces, I think she does so, because knows how to balance them so they don’t fall off.  Has the creativity, to repair everything, and transform it into something optimal.  Permanently, orders my mess, but after, I never can’t  find anything when I look for it back.  Believes we are like Pinky and the Brain.  Generally, while I take things very seriously,  on the other hand, she reduces the gravity out of them, in order to  make me relax.  She takes her time for everything, and  has an infinite patience, which sometimes makes me nervous.   Always, acts very calmly, while I habitually run the engine, with past revs. Says that I walk at a speed, that is impossible for anyone to follow.  According to her, normally people reason differently from me,  for that motif, they do not give so much importance to things, and which it’s worse, they are not prepared to hear the truth that comes out of my mouth. She has never wanted to change my way of being, although  patiently suggests, that I should be more empathetic and understanding, with the rest of humanity, regarding the fact of having ten brains in the same head, and since proportionally speaking, normal people are to me, as they’re in relation to those with mental retardation.  I have always said, that she came to this life, for helping  the world, but particularly, to correct and help me in order to be a better person. Despite all the atrocities, that has had to live,  and of never  having received any real and effective help, from human rights and feminist organizations, which apparently only provides assistance to non-Jewish nor Israeli women, matter of which,  she’s deeply disappointed, even though has being, a staunch defender of human and women’s rights, I believe is the most resilient person that exists.

Mrs. Sorensen: Here there’s  a perfect balance, because he eats and I cook. I do everything, and he writes.  He is obsessive and messy at the same time,  but has an orderly disorder. Hates getting up early, and goes to bed very late writing. Though uses to talk while sleeping  about what he writes, and rests intermittently a couple of hours, awakes recovered as if had slept for hours. Usually he stares into space, and solves mathematical equations, that no one could solve for months or maybe never.  Has an extraordinary love and patience with animals,  though not with people, since  does not resist, that they do not think logically, in front of rationally obvious questions.  Believes that everyone can ride at the speed of a Ferrari, while does not realize that humanity travels at the speed of a Vespa.  Dresses only in black t-shirts, jeans and sneakers. For everything, he is minimalist, which indeed is a question, that I myself, have learned to apply, because  I find, that this is an example, of how he makes a logical and rational sense, for everything.  He is an hypochondriac, does not like doctors, nor tolerates confined places or crowds, even though dislikes to be alone. He loves to be outdoors and in contact with nature. Anything someone says, is going to be deeply and semantically processed, in his head, until it is completely shredded, and as if it were an alchemy formula, will appear like an outcome, completely exhausted of meaning, and reduced to the minimal  expression of something,   An example of the last, was once, when we were dating, and we were walking  to eat sushi: he gave  a two-hour conference, for explaining me the difference, that exists, between simply loving and truly loving someone.  For him,  there is only a yes or a no as  answer.  Never tolerates lukewarmness, nor forgives disloyalty.  Always respects, the spaces of others.  Above all, seeks the truth and does not bear injustice.  He is absolutely convinced, that women are smarter and stronger than men, and that if G_d had gender, he would surely be a woman. For me it is impossible to get bored, because I am always learning new and exciting things from him.

Jacobsen: What are the enjoyable little things a partner should do, in a marriage – both?

Mr. Sorensen: I think, that to be able to guess small details, that she may like or cheer her up, and give them to her as a surprise.

Mrs. Sorensen: The fact of sharing daily activities, with a positive and collaborative disposition, while enjoying each other’s personal achievements.

Jacobsen: What are the annoying little things a partner should avoid, in a marriage – both?

Mr. Sorensen: The fact of not maintaining her order and cleanliness. Not respecting her times and  rushing her. Telling things too directly and realistically.  Not understanding her language, that’s less analytical and digital,  and more analog and  creative.

Mrs. Sorensen: It’s important to avoid wondering around with a daily negative predisposition, that leads to getting angry about everything, and thereby breaking the harmony of the home.  I shouldn’t interrupt him when he writes, but that is difficult for me to do, since I like to talk to him.

Jacobsen: What are some prototypically husband must-haves in a marriage, the non-negotiables?

Mr. Sorensen: He should always love  and protect her,  promoting at all times, its development and integral personal self-realization.

Mrs. Sorensen: Fidelity in all its senses, and that I can fully trust him.  That he loves me, at the same time that understands my feelings, and   supports by being a confident and counselor, all my projects throughout life. That he makes me laugh, with his black and ironic sense of humor.

Jacobsen: What are some prototypically wife must-haves in a marriage, the non-negotiables?

Mr. Sorensen: An absolute unconditionality.

Mrs. Sorensen: A woman, regarding her husband, should  have love and always be faithful in every way with him. Contribute and be patient, with a good dose of humor, to the  construction of marriage.

Jacobsen: What are some prototypically husband nice-to-haves in a marriage, the negotiables?

Mr. Sorensen: I think that to have the ability to make boring jokes, that is necessary to explain, so that they understand them,  and to have a good rhythm for dancing and doing the clown.

Mrs. Sorensen: That every day he is thorough,  by having the capacity to surprise me, and  to make me happy with simple things.

Jacobsen: What are some prototypically wife nice-to-haves in a marriage, the negotiables?

Mr. Sorensen: Personally and figuratively, I consider  pleasurable, for a woman to be estrogenic, and to smell like feminine pheromones, and not something else. In other words, that she assumes herself, in my opinion, for what symbolically she is.

Mrs. Sorensen: When the husband is an epicurean, to know how to prepare his  favorite dish, deliciously. This always leaves him with a smile, and it makes his day.

Jacobsen: Mr. Sorensen, what do you find men complain and compliment most about in their wives to their guy friends?

Mr. Sorensen: Generally, men of my age, suffer from what I denominate as fifteen-year-old regression, which leads them to talk, more about their new conquests with adolescent women, than about their wifes, and where megalopotent feats and compensatory resources, such as sildenafil and vehicles of  high end, play a preponderant role.

Jacobsen: Mrs. Sorensen, what do you find women complain and compliment most about in their husbands to their gal friends?

Mrs. Sorensen: In my particular case, I have never talked about my husband with my gal friends, nor would I.  However, from them,  the most frequent complaint I have heard,  is that they feel suffocated with their husbands, since they do not give them enough space.  Generally they claim to be happy, when he is not at home, or when they do not have to go on vacation together.  Some, despite being feminists, complain because their men, do not give them enough money for their personal expenses, to which I usually reply, that if they are so feminist, they should be then more consistent, and spend their own money.  Usually when they praise their husbands, they never do it regarding sentimental matters, but only to show off the gifts and comforts, given by them.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Mrs. and Mr. Sorensen. 

Mr. Sorensen: Quite so!

Mrs. Sorensen: Thanks to you, for such a pleasant interview, we have laughed a lot answering it.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/02/17

The International Coalition of Ex-Muslims has been calling on the Australian Government to take action on the case of the Founder of Faithless Hijabi. Zara Kay founded Faithless Hijabi only a couple of years ago or so and has been taken illegitimately into detainment repeatedly by Tanzanian authorities.

The International Coalition of Ex-Muslims has had contact with the Australian High Commission since October of 2020. This was based on concerns for safety. These are legitimate concerns because of threats against Kay.

Nonetheless, she was detained on December 28, 2020, by the Tanzanian authorities in Dar es-Salaam (Oysterbay Police Station) and then released on bail on December 31, 2020. Pro bono lawyers are working on the case in Australia and London to secure safety for Zara.

The International Coalition of Ex-Muslims claims to have a credible source stipulating the charges against Kay are politically-motivated. The source is unnamed in the reportage. However, the claim is members of the Khoja Shia Ithnasheri Jamaat community in Tanzania made the charges.

They are opposed to what they see as the activism, apostasy, and blasphemy of Kay. The International Coalition of Ex-Muslims is requesting further immediate action on the case of Kay for a safe passage out of Tanzania.

Update 5: Australian Government Needs to Act to Get Zara Kay Home.

Update 4: Facts surrounding #JusticeForZaraKay.

Update 3: Tanzania – Drop All Charges against Zara Kay.

Update 2: Drop all Charges Against Zara Kay.

#JusticeForZara #ReleaseZara #FreeZaraKay.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/02/16

OlympIQ Society was founded on January 1, 2001, by Dr. Evangelos Katsioulis as a high-IQ society with a rarity at or above IQ 175 SD 15 (Wechsler scale)/IQ 180 SD 16 (Stanford-Binet scale)/IQ 220 SD 24 (Cattell scale). This means a theoretical rarity of 1 out of 3,500,000 people out of the unselected general population at a minimum for qualification.* Dr. Benoit Desjardins, MD, PhD is a Physician. Christopher Philip Harding is the Founder of The International Society for Philosophical Enquiry. Entemake Aman (阿曼) is an undergraduate student in physics. Erik Haereid is an Actuarial Scientist. Nathan “Nth” Bar-Fields is a driving force behind Elysian Trust. Rickard Sagirbay is a Turkish author who has written on the soul. You can find these individuals in all walks of life and professional development. Here we talk about the OlympIQ Society and answer some questions about the high-IQ communities.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: You have been scoring high on tests of intelligence and joined the OlympIQ Society. I want to focus on some short-form questions here with a reasonable response length. What is the feeling of joining an extremely exclusive high-IQ society versus joining one of more ordinary rarity cutoffs?

Benoit Desjardin, MD, PhD, FAHA, FACR: Being able to join elite exclusive societies is a great source of pride. People like to feel special in their own way, as opposed to being just one of 8 billion people on earth.

Christopher Harding: For me the hope of meeting better people, without of course any certainty.

Entemake Aman (阿曼): The IQ of all members of Olympiq society is between 180 and 190! We almost represent the highest IQ in the world! It gives me the feeling that there are super-geniuses in it! It’s easy to find confidants, chat with them very happy, relaxed! In the real world, I may never meet people with an IQ of more than 180 in my life. It’s hard to find a confidant and exchange ideas with people in real life. I’m honoured to be a member of Olympiq society. It has given me a lot of things that I can’t get in my life! When I joined Olympiq society, I felt that there was no difficult problem in the world, which brought me a strong sense of self-confidence!

Erik Haereid: I am honoured, but the feeling is not different. Most members are inactive. I think the experience of being members of this society would change if I got to know and communicated more deeply with some of the members. But as an introvert, it’s not that easy either.

Nathan “Nth” Bar-Fields: I joined OlympIQ because I thought it could be a potential recruiting ground for spectacular talent for my company and future projects. I wasn’t particularly interested in being known as a member myself. In fact, my being a member will likely come as a surprise to many when they read this.

Rickard Sagirbay: The feeling was of satisfaction and joy in terms of being able to locate your peers, intellectual exchange, and further, the posts in the forums are usually of very high quality in regards to scientific conduct. To sum this up a higher quality of conversations and gain new knowledge. Of course, if you join a society with ordinary cut-offs as you put it, then the conversations and intellectual stimuli will usually be at the same level as well.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Do you feel part of a community in joining such a society as OlympIQ Society?

Benoit Desjardin, MD, PhD, FAHA, FACR: I am a member of many societies, most of them scientific societies. Each society regroups people of similar training or skills or interests. Each society is a community exchanging information on specific topics of interest. I feel part of many different small communities.

Christopher Harding: Yes, but again one must be cautious, since individuality is an offsetting factor marred by the constraint on numbers: And of course one can never know the outcome in advance let alone have any hope for optimization of any proposals.

Entemake Aman (阿曼): I think it’s a part of my community, because it’s more interesting for people with similar IQ to exchange ideas! If we have a party in the Olympiq society in the future, it will be even better! It’s one of the greatest honours of my life for me to join Olympiq society! How exciting and proud it is to be in the same community with some of the smartest people in the world! I hope this community has a group chat app that can be easily contacted. If so, it would be better!

Erik Haereid: Well, no, not especially. But I hope to feel that way in the future. The community needs an icebreaker; a proactive, extrovert person that can handle and accept the many different personalities and attitudes. I am certainly not that type, unfortunately. It’s about feeling safe and invited, too. And about meeting in the center of joint ideas and thoughts. The community needs a leader that can handle the members, and respect and exploit each one.

Nathan “Nth” Bar-Fields: As far as I am aware there is no community to speak of. No group discussions for members or interactions of any kind. It’s just a vanity page.

Rickard Sagirbay: Yes, I do. 

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: If the general view is most of the societies function as directories of members or social societies, what is the hope for an expanded vision of the high-IQ societies?

Benoit Desjardin, MD, PhD, FAHA, FACR: I think the current vision is just fine. I use high-IQ societies as a source of information on interesting developments in different fields that might be outside my own scientific fields. I also get access once in a while to puzzles that are challenging and offer intellectual distractions from my daily work.

Christopher Harding: Effectively none! One must become conditioned by the reality that life’s selectivity is not determined by a single trait.

Entemake Aman (阿曼): High IQ association can bring us intelligence sharing, communication, networking! Of course, I hope the society can pay attention to talents, help them financially, let them go to world-famous schools, and make contributions to the world with their intelligence above 180, such as winning the Nobel prize!

Erik Haereid: With a broad-minded woman or man in charge that know how to activate a mixture of complex ideas and thoughts, we could get something more out of it than just a directory.

My experience is that most deep thinkers lack sufficient emotional contact to launch a fruitful process, involving people to cooperate and find answers to whatever one focuses on. It’s about an inner emotional balance, that makes you endure other people’s thoughts, opinions and feelings.

Nathan “Nth” Bar-Fields: I’m already doing it with Elysian Trust. We actually are finding and supporting neurodivergent talent in underserved populations. High IQ clubs always say that is what they are going to do but it never happens. Ever.

Rickard Sagirbay: I believe the hope is to try to grow both from an intellectual standpoint of view, and also emotional maturity. I also think it is important to promote the societies further by installing events, dialogues among its members, even meetings, either live or by for example zoom. Also, by talking to you I am already expanding the vision of the societies beyond its borders since it’s going out to the public. My conclusion is that the most optimal strategy in the future, to make the societies grow, is to bring its peers together as much as possible, thus engaging them to come up with new ideas, also being able to recommend other potentially qualifying members. The societies that are the most successful in this endeavour, might be the producers of future Nobel laureates.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What are some practical examples of things high-IQ societies can do now – to help solve some worldwide problems? 

Benoit Desjardin, MD, PhD, FAHA, FACR: Worldwide problems won’t get solved by extraordinarily smart people. They will get solved by teams of very smart educated people who have devoted a few decades of their lives working on a very focused area or problem. High-IQ societies could help by promoting scientific literacy and critical thinking abilities, two areas in very short supply in the world today (especially in the US).

Christopher Harding: No: Solutions are always embedded in the context which gives rise to them; rising out of the context is always a bit of a stretch!

Entemake Aman (阿曼): Tao Zhexian has an IQ of 180 and won the fields award. Da Vinci and Descartes also had 180 IQ, also made a famous thing! I think Olympiq society should be paid attention to by the world. The high IQ association should receive donations from the society or help from big men. It should give those learning resources with IQ above 180 to go to the top 50 famous schools in the world, and let them make contributions to the world and give full play to their IQ above 180! If you have this idea, please contact my box: entemaholmes123@sina.com.

Erik Haereid: Traditional science is based on empirics, and is to a lesser extent a tool to create ideas than proving or disproving theories; the culture is quite strict. It’s a stimulation of existing experiences rather than an inspiration to new ones. We need more creative ideas concerning human development, even though they today seem impossible. We need to pinpoint common goals that give all humans opportunities and prosperity. And to depart from conservative ways of forcing humans into inconvenient collaborations, which frequently is a consequence of social polarization and hierarchization. Establishing such goals and ideas, is one thing members of high IQ societies can do.

Every war and conflict is based on some individual internal turmoil, some self-contradictory thoughts and feelings about how things are and should be, and the reactions shape the future. To create ideas and feelings that make everyone see that the optimization of their lives is based on win-win and not win-lose situations, could and should be a task and an obligation for the very intelligent ones.

The future self-images, individually, as groups and globally, are more than anything else the most important issue as to human evolution. If you are in balance with yourself and your surroundings, you will act optimal and effective. Our self-perception, in every way we picture ourselves, is basic for our drives, needs, plans and actions. When people are more concerned about titles and achievements in the context of what other people like and adore, because their drive is based on being adored, because they lack being adored, we are in a nihilistic circulation. We need to be loved and recognized, not because we replicate but because we are different from each other.

Nathan “Nth” Bar-Fields: Become an actual proprietary think tank would be the simplest. However, that will require something more than just IQ as a screening tool for participation. Social intelligence—or rather its lack thereof—will result in such an endeavour failing epically, if it isn’t screened for in its participants. It’s just impossible to do anything productively collaborative without that ingredient, no matter the average IQ of the group in question.

I have other ideas but I’d rather execute them through Elysian Trust, as I know they will actually manifest that way. 

Rickard Sagirbay: That is a very solid and interesting question indeed Scott. I would argue, that some of the main objectives could be to try to broaden the perspectives of the masses. This could be done in a variety of ways, such as trying to get more relevant and true information delivered out to the public, based on the latest science. Being more active in media campaigns and interviews, as now. I think the intellectual communication and possible brainstorming among its members, is of uttermost importance. To come up with ideas on how to reach influential people. What other alternative ways of the education system could we contribute to creating for the future? What is the value of “learning how to learn”?

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How have you been working to advance some of these wider visions and projects of the high-IQ communities, including OlympIQ Society?

Benoit Desjardin, MD, PhD, FAHA, FACR: I have not been working towards that goal. I’m too busy working 100h+/week in my own scientific fields.

Christopher Harding: I have not: I leave this to those who have trays missing in me. Like all intelligent people I lack certainty.

Entemake Aman (阿曼): I will contact Olympiq members by email or Facebook, and I will write on my resume that I am a member of Olympiq Society (IQ180+). If Olympiq society is listed in international magazines and news and is famous in the world, we may have a higher chance to give full play to our 180 plus intelligence quotient to solve the world’s problems! If you can help our world-famous schools with more than 180 IQ, please contact my email: entemaholmes123@sina.com.

Erik Haereid: I have to admit that I have not done much to do that. I write and publish some of my opinions, but do also have some kind of infuriating approach that some don’t find appealing. I have to improve that. It’s about finding one’s personal expression that preserves yourself and suits others.

Nathan “Nth” Bar-Fields: Big time.  Elysian Trust broke down what were the fundamental things “genius projects” and “geniuses” needed to level up, especially if they came from backgrounds that had little to no resources:  Money, professional networking opportunities, academic support, job opportunities, and social support. We created a grant writing service for the money issue and raised a little over $20,000,000 for clients.  Our discussion groups—which are all adamant about civility—have resulted in a wide variety of jobs, funding, new companies, marriages, and so on, for members.  We actually are a community, although the pandemic has hurt many of us and the organization itself pretty hard in 2020.  We are rebuilding and rebranding now, but you can read about it here.

http://www.elysiantrust.org/about-us/

Rickard Sagirbay: Yes, I have been conducting private research and investigations. The purpose of this was to promote intelligence, and brain health by the latest discoveries in Neuroscience. I have been using something called BrainHQ for approximately 251 days, and I accumulated 34.327 points (it’s a lot). This ingenious app was invented by the eminent neuroscientist Michael Merzenich, a winner of the Kavli Prize. I’ve been publishing some papers about this app on my FB page. This is the way I have promoted the ideals of society, by constantly encouraging others to nurture their brains. Further, I have been writing life quotes, poems, and reviews of movies, historical people. 

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Everyone, thank you very much for the opportunity and your time to talk about the OlympIQ Society.

*High range testing (HRT) should be taken with honest skepticism grounded in the limited empirical development of the field at present, even in spite of honest and sincere efforts. If a higher general intelligence score, then the greater the variability in, and margin of error in, the general intelligence scores because of the greater rarity in the population.

—

The current full membership of the OlympIQ Society: Dr. Evangelos G. Katsioulis, MD, MSc, PhD, Bart Miles, Laura N. Kochen, D.X.J., Christophe Dodos, Steve Schuessler, George Ch. Petasis, A.F., Jonas Högberg, Mari Takishita, J. W., Thomas B., Jan Willem Versluis, Alexander Prata Maluf, Dr. Christopher Philip Harding, Oliver Q., Wayne Zhang, Martin Tobias Lithner, Miguel Angel Soto-Miranda, M.D., Hever Horacio Arreola Gutierrez, Wang Peng, Takahiro Kitagawa, Andreas Andersson, Lee HanKyung, M.D., Julio Machado, Misaki Ota, Erik Hæreid, Santanu Sengupta, Qiao Hansheng, Dr. Benoit Desjardins, MD, PhD, Wen-Chin Sui, Yaron Mirelman, JMoriarty, Fan Yiwen, Zhibin Zhang (张智彬), Chen Anping, Dr. Yasunobu Egawa, Ph.D., Raymond Walbrecq, Junlong Li（李俊龙, Prof. Vernon M. Neppe MD, PhD, Nth Bar-Fields, Susumu Ota, Li Shimin, Marios Prodromou, Rickard Sagirbay, Dan Liu (刘丹), YoungHoon Bryan Kim (김영훈), W. C., Jo Christopher Montalban Resquites, Entemake Aman, Daniel Shea, Yaniv Hozez, Ζeu Ζoug（宗震), Sio, and Mizuki Tomaiwa.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): News Intervention

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/02/16

Some further commentary can come from the public feedback to Wagner Hills Farm Society[1]. In that, the ratings online can be useful. Here, its rating is decent with actual commentary on some online metrics. To Facebook, it is ranked 3.7 out of 5.0. To Google Reviews, it is listed as 4.1 out of 5. That’s not bad. It’s like a decent restaurant.

“Wagner Hills Farm Society: Christian Ministry Posed as Recovery” covered the large swathe of the claims and the implications of its work in spite of the positive guitar-background music, smiles, and presentation of new activities, and spaces.

My concern is the main evidence is testimony, which is terrible, selective evidence, and the unethical behaviour of ministering or preaching & evangelizing one particular religious viewpoint when people are most vulnerable. In the Fraser Valley, or in Langley, British Columbia, specifically, it may not feel offensive to some of the public here.

It may not seem wrong. It may seem right. These people were missing God, missing the Gospel, missing the saving grace of Christ, the Saviour. I get it. Within the religious sentiments of much of the public here, it feels like the right things to have present in the community.

Why not have the evangelization to help heal sinners, while loving the sinner, hating the sin, and bringing them into closer union with God Almighty, Jesus Christ the King? Yet, imagine, if a local group of Satanists did the same, they opened a recovery centre decidedly self-defining, even calling itself, a ministry.

Its intent, at that point, would be the conversion of people to a particular religious viewpoint. It would be more obvious and become a point of public contention, rightfully. Yet, we have some of these Christian movements working to force themselves on the public’s most vulnerable, addicts at low life points. No one makes a mention of it, because it’s the majority, common religion here.

This seems a highly sensitive and charged time of life for addicts or individuals wanting a recovery path. To make this a time at which to attempt a conversion through bible study, worship, prayer, and farm work, which are actual methodologies proposed and practiced at Wagner Hills Ministries, seems immoral, it’s wrong.

The point is to acquire “disciples,” converts, to Christianity. Because we live in a simple majority Christian Township here in Langley, we see this as acceptable. Because we have a conservative culture here, we view this as nothing exceptional and simply shrug with what seems like a vast majority culture, Christianity, but only inches above 50% of the population now.

This should change the sentiment in the public decision-making process. We see some sentiments with the reactions to the pandemic with pretty much, as far as I know, only churches violating the public health orders in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. 19 in the Fraser Valley alone, which was only on the last reportage. It could be more and, in turn, repeat violations.

The next largest segment of people is individual Langley-ites without a formal religious affiliation – 42.3% circa 2011 based on Metro Vancouver data. I would apply a similar reasoning to any and all recovery programs, including Alcoholics Anonymous, in the municipality, in the Township of Langley.

Here’s why, a ministry is something based on faith. Programs dealing with mental illness come with medical professionals, training, medications that have been tested through various phases of development, and care, fundamentally, based on evidence.

Some faith-based programs claim additional evidenced-based practices within them. Which leads to the question, why have the faith part outside of individual religious background for the individual when evidenced-based treatment suffices?

Because faith-based treatments, being based on “faith” or based without evidence (the basic definition of faith), don’t work; or if work, then work by accident, because they haven’t been robustly tested in rigorous scientific standards. If they had been tested as such, then they wouldn’t be faith-based; they’d be evidence-based, which is the issue.

A program of evidence-based treatment is not the full extent or purpose of even the best faith-based ministries working with addicts. The intent and dreams are sincere, honest, and wrongheaded, in my opinion. In that, the end goal is to make converts to a particular faith.

As noted, in this particular case, it is the Christian religion. This is where things seem wrong to me. In that, some of the most profoundly effective points of making a point in life come with making the point without the intent of conversion of another person or party.

Similarly, a program with an intent of conversion or making disciples is coercive and, thus, unethical, and should not be supported by public monies, because this is using public tax dollars for a particular religious purpose.

It violates the separation of church and state, fundamentally, and makes a mockery of freedom of belief. Is a belief free if you’re trapped in a context of recovery tied to a direct attempt at conversion through a Christian ministerial program for an entire year?

Matthew Claxton in “UPDATED: Wagner Hills plans expansion for Langley treatment facility” had reportage from 2017, which came from decisions of a different full Council, in part, compared to the current[2]. Many of the same and some different Cllrs., present.

The Council of 2017 voted unanimously – all 9 of them – to support a rezoning bylaw for the expansion of the Wagner Hills Farm Society. The sole purpose was an expansion from 50 to 119 beds. Bear in mind, it costs 100$ per day per bed filled in their capacity. The expansion is for the men’s campus in Fort Langley.

The Wagner Hills Farm Society Board of Directors is Kris Sledding (Chairman), Dan Ashton, Pastor Curtis Boehm, Allen Schellenberg, Kim Ironmonger (Treasurer), and Lanson Foster. Some of these individuals are directly connected to the Canadian Lutheran Church.

The staff is Jason Roberts (CEO & Men’s Campus Director), Tony De Jong (Operations Manager), Gregg Davenport (Program Manager), Stefan Kurschat (Head Counsellor), Dawn Bralovich (Director of Design), Jenifer Wiens (Program Assistant), and Kait Chambers (Care Coordinator).

Such an expansion, it would provide room for some more staff too, presumably. At the time, the first reading and second reading of the rezoning bylaw proposed were approved. Jason Roberts, the CEO, mentioned doing this slowly over the next few years, which would include now. The ALC or the Agricultural Land Commission of the Township of Langley approved non-farm use permit of the expansion at the time.

Roberts considered the overall response from the community positive. He noted Wagner Hills Farm Society has functioned within the community for almost 40 years, circa 2017. They have been trying to acquire the expansion since 2010.

The goal is to tear down an old building and put up a new one. Miranda Gathercole in “Wagner Hills plans to increase capacity at addictions facility” reported on the same progression with some quotes from councillors who happen to be on the current Council too.

At the time, Cllr. Kim Richter questioned if the expansion will alter the rehabilitation method. Mayor Froese didn’t think this would be the case. Cllr. Petrina Arnason asked if a large footprint would be left from the buildings. Cllr. Blair Whitmarsh supported the proposal and the tremendous work and fantastic expansion idea of the facility.

To be clear, Cllr. Whitmarsh is a dean and professor at the largest private, Christian, Evangelical university in the country. The view may be biased. For Richter, Arnason, and Froese, the concerns seemed valid, but too soft.

In personal opinion, and in the view of ethics, the facility does a disservice to the community posed as a service. It feels counter to the sentiments and evidence of the community and the testimonials.

Thusly, of the councillors who asked questions or made points, they missed the mark or made the opposite point to the evidence at hand, i.e., religious-based or faith-based recovery tends mostly to not work. This means: The methodology should be changed to evidence-based from faith-based, the footprint is largely irrelevant, and the work is neither “tremendous” nor “fantastic,” and others should have spoken out against it.

However, recovery programs, like AA, have a huge failure rate, blame the failures on the patients, and only record the successes to bring a sense of success in a sea of failures. Somewhere between 9 out of 10 to 19 out of 20 people fail in AA, so a 5% to 10% ‘success’ rate.

The community is largely Christian and has been since its inception. Thus, the sentiment, the culture, the mores and norms, institutional flavours, and the citizens feel as if Christianity is the default. It’s the proverbial water or air for us.

Yet, Wagner Hills Farm Society or Wagner Hills Ministries, is, as its name implies, a ministry primarily and recovery centre secondarily because, as they put it, the goal is to acquire “disciples,” so converts, to Christianity. That’s the point.

It’s not a ministry; and, I think, the complacency in going with the flow of the stream of municipal history can lead to the coercion into religious beliefs at vulnerable points in people’s lives to Christianity. It’s neither moral nor opaque. It’s transparent and unethical.

As far as I know, Cllrs. David Davis, Steve Ferguson, Margaret Kunst, Bob Long, and Eric Woodward, have not had a chance to comment on this particular case, recently.  If this arises in this case or others, their commentary would be helpful, especially as Long worked at Trinity Western University for a long time.

It is the largest Christian university in the country. Also, Woodward’s would be interesting too, because of the several years of business successes, so business savvy, in the past and an opposition to more taxes to the public. Why not focus on taxing such organizations properly?

Some examples might be a public benefits test for places of worship more robustly within the township, as has been argued by the British Columbia Humanist Association and Dr. Teale Phelps-Bondaroff.

Some of the commentary online about Wagner hills is positive, as with Katlin Henry being “thankful for Wagner hills [sic].” David Lemay saying, “This place is amazing. Good staff, amazing food…”

Pat K. saying, “Wagner Hills is the best thing that has happened to me in my life and mostly in my relationship with God and myself, also in my relationship with others especially the difficult people! If your looking for freedom in your life I highly recommend this place. God is at work here big time.”

Brandon Anderson saying, “This place helped save my life, before coming here I was losing a battle with depression and addiction. Taking a year out of my life to get the rest of it back was a no-brainer for me, considering the alternative.”

Vickie Sandover saying, “My brother’s life has changed for the better. I am grateful for Wagner Hills.” Kal Sidhu saying, “In November 2006 I came to Wagner Hills with no idea on how to change my life. I had the Revelation of who Jesus Christ is but I had no foundation in how to live a better life.”

Doug Young saying, “Wagner Hills changed my life. I am grateful for this place every day.” Wayne Montgomery saying, “Life changing.” A Doug Thomas and a Jim Jack – knowing the area, probably real names, funnily enough – gave 5-star reviews (out of 5).

Dave Williams said, “The best life changing program I ever did thanks.” There is, in other words, a positive sentiment about the state of Wagner Hills Farm Society or Wagner Hills Ministries of those coming out of it and then reporting to the public via Google Reviews. Even so, these become selective self-reports with extremes of positivity encouraged in most contexts and so a self-selection bias.

Having worked in the service sector, I understand ethics can go to the wayside in favour of some positive public commentary to improve the business. As in, “You work here. Please give a positive review online.”

I chose not to – in the case of some service work, because of the conflict of interest of working at the company and then this not being a genuine reflection of the external, organically driven customer base. However, what are the chances of this happening for another service sector seen in a recovery, discipleship, Christian ministerial context?

As argued before, it is a coercive environment in which individuals in vulnerable moments in life are brought into a discipleship context. They are looking for any lifeline.

This is coercive because of the taking advantage of individuals in vulnerable circumstances and then putting them in a discipleship program rather than recovery without coercion of a faith or religious belief system. Then this gets praised as tremendous and fantastic work by some councillors while other comments miss the point entirely – the ethics.

Alternative secular, non-coercive programs exist and can be built and implemented to serve all of the community rather than only some of the community strongly tilted towards the Christian community – non-biased evidence-based recovery is the necessity for addicts and recovering alcoholics, not Christ, discipleship, or other faith-based methodologies and philosophies.

The negative commentary can come out too, as in Troy Cross:

The place was a slave camp the 2 times I was there when I didn’t know better. Thank God for discernment. I had to learn the hard way but it taught me lots going through that HELL Hole! It is abusive and very controlling. A religious prison. Put a dog collar on people and teach them to obey! Once you remove the control and dog collar you will be right back where you started! Men trying to control other men. It was horrific to say the least! If God through the Holy Spirit cannot do the work no man will be able too.

Religious slave camp!

I have way more stories I could share but I won’t. I’ve given a basic summary of what was going on there.

Military Jesus the Slave Master is their version of God.

The place was majorly missing Loving Kindness and is very deceptive. Religious people will love it tho! 🙂

I hope they get a wake-up call and change. Seriously!

‘Lois’ too:

No real focus on recovery as the avoidance of matters pertaining to addiction doesn’t heal one of their addictions. Their committal to healing truly does vary upon the personality of the individual involved. If they anticipate hardship of any sort on their end they would rather kick an individual out of the program rather than work through it with them … even if that person hasn’t broken the rules. Free labor/slave labor anyone? If you’re up for that then jump on board with Wagner Hills Women’s Campus! They’re the pro’s at proclaiming their faith but failing to actively live it out. Truly shallow place where they try to divert attentions and employ unskilled staff who try and enrage and depress their clients back into active addiction. Guess what? It’s not going to work!

Those are articulate considerations without clear refutation akin to the positive commentary without clear refutation because these are self-reports or testimonials. Testimonials are the central theme of advertisement and marketing of Wagner Hills Farm Society/Wagner Hills Ministries.

It’s a weak basis for decision-making. What is the evidence to support the claims? What is the comparison? What secular, evidence-based alternatives exist here? A.A. or Alcoholics Anonymous has a well-publicized, in professional and not public, circles failure rate of 92% to 95%/success rate of 8% to 5%.

Some counter-commentary has been polemical against the range of percentages, but it’s based on a professional re-analysis of statistics and studies given out before.

Controversial psychiatrist Dr. Lance Dodes in “Review: The Sober Truth – Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12 Step Programs with Dr. Lance Dodes” said:

AA started in the 1930s, when Bill Wilson wrote Alcoholics Anonymous, it was actually widely panned by the American Medical Association and everybody else. But what happened over the years was there was a remarkable shift between roughly 1935 and 1945.

Bill Wilson encouraged people to join his program, and most importantly, he encouraged those people to talk about their successes. When people didn’t do well, they disappeared, which is still true today. We don’t hear about those people.

But eventually he got the ear of one of the major writers in the country, a columnist, Jack Anderson, who wrote for the Saturday Evening Post.

And he wrote what became a famous article extolling the virtues of AA and saying, “It’s marvelous. It’s a miracle.” And he justified that by talking about several people, individual cases, where people had transformed their lives.

Almost overnight, everybody bought into this…

…People were desperate to find something, and they latched onto [AA] the way people do with a lot of ideas which turn out to be not actually useful, but they’re exciting.

By the mid-1940s, the AMA had reversed its position and [the 12 Steps] became the standard in this country. Many people came to believe that AA was the treatment or the best treatment for alcoholism without any evidence, and that’s been true ever since….

…Now when we studied it in The Sober Truth …. we looked at all those studies and we also tried updating newer studies, and what we found was that if you accumulate all the data the success rate [of 12 Step programs] is between 5 and 8%, something like that.[5]

What is the relation of this Wagner Hills Farm Society consideration to A.A. in British Columbia[3]? Should the public of British Columbia support such non-sense, as seen in the pseudo-psychology of ‘sexual addiction’?

These exist in the same ballpark because of the faith-based histories and, often, foundations of them in spite of advances and adaptations to critiques and controveries.

Often, these programs come with theological or religious constructs behind them, to reinforce them, to then coerce and force them onto the vulnerable sectors of the public.

If care is to truly be care, then it would come without the string of a belief system. It would provide evidence-based care without religion in it. Yet, these programs do this. Another clear example is the sexual addiction industry, which is fundamentally pseudoscientific.

Clearly, it was rejected in the latest inclusions of the DSM. In turn, it is not a psychological diagnosis, so not a psychological construct. Yet, several centres claim to treat ‘sexual addiction’ in the province of British Columbia. Which is to state, they are engaging in malpractice.

Those include Burns Clinical Life Options Inc, Crossing Point -Affordable Addiction Recovery, Cedars at Cobble Hill, Together We Can – Addiction Recovery Centre, Chopra Addiction and Wellness Center, Manifest – Counselling for Men, Edgewood Treatment Centre, Top of the World Ranch Treatment Centre, Garuda Centre, Valiant Recovery Addiction Treatment Rehab Program, Pacific Intervention & Recovery Solutions, EHN Canada Outpatient Services, and Nomina @ Forbidden Plateau Residential Treatment.

Clearly, this comes from somewhere. What communities have had longstanding issues with sex? It is a theological or religious construct posed as psychological; thus, a religious violation of a secular therapy and so an illegitimate attempt at infusion of religion in secular counselling practice.

Dr. Darrel Ray of Recovering From Religion in “Conversation with Dr. Darrel Ray on Christian Fundamentalism and Sex: Founder, Recovering from Religion” stated:

First, sex addiction is a religious construct. It is not a psychological or scientific construct. The reason I say that is in 25 or 30 years of research; nobody has been able to figure out how you would scientifically define and diagnose this notion of sex addiction.

Most addictions are questionable and difficult to define, but we found ways to define some of them. But let me ask you a counter question, “Do you believe in Facebook addiction?”

Okay, people who spend hours after hours online on Facebook. They waste a ton of time. It interferes with their work; it interferes with their life; it interferes with their relationships. Doesn’t that sound like an addiction to you?

And yet, those researchers aren’t concerned about Facebook addiction because sex has a special component to it. So, that’s my answer to the first piece. The second part of the sex addiction piece is, since there’s no science, we can’t diagnose it.

If you can’t diagnose it, you can’t treat it. So, anybody who claims to treat sex addiction is a charlatan; they’re selling snake oil; they should be disbarred. And yet there are people who advertise themselves as sex addict counselors.

They should be disbarred; they should have their license taken away. But it’s a powerful religious lobby. The religionists make a lot of money off the notion of sex addiction. DSM-5 does not have a category of sex addiction in it.

In fact, hypersexuality has even been severely changed and modified because: how do you define hypersexuality? Is somebody masturbating 10 times a day hypersexual? If it doesn’t interfere with his life or her life, then it’s not hypersexual.

But, in the Catholic worldview, masturbating even once makes you a sex addict. Masturbating to pornography makes you a porn addict, even once. I have quotes. I have a video of a Catholic spokesman for the Catholic Church of the United States saying, ‘If you’ve masturbated to porn once, you are a sex addict.’

Simply and purely, we have the infusion of Christian religion, and general theology in fact, into the therapeutic process. It is an attempt to evangelize a secular discipline in a manner of speaking. It’s not working, though. Because it is anti-scientific.

It should be noted. Organizations like Wagner Hills Farm Society acquires funds from the Township of Langley. Thus, this likely happens throughout the country. In that, the annual report of 2016 of the Township of Langley reported $5,307 for “Wagner Hills Farm Society” in its section “Community Halls, Facilities, and Not-For-Profit Organizations”

In the same sections for the annual reports of2017, 2018, and 2019, Wagner Hills Farm Society received $4,908, $4,453, and $4,291, respectively. Naturally, this means a fundamental funding of public funds for a coercive setup for Christian religion, for the making of “disciples,” in the phraseology of Wagner Hills.

The public at large is funding efforts at evangelization by and large with the sideshow of recovery without a true basis in evidence-based practice. Individuals at vulnerable points in life are being coerced into taking a Christian or religious lifeline.

The arguments for Wagner Hills Farm Society/Wagner Hills Ministries come from testimonies or some of the weakest forms of argument for a program. Previous Council, in 2017, unanimously approved rezoning for its expansion in the men’s campus.

In my opinion, they were thinking on the wrong premises and came to the incorrect conclusions. The current Council can change this in the future and expand such considerations into other faith-based domains for general public benefit rather than particular religious – Christian – public benefit.

The community is dominant Christian; however, it shouldn’t run dominantly for Christians.

Two councillors, certainly, have biased histories or active employment with Trinity Western University: Cllrs. Bob Long and Blair Whitmarsh. Both of whom I’ve met, had a meal or few, and enjoy conversation(s). I genuinely like them and got along with them.

Finally, the evidence for such programs is highly suspect, as they aren’t truly data-based or evidence-based, as they note on their ministries website. It’s more qualitative, selective, hence suspect – open to wide questioning. As far as I know, none of this was scrutinized.

Which is on some levels a travesty, we’re dealing with local citizens in vulnerable moments of life. A coercive construct and faith-based methodology is used in it. Then this is given the veneer of something healthy, positive, even “tremendous” and “fantastic.” It’s not, personally, for the aforementioned reasons.

[1] Some of the others include Burns Clinical Life Options Inc., Crossing Point – Affordable Addiction Recovery, Valiant Recovery Addiction Treatment Rehab Program, The Center | A Place of HOPE, BC Teen Challenge – Okanagan Men’s Centre, LIFE Recovery, Teen Challenge BC – Abbotsford Women’s Centre, Teen Challenge BC – Chilliwack Men’s Centre, and Union Gospel Mission Recovery Program.

[2] The current Council of the Township of Langley is comprised of Mayor Jack Froese, Councillor Petrina Arnason, Councillor David Davis, Councillor Steve Ferguson, Councillor Margaret Kunst, Councillor Bob Long, Councillor Kim Richter, Councillor Blair Whitmarsh, and Councillor Eric Woodward.

[3] The public listing online stipulates these places: Abbotsford A.A. District 39, Abbotsford Intergroup Committee-A.A., Dist. 03 Answering Service, District 45 Intergroup, Dist. 04 Answering Service, Fernie Answering Service, Fort St John Intergroup, Kamloops Answering Service, Kelowna Intergroup, Langley Intergroup Office, Mission B.C. 24 Hour A.A. Hotline, Mid-Island Intergroup Society, Nelson AA Intergroup, South Okanagan Intergroup, Prince George Intergroup, Revelstoke Intergroup, Greater Vancouver Intergroup Society, Vernon Answering Service, and A.A. Central Office.

[4] The full answer to the question in “Conversation with Dr. Darrel Ray on Christian Fundamentalism and Sex: Founder, Recovering from Religion” states:

Jacobsen: You have written on “sex addiction.” Is it not a real thing? So, one of the major, or main restrictions, boundaries, borders that are put up, traditionally speaking, by religious texts and subsequently communities, and even societies, are strongly around sex.

So, why isn’t sex addiction a real thing? And what do you see as the main reason for religion in general, especially the Abrahamic ones, to restrict and direct sexual activity of the young especially, and even more especially the women?

Ray: First, sex addiction is a religious construct. It is not a psychological or scientific construct. The reason I say that is in 25 or 30 years of research; nobody has been able to figure out how you would scientifically define and diagnose this notion of sex addiction.

Most addictions are questionable and difficult to define, but we found ways to define some of them. But let me ask you a counter question, “Do you believe in Facebook addiction?”

Jacobsen: [Laughing] Not really.

Ray: Okay, people who spend hours after hours online on Facebook. They waste a ton of time. It interferes with their work; it interferes with their life; it interferes with their relationships. Doesn’t that sound like an addiction to you?

Jacobsen: It does fit some criteria that I would tacitly have.

Ray: And yet, those researchers aren’t concerned about Facebook addiction because sex has a special component to it. So, that’s my answer to the first piece. The second part of the sex addiction piece is, since there’s no science, we can’t diagnose it.

If you can’t diagnose it, you can’t treat it. So, anybody who claims to treat sex addiction is a charlatan; they’re selling snake oil; they should be disbarred. And yet there are people who advertise themselves as sex addict counselors.

They should be disbarred; they should have their license taken away. But it’s a powerful religious lobby. The religionists make a lot of money off the notion of sex addiction. DSM-5 does not have a category of sex addiction in it.

In fact, hypersexuality has even been severely changed and modified because: how do you define hypersexuality? Is somebody masturbating 10 times a day hypersexual? If it doesn’t interfere with his life or her life, then it’s not hypersexual.

But, in the Catholic worldview, masturbating even once makes you a sex addict. Masturbating to pornography makes you a porn addict, even once. I have quotes. I have a video of a Catholic spokesman for the Catholic Church of the United States saying, ‘If you’ve masturbated to porn once, you are a sex addict.’

That’s ludicrous. But not to a Catholic. I have a nice 50-minute talk on the myth of sex addiction. You can see it on YouTube. Google it, it’s right there. There’s a hell of a lot to talk about on that. But the main thing to know is that sex addiction is a religious notion, not a scientific one.

So, women and sex, all patriarchal religions have discovered over centuries that the best way to control people is through their sex and sexuality. I use the term in my book The God Virus, I call it the “guilt cycle.”

But religions, they teach that when you’re 5 or 10-years-old; that sex is bad; that masturbation is bad, touching your own genitals is bad. If you do it, then you’re going to hell: Jesus is watching you.

There’s a voyeuristic God out there that wants to see everything you do and is going to condemn you. I often tell Christians that if you’re a Christian, and you have sex, then you have a threesome with Jesus. He’s watching you the whole time.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Ray: So, patriarchal religions, once they realize that, they’ve taught you that your own body is your enemy: I mean look at the story of Adam and Eve. That is a signal that your body is the enemy and particularly women are the enemy.

Women were the temptress; women succumb to temptation. Women tempted men. All those are sins and crimes and all women are guilty of that crime in the Catholic worldview. Also, in the Islamic worldview, and to a somewhat lesser degree, even in Buddhism, Buddhists clearly are misogynistic, and male-dominated, patriarchal.

Hinduism, the same thing. So, you can name the patriarchal religion and control of women’s sexuality as number one in their list of priorities from their worldview. It starts early on with girls being taught about the religious concept of virginity.

Virginity is not a biological concept. At all. It’s a religious concept. So, what we do is we teach girls that virginity is precious, God owns your virginity; in other words, you do not own your own body, and losing your virginity is a dangerous thing.

You must guard it carefully. Of course, on the opposite side, it assumes that boys are out to get your virginity; that you must protect yourself; that you keep your legs together with an aspirin between them. All these messages.

In the purity culture, especially among fundamentalists, but it pervades our whole culture. And when we have people going into our schools right now teaching abstinence only, bull shit, the girls, most of the messages are guilt messages.

Now, why is that important in a patriarchal religion? Because when a child is taught their body is ba, they commit a sin, where they feel terrible about it. “I masturbated this morning, now I feel terrible, what do I do?”

A Baptist reads the Bible and prays. A Catholic goes to confession. A Mormon confesses to his bishop. Do you realize that bishop Mitt Romney of the Mormon church had to listen to 12-year-old boys tell him if they masturbated or not? Did you know that’s a part of the Mormon church?

12-year-old boys come in to get their talking to by the bishop and one of the questions they ask is, “Have you masturbated?” And if you have, “What are you going to do about not doing it anymore?”

This is a 12-year-old boy. They hand them an 8-page piece of literature. I even quote it extensively in my book, Sex and God. They even give them an 8-page a story or metaphor that does not mention the word sex or penis or masturbation, doesn’t mention it once, but the title is, “Don’t tamper with the factory.”

The metaphor is that your genitals are a factory for creating sperm. It’s going to do its thing and you shouldn’t mess with it. Don’t touch your genitals, [Laughing]! And Mitt Romney was giving this thing to people.

To 12-year-old boys, because the bishop in the Mormon church must do that, it’s one of their duties. Nobody said that during the election cycle, that’s for sure, [Laughing].

[5] The question from the interviewer:

Caroline McGraw: Let’s start with the surprising statistic that you share in The Sober Truth which is that AA, the quintessential 12 Step Program, has only about a 5 to 10% success rate. And obviously that’s a big problem, considering that about three-quarters of the residential addiction treatment centers in the US are 12 Step-based. I guess my first question is how did we get here?

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