Michael Needs Sleep

The "g factor," or general intelligence factor, is a concept in psychology and intelligence testing that refers to the idea that intelligence is not just a collection of specific abilities or skills, but is instead a single, overarching factor that contributes to a wide range of cognitive tasks. The idea of a general factor of intelligence was first proposed by psychologist Charles Spearman in the early 1900s, who noticed that people who performed well on one cognitive task tended to perform well on other tasks as well. He called this the "positive manifold," and argued that it was evidence for a single, general factor that underlies all cognitive abilities. Since then, man y intelligence tests have been developed that attempt to measure the g factor. These tests typically consist of a variety of tasks that assess different cognitive abilities, such as verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, and working memory. By analyzi ng the pattern of scores across these di...

It all began on Twitter. I was reading an informative thread about the panic surrounding “contact-overdoses” from fentanyl (mainly among law enforcement officers). I noticed that some  commenters were asking fair questions and being lambasted for politely daring to reveal their lack of expertise regarding the chemical properties of fentanyl and its effects on the human body, then having the audacity to express their desire for further clarification.  “I fully RESENT these people's desire to better understand this subject!!” is what I’d probably be saying if I had the same awful attitude as those on the thread who, while correctly calling out fentanyl myths, were acting like total jerks. Rather than jump into the fray and fight literally everyone, I embarked upon a frenzied and messy voyage through the fraught seas of fentanyl fact and fiction. You see, I am a provider, and today I’m here to provide you with the clarity at least seven people were deprived of on that Twitter thr...

You can’t. You’ll recognize a sapiosexual when they identify themselves as such. Worthy of note is that when someone makes that claim, they are trying to influence your perception of their own intelligence. At best, it’s driven by youthful naïveté, but it’s  pretentious snobbery at worst , and at its highest likelihood. This is because “sapiosexuality”,  in the context of sexual orientations ,  doesn’t make sense. It’s akin to calling your self a psilósexual because you are attracted to people taller than you. It’s just a trait. And a markedly subjective one, at that. You’re unlikely to find someone treating their preference for taller folks as a sexuality. Just like if you speak to a man who says he prefers brunette women over blondes, he’s unlikely to create a sexuality around it because there’s no social currency to be won by doing so. The APA defines sexual orientation  as “an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or bo...