SCEPTICAL JAYDON

In my opinion, we think about intelligence the wrong way. I think we confuse intelligence with being highly knowledgeable or well-read. While being highly knowledgeable is a sign of intelligence, I think the main (or best) marker of intelligence is problem-solving ability. Being knowledgeable or polymathic, in my opinion, doesn't count for much if the knowledge doesn't translate into innovative, pragmatic problem-solving in the real world. And I'm not talking about making scientific discoveries or technological invention; problem-solving could involve something as little as spotting a flaw in an argument and being able to prescribe a novel way of correcting that flaw or being able to find a pragmatic, conciliatory way of settling a social dispute. Of course, much of problem-solving involves being sufficiently knowledgeable about the ontology of the problem and, maybe, even its historicity; so in a sense, intelligence is not separable from having vast knowledge. But what re...

Nigeria has been going through a turbulent couple of weeks with the #EndSARS protests. The youths have been on the streets fighting for their rights to exist and to be governed properly and incorruptibly by the country's leaders. The Nigerian Army have been widely reported by local media, international media, and tonnes of eyewitnesses to have opened fire on innocent unarmed protesters at several locations across the two weeks as well, the most significant being the truly tragic events of around 7 p.m. at the Lekki toll gate on Tuesday night (20th October). A highly religious country, roughly 47% of Nigerians, predominantly in the South, believe in the Christian God of the Bible. Indeed, during the protests, people speaking in tongues at protest venues was a common sight. It is very clear that the Christian God of the Bible (simply "God" hereafter) is thought to be omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), omnibenevolent (all-loving or all-caring), perfectly fr...