This doesn’t seem to me to be about fundamental intelligence, but upbringing/training/priorities.
Well, then I have to ask what you think “fundamental intelligence” consists of, if not ability with (and consequently patience for and interest in) abstractions.
Can we taboo ‘intelligence’, perhaps? We are discussing what someone ought to do who is average in something, which I think we are implicitly assuming to be bell-curved-ish distributed. How changeable is that something, and how important is its presence to understanding the Sequences?
I reject the assumption behind ‘ability with (and consequentially patience for and interest in)‘. You could equally say ‘patience for and interest in (and consequentially ability in)’, and it’s entirely plausible that said patience/interest/ability could all be trained.
Lots of people I know went to schools were languages were not prioritised in teaching. These people seem to be less inherently good at languages, and to have less patience with languages, and to have less interest in them. If someone said ‘how can they help the Great Work of Translation without languages’, I could suggest back office roles, acting as domestic servants for the linguists, whatever. But my first port of call would be ‘try to see if you can actually get good at languages’
So my answer to your question is basically that by the time someone is the sort of person who says ‘I am not that intelligent but I am a utilitarian rationalist seeking advice on how to live a more worthwhile life’ that they are either already higher on the bellcurve than simple ‘intelligence’ would suggest, or at least they are highly likely to be able to advance.
Well, then I have to ask what you think “fundamental intelligence” consists of, if not ability with (and consequently patience for and interest in) abstractions.
Can we taboo ‘intelligence’, perhaps? We are discussing what someone ought to do who is average in something, which I think we are implicitly assuming to be bell-curved-ish distributed. How changeable is that something, and how important is its presence to understanding the Sequences?
I reject the assumption behind ‘ability with (and consequentially patience for and interest in)‘. You could equally say ‘patience for and interest in (and consequentially ability in)’, and it’s entirely plausible that said patience/interest/ability could all be trained.
Lots of people I know went to schools were languages were not prioritised in teaching. These people seem to be less inherently good at languages, and to have less patience with languages, and to have less interest in them. If someone said ‘how can they help the Great Work of Translation without languages’, I could suggest back office roles, acting as domestic servants for the linguists, whatever. But my first port of call would be ‘try to see if you can actually get good at languages’
So my answer to your question is basically that by the time someone is the sort of person who says ‘I am not that intelligent but I am a utilitarian rationalist seeking advice on how to live a more worthwhile life’ that they are either already higher on the bellcurve than simple ‘intelligence’ would suggest, or at least they are highly likely to be able to advance.