Test Results

When I was young, I was a fan of The Spark, an online community that revolved around taking tests and quizzes about one's personality. It was silly, but I was serious enough about it to actually stay on the site for years, even after they switched over to OkCupid, which is primarily a dating and friendship finding community site.

While most of those tests are now the kind of thing that I don't take seriously at all, there are quite a few that nonetheless have some minor level of legitimacy to them. As I was taking the 2012 LessWrong Census/Survey, quite a few of these test results were requested, and so I ended up retaking several of the more scientific ones. It seemed wasteful to only allow that information to be used for CFAR, so I thought it might be appropriate to pull together these results here in a blog post. Consolidating this data is probably not worth reading for most of my blog subscribers (feel free to close this page now, all of you), but if you're the Eric of the future who is wanting to compare results from these tests taken years later, this is as good a place as any for me to compile the data.

So, without further ado, I present the results of several personality (and other) tests taken this year.

Big Five (OCEAN)

The Big Five test scores on openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism. (Hence why it is sometimes referred to as the OCEAN test.) These personality traits are often used by psychologists as a model of human personality. I took the test at outofservice.com/bigfive. My scores are available there, and reproduced below.

• Openness: 96%
• Conscientiousness: 96%
• Extraversion: 4%
• Agreeableness: 87%
• Neuroticism: 1%

Political Compass

Political stances differ widely between most people, not just in terms of economic Left and Right, but also in terms of social libertarian/authoritarian values. The test at politicalcompass.org does an exemplary job of tracking one's political views on a two-dimensional grid. My results are available there, as well as below.

• Economic: -10.00
• Social: -8.62

Intelligence Quotient

First of all, IQ is not really a useful measure. A simple search through the skeptical literature on how IQ tests are used in our society will easily show this. However, it does have the minor legitimate use of determining one thing in particular: the aptitude of the person taking the test in how well they perform on IQ tests. That sounds silly, but hey: at least it's true. The IQ test I took is available at iqtest.dk, and is wholly pattern oriented, with all cultural questions removed. I scored 122, which is about twenty points less than the score I received in independent testing during my childhood. I'm not sure if this rather dramatic drop says something about the earlier test, this test, or specifically about me.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Jungian typological theories are underneath the MBTI questionnaire, and break down the personality in terms of sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking. The validity of this test is about on par with IQ; it is currently used, but the evidence for it being useful is lackluster in comparison to how often the test is given. Nevertheless, mainstream opinion seems to be neutral, as opposed to for or against, so it is included here as well. I took the test at Humanmetrics Jung typology test, and received an INTJ classification.

• Strong preference of Introversion over Extraversion (78%)
• Strong preference of Intuition over Sensing (100%)
• Moderate preference of Thinking over Feeling (25%)
• Moderate preference of Judging over Perceiving (44%)

Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R)

While all of the above tests were taken in early November of 2012, the results of the PCL-R I record here come from a self-test administered in May of 2012. The PCL-R is a checklist for sociopathic tendencies, and has both adherents and critics in the field, making it unclear as to how seriously one should take the results. The vast majority of people score a 3 or less on the test; sociopaths generally score 25+. I scored 8. Among all friends that I've talked into taking the test, I am by far the highest. (The highest any of my friends has so far scored is 3.) I'm not sure what this says about any sociopathic tendencies I may or may not have, though I should take pains to assure readers that most people consider me to be a very moral person in general.

Final Notes

If for some reason someone is still reading who isn't me in the future, then you might possibly be interested in knowing where you can find more data from tests I've taken or questions I've answered. I will direct such people to my OkCupid profile, which has well over a thousand questions published that I've answered publicly. While OKC is branded as a dating site, the sheer amount of public data there on questions ranging from personality to morality, everyday outlook to political persuasion, and even metaphysical philosophy to aesthetic tastes can be useful for any number of non-relationship purposes. Also related is my Combosaurus account, which has several additional data points. Combosaurus is currently in alpha, so may not be visible to most people yet. They're run by the same engineers behind The Spark and OkCupid.

Also of interest may be my responses to the PhilPapers Survey of philosophers, which lists just about every philosophical position I have on mainstream philosophical questions.

Resumption of Old Habits

It's been a while since I've blogged regularly, though my twitter and facebook feeds have been going strong all this time. Nevertheless, I think it's time to jump back into the habit of recording a few more long-form posts from time to time.

If you're seeing this in your rss reader and wondering who the hell I am, all I can say is that you once found me interesting enough to follow my blog. With any luck, I'll still be able to live up to those old standards. But if you're not convinced, then you have my apologies for resurrecting a feed that's been dead for over four years. Sorry to get in the way of your daily dose of webcomics.

EricHerboso.com is Now Live!

After multiple delays, I have finally gotten EricHerboso.com up and running!
Unfortunately, that means that this blogger journal will no longer be updated. Please point your RSS reader to EricHerboso.com/blog/feed/rss to continue to receive updates, and don't forget to visit EricHerboso.com to see my new site!

Welcome to the Weblog of Eric Herboso

The start of a new blog is always a momentous occasion for me, but I think that this time it is even more special. Because along with starting this new blog, I am starting my new life.
I suppose I should introduce myself, since this is my first entry. I always have problems with self-description ( I get flashbacks of Gödelian-self reference), but I suppose I can quote a short essay I wrote back in 2005. It does the job fairly well, I think.

At heart, I am a philosophy person with a pronounced bent toward mathematics and logic in general. Yet I possess a strong sense of right and wrong that is not justified, but only felt. It is this moral sense that predominately guides how I live my life.
I also have a strong passion for writing. It is only through the written word that I am fully able to best express myself; due to a slight speech impediment and an infamous knack for forgetting suitable synonyms unless I am seated w/ a pen in my hand, I will never be much of a speaker, however well I may write speeches.
Despite these quirks, I remain a hopeless romantic--a lover of love itself--constantly looking forward to the day when my hopelessness will be disproved by counterexample.
I am vegetarian, with aspirations toward veganism; I am a fervent pacifist, with ideals far from what is practical in today's world; I am socially liberal, with leanings toward a Tolstoy-style anarcho-socialism; I am a determined skepticist, a strict agnostic, and a beleaguered instrumentalist; I am argumentative, painfully outspoken, and dreadfully afraid that my subconsciousness is but temporarily hiding a closet capitalist nature, fully bent on rugged individualism and the justice of the capable serving above and without the worthless.
I am Eric Herboso. I am me, and no other. I am.

And with that out of the way, I'm looking forward to a productive blog full of experiences and thoughts, rants and teachings. I hope you'll join me for the ride.

Untitled

This is just to inform you that updates on this journal have been suspended for the time being. While I may or may not update this journal in the coming months, rest assured that I will, as always, update my LiveJournal account regularly. Please visit http://www.livejournal.com/users/EricJHerboso for further access to the thoughts of a man you likely care nothing at all about.

Oh, and don't think I'll neglect reading my Xanga subscription just 'cause I've stopped posting in it. (c;

-Eric

Worthy of Attention: Taking Stock of Reality: Back After Katrina

Note: Worthy of Attention was a column that I used to write in the online blog Panangelium.

Okay, so it's been a while since I posted. At least this time I have a (slightly more) valid excuse. Hurricane Katrina really screwed up a lot of my plans recently. Forcing its way hrough less than a week after school school began, I had not yet moved my stuff into my new dorm when I had to leave abruptly and catch a death cold of immense proportions. Even after power was restored and my sickness died down (thank god for a/c), I had lost two acquaintances to the storm's fury and two of my friends had severe flood damage in their home. The job I had agreed to take upon starting school again has been completely ignored so far; I won't even start until Monday of next week. Classes are severely behind, and class sizes are in some cases double what they were, because students from the destroyed campuses of Loyola and the like have transferred to Spring Hill College in an attempt to continue their education despite Katrina's wrath.

Writing this column does mean a great deal to me. It is, in my mind, a place where I may write about things that make people feel. And so I am quite glad to be back -- as odd as it may seem, writing these articles makes things seem more normal, even if they really aren't.

I have an article already written--it was finished before Katrina hit, actually--but I will wait until next week before posting it. It just doesn't seem appropriate, given that in every one of my classes, at least one person has lost their homes, or one of their family members' lives. For those of you who know of no one on the Gulf Coast, allow me to let you know that this hurricane has severely affected a great deal of people in very negative ways. But despite this, life goes on, and tragedy will pass in time.

Until next week, when I will present an argument in favor of infanticide, may you all live on, and enjoy life.

Be well.

Worthy of Attention: Taking Stock of Reality: The Meta-article

Note: Worthy of Attention was a column that I used to write in the online blog Panangelium.

I may be just enough of a masochist
to try it out on the side as well.

If ever there were a more morose, pitiably pedantic, and terribly trite joke of a job than writing weekly articles for no pay, then please let me know about it. I may be just enough of a masochist to try it out on the side as well.

Yet somehow this weekly column bit is teaching me a lot about what is and is not acceptable in writing to a general audience. In the two and a half months that Panangelium.tk has been online, I feel that I have progressed toward making my writing more accessible, interesting, and perhaps fun for the general reader. Though most who read my articles do not leave comments on the site (a situation I heartily regret), I do get e-mails occasionaly from some readers who perhaps feel obligated to read my stuff (i.e., friends and family), and from their incomparably comstructive criticism (which by the way outweighs praise by a factor of three to one), I think I have finally found how to adapt to an audience much more diverse than I've catered to in the past (as can easily be seen from a cursory glance at my LiveJournal). Now all I need is to learn to be more responsible with my deadlines and to (for the love of god) condense my writing (whilst getting rid of unnecessary paranthetical statements) to make it more palatable to the random viewer (of which, by the way, there are literally hundreds -- three hundred unique visitors since the site's conception in June 2005 -- though it may not look it due to the sparse traffic in the commentspace, literally dozens of random visitors in nine different countries [including Singapore, UK, Taiwan, New Zealand, Dominican Republic, and others] in twelve different time zones arrive each week to read one or another of our columnist's weekly articles, and about half of these readers are repeat visitors; admittedly, thats not too impressive when compared to most webzines out there today, but for a two-and-a-half month old site that has only content as its selling point, I'd like to think that it's particularly impressive).

As a weekly columnist, I am often given suggestions for future topic to write on in those letters that friends and family sometimes send me. Strangely, though, all of the subjects recommended to me seem nearly the same: Iraq, animal cruelty, Bush, Wal-Mart, Rove, etc. And though each of them does indeed deserve an article of their own, especially in a column such as this one, I simply cannot do justice to such lofty topics while I am still coming to terms with what it means to write in a weekly column to a very generalized (and multicultural) audience.

I'm telling you all thee things because this week, I have chosen a different topic: the topic of writing this column. Today's article is a metaarticle, where I am writing of the very fact of writing the article itself. I feel that such a topic is indeed worth of attention, not because I am full of myself, nor even of my job (having readers in nine countries isn't quite so impressive when you realize most of them come once, and never return to read another article again), but because I feel that all individuals are worth of attention; and quite frankly, I feel much more qualifed to write on what it's like to write than to take on the topics suggested to me by friends and family.

Writing [Panangelium.tk] articles
has been especially hard for me.... 

Writing these articles has been especially hard for me, because I have had to learn to adapt to a general audience, whereas before my targeted audience was a very small chunk of what I write to now. Add to this that the last two and a half months have been some of the most turbulent in my life (see my LiveJournal for details), and one can easily see how keeping up with the demands of a non-paying job such as this one has taken quite a toll on me.

But, of course, I do not expect you to feel sorry for me. I just want you to know what it's like to write these articles. And man, let me tell you: it's fucking depressing.

I just want you to know what it's like
to write these articles....
[I]t's fucking depressing.

Not only do I have to research the terrible atrocities that I write about, but I also have to look for new topics as well, and when one is physically trying to get more information about the sad state of the world, one finds out some very disturbing things. I have read more essays and reports on how horrible things are going in this world in the past two and a half months than I have in the preceding twenty-four years. Life, I have come to find out, sucks.

But I deal with it. I mean, what else is there to do, really? I have a big heart, larger than most people realize, and I truly feel the plight of others whenever they are in trouble. Reading Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky and Peter Singer and William Blum, among others, serves to sadden me a great deal -- but it also gives me the chance to feel alive. It seems like before I spent so much time researching these things, I lived in a fake world, devoid of the concept of good and evil. Yet now, I feel like there is a purpose to life. Not just for me, but for all people.

And that's why writing these weekly articles is so enjoyable to me, even after all that I've said above. As morose, pedantic, and trite as this job is, I feel that it is a worthwhile experience, just because I may be able to share what I've learned to a broader audience, one by one. Starting on September first, Panangelium.tk will be enjoying an advertising campaign aimed at recruiting an order of magnitude more readers. In preparation for this, expect Panangelium.tk to undergo a few changes in how the site looks, as well as the introduction of a guest column, where each week, we'll begin to present articles from you, our loyal readers. If you think you might be interested in writing an article to be posted on Panangelium.tk, please e-mail me directly at Garacan@gmail.com.

Until next week when I bring up something significantly more depressing, be well.

My First Journal Entry

Well, I've finally started a LiveJournal. Certainly took me long enough.

I suppose I should start by introducing myself -- it does seem to be the proper thing to do, though I admit that I'm not sure whom I am introducing myself to, seeing as how no one yet reads nor even looks at this journal. Hmm... I guess I will just have to address this introduction of myself to the rare reader who finds my journal later on, and decides to read my first entry, on a whim, just to see what it might be like. I wonder how much time will pass before anyone reads this first entry of mine...

Sorry about all that. I do tend to ramble at times. My apologies. Anyway, moving on...

My name is Eric Jonathan Herboso. When witing my name, I generally write it as: "Eric J. Herboso". The use of my middle initial is somewhat important to me. I am twenty-two years old, born on the evening of July 1, 1981. I look older, however, and I feel younger. (I'm so odd.)

I am currently an undergraduate student at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, majoring in mathematics and philosophy, with a minor in literature and a peculiar emphasis on political science. I plan to switch over to physics once in grad school in Los Angeles, California. After that, my future plans are to teach college-level physics and mathematics courses at a small private institution.

I love to argue and debate. Almost any topic will do: philosophy, logic, religion, politics, mathematics, literature -- hell, even video games make for interesting discussion with me. (Ask me about Rinoa Heartilly if you've played all the way through FFVIII.) I love to read; mostly, I read nonfiction essays and such, but I do adore great literature almost as much as I abhor bad literature. I am an incessant writer... Sometimes I think it is to make up for not talking much most of the time. But then again, when I get into a good argument, I do tend to talk almost as much as I write. I like composing music, usually of the background kind, and always instrumental. I love playing games: Magic: The Gathering, StarCraft, Final Fantasy and Axis & Allies immediately come to mind.

Before I get into the familiar grind of blogging, however, I would like to point out that I have had an ongoing online journal since October first, 2001. Unfortunately, at the time I had chosen freeopendiary.com as my journal webhost, and they have been -- how should I put it? -- quite inefficient at the job. Of course, free is free, no matter how one looks at it, and it has only been quite recently that LiveJournal has started accepting new journalers without using a code of some kind first.

Unfortunately, I took down most of the entries from my freeopendiary journal, but if you're interested, you can still see a few of them at http://www.opendiary.com/entrylist.asp?authorcode=B441946. I warn you, though: pop-ups abound there. Note also that I spent much of my time there both writing to and reading the entries of two other freeopendiary users: Harm's Way, an 18 year old college freshman that is well versed in literature, poetry, and cursing -- I'm not sure which he's best at, but it's definitely one of those three; and Child Of Babylon, an 18 year old college freshman that has a sincere capacity for thought, emotion, truth, and the situation of the human soul in joy and turmoil -- and she also has a very blunt and open perception of the passions of humanity.

You may also find interesting the journals of those I know on LiveJournal already: Robin Raven, the one person I admire most in this world for following her dreams and actually coming through with them --she is my best friend and confidant, and the one woman that I have ever loved in my life; and The Blessed Lunatic, the only one of my friends at Spring Hill College that has a LiveJournal account.

Keep in mind that not every subsequent entry will be original; I have a tendency to quote sections of text that I find interesting before I give my reaction to them. But don't worry about ever being confused, because, if anything, I am always extremely careful about citing everything I quote from elsewhere. Note also that I will sometimes quote myself from an earlier journal entry, whether written on paper or online, as sometimes it is relevant to the day at hand.

And with that, I suppose I will start this journal. You may expect my next entry to be one more typical of the entries I plan to write in this journal.

Until then...

-EjH

My AIM Profile

As copied from my AIM profile at this date.

Likes: physics, Tae Kwon Do, books, Magic: The Gathering, big band, Command & Conquer, Final Fantasy VI, Geico commercials, drum corps, first dates, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, composing

Dislikes: stupidity, indecisiveness, laziness, unassertiveness, Dr. Laura, raw oysters, & retards.

"Only 3 things can stop TRIX from winning. And they are BAD player, BAD construction, and BAD consult." -Warren Malsh

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

" 'Nice' bears little relationship to 'kind'; it's simply the path of least resistance for those with so lttle confidence in their real talents, intellect, and power of discernment they cannot support or even question their own ideas and convictions."

My First Journal Entry

Midterm exams start this week, yet instead of studying, I've decided to start this online journal.

I guess sometimes my inner desires win out over my ever-present logic. But oh, well.

I like the idea of typing my thoughts out to the world at large. I have no one in real life that I truly talk to anymore... Or perhaps I never did. Either way, the reasoning is the same: I am writing here because I am tired of keeping it all inside. I am tired of not having any true friends. I am tired of being disliked. I am tired of living a life that I don't want to live.

An open journal may not fix all of these things, but the effort alone is worth it to me.

I guess time will tell whether or not this is a good idea... We will see eventually...

An Intellectual Dreamer...

It is on this date that I first created a blog on the internet, at FreeOpenDiary.com. The following is the main introductory page of that journal.

An Intellectual Dreamer...

by Garacan
Location: Mobile, AL @ Spring Hill Coll.
Age: 21 Sex : M 
Eric J. Herboso's Diary
geocities.com/EricJHerboso
Remember To Sign My Guestbook

URL: http://www.geocities.com/EricJHerboso
AIM: EricJHerboso
MSN: EricJHerboso
ICQ: 173306991
Yahoo: EricJHerboso
E-Mail: EricJHerboso@yahoo.com
Guestbook: http://EricJHerboso.SignMyGuestbook.com

My name is Eric J. Herboso, and I'm a 21 year old male attending Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. I am a mathematics major, though I plan on switching over to physics in grad school.

I am an intellectual. I like to think, talk, and argue. But I'm also very spiritual in a strange sort of way... I find that I almost have two distinct personality styles within my own brain. One is logical to a fault, and the other cannot survive without the concept of love.

This online journal will chronicle my thoughts as I think them, as each day passes by. Expect to see within essays on physics, philosophy, morality, religion, and love. Expect also to see incoherent dreams, devoid of logic, and full of obscure references that even I don't sometimes catch.

I am as weird as a person can get, and yet somehow I seem strangely normal... How much of yourself will you see in me, I wonder? And how much will seem so strange to you that you will click away, dumbfounded?


I welcome all readers, and all comments. If you wish to contact me directly, you may do so at: 
ericjherboso@yahoo.com
-or-
ejherboso@shc.edu

You may also learn more about me by going to:



I hope you enjoy my writings. (c;

Eric302anh Profile

[The following is a copy of my AOL profile as of 19 March, 2002. The web address given is no longer live.]

Member Name:
Eric Jonathan Herboso (If you don't know how to spell or can't type with semi-decent grammar, please don't IM me.)

Location:
Mobile, AL (I'm 20 years old. If you want a guy with a pic, IM someone else, please. However, if you honestly do want to know what I look like, try asking me to meet you someplace public. Also note that I prefer talking to intelligent people.)

Sex:
Male

Marital Status:
Single, of course. What else?

Hobbies:
Wishing, hoping, reading, writing, and dreaming. Games: Magic, Final Fantasy, StarCraft, Set, Command & Conquer. Music: J.S. Bach, G. Miller, P. Schickele, & P. Glass. Authors: A. Rand, J.K. Rowling, I. Asimov, G. Orwell, E. Hayden, O.S. Card, E.A. Poe.

Computers:
Dell, eMachine, & Gateway. The fastest is a 1 GHz w/ 256 MB of RAM. I use AOL & MSN dial-up at home and a T1 connection at work.

Occupation:
I am a Customer Service Representative for Hertz. I also manage an apartment complex, and own around twenty vending machines.

Personal Quote:
"Beauty before wealth, intelligence before beauty, and character before intelligence. To rank them any other way is to fail in your search."
"Love is to life as Morphling is to a control deck. You can do well without it, but why would you want to?"

Hometown HomePage:
http://hometown.aol.com/eric302anh/