The Masterminds: Chapter Two Is Up!

by
The Masterminds: Chapter Two Is Up!

Okay, for all of you detective serial fans, Chapter Two of the Masterminds is up and waiting for your perusal. In this chapter, we learn a little bit more about the Patterson case and we meet the mysterious Alex referenced in Chapter One. We also get to see a little bit more about how this unusual team thinks and works as well as getting a bit more of an insight into the dynamics at play.

I meant to post this Monday but that didn’t work out so well so here it is. As always, I love feedback so feel free to leave some. 🙂


Go, get your read on!

— G.K.

Updates Galore!

by
Updates Galore!

The latest chapters for Risen Ash, The Masterminds, and The Search for the Seven Scepters have all been posted. I’m working hard on all of these serials and will be adding chapters fairly frequently. If you enjoy them, consider backing me on Patreon. And, to those of you who have asked, I am setting up a PayPal subscription option for people who would rather pay a once-monthly flat rate for various levels of access. However, PayPal has been giving me nightmares over the weekend so I’m waiting on them to fix whatever is messed up in their system.

And now, I have to run! I’ve got meetings to go to, yo.



— G.K.

So, couple of announcements…

by
So, couple of announcements...

*taps microphone* Is this thing on?

So, as you can see, I’ve been a bit busy in the background completely redesigning this site from the ground up. Don’t get me wrong — I liked the old theme and all but it was getting a little dated and I wanted something more mobile friendly. Also, I decided to tackle a new venture: Patreon.

That’s right. I’m going to be posting my short stories and serials here and over there as well. You can get them here for free (as you have always been able to do with any of my non-published short-form work or my fanfics). But, if you want to go there and back me, you’ll get some pretty cool rewards for doing so. It’s a bit like Kickstarter…only, different.

And, as you can also see, I’ve been working on a lot of new writing projects. I’m just tweaking some layout bugs tonight but tomorrow you guys are going to see some of the stuff I’ve been writing in the background. If I can get enough support via Patreon, I’ll be able to write more frequently and provide more updates. Other writers, comic artists, and musicians have made it work for them so I figure I might as well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

— G.K.

Holy Daikatana! An Update?

by
Holy Daikatana! An Update?

Yeah, I know. I fell off the face of the Earth. In my defense — shit happened. Good shit, but shit nonetheless. Back on New Year’s Eve, my former employer pretty much told me that I could either go 1099 or be fired. I went 1099 and I’ve been setting up my business and trying to line up additional clients so that my current primary client (my former employer) isn’t such a dominant factor any longer. I’ve also been completely tied up with two other projects: The Watching Dead and Rooster and Pig. However, I’ve managed to get both of those whittled down to “acceptable levels of no longer having complete control over my life” and I’m making more money now that I’m on 1099 status (the getting to set my own hours helps beaucoup as well) which means that I might be able to actually start maintaining a presence here again.

 

Shocking, I know.

 

I do have some other pretty big announcements that will be coming out soon so stay tuned. Good news incoming, guys.

 

— G.K.

RIP Beth Greene

by
RIP Beth Greene

I have not been this sucker-punched since the first time I watched Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. If I were anymore floored, you could put carpeting on me. So, all I have to say is…

 

Well done, guys. Very, very well done. I haven’t been this emotionally traumatized over the death of a fictional character in a while. I thought the death of Sturm Brightblade in Dragonlance Chronicles was harsh but at least there had been some serious foreshadowing for that event. No, this is up there with losing Aeris in Final Fantasy VII right after you get her Ultimate Limit Break and spend over 20 hours leveling her so she can learn it. Even watching the Doctor lose Rose in Doomsday wasn’t this gut-wrenching.

 


Of all the times to run out of Phoenix Downs…

 

I may need to join a support group for this.

 

It’s not just that Beth and Daryl were my OTP ever since “30 Days Without An Incident.” It’s not just that she brought something that no one else could to the group — hope, idealism, and a little ray of sunshine. Yes, she started out in a bad place but that was just an aberration. She grew so much and was such an important but constantly taken for granted part of the prison gang that knowing that there is no chance we’re going to see her grow further is really, really depressing. But that is not the worst.

 


Yes, I was a Beth-Daryl shipper. Look at this and honestly tell me you don’t see it happening.

 

No, the worst is that her death was completely her own fault. Beth Greene practically committed suicide and she had to have known it. As soon as she put those scissors in her cast, I knew that there was no way this was going to end well. And I was right.

 

Now, before you jump on me with “well, she wasn’t just going to let Noah go back and let Dawn keep being Queen Bitch,” I get that. I know that she couldn’t do that. But, Cthulhu help me, she could have stopped and thought it out a little bit better. Rick can be a pretty silver-tongued fellow. He’s talked them out of some pretty bad situations when he was dealing with people who had at least some rationality left in them (so the Governor does not count because he was bat-crap crazy). She also knew that Dawn’s days of running Grady Memorial were well and truly numbered. Chances are that if Beth had just stepped back, one of the other cops would have taken Dawn down and then everyone (who wanted to) could have walked out of that hospital which is what Daryl wanted.

 


Instead, we got this

 

I’m both dreading and anticipating the second half of the season in February. I know it’s going to be tough watching the rest of the characters deal with the aftermath just when all of us in the fandom will have begun to move into the “Acceptance” stage of grief. However, gut-wrenching as this is, it must be necessary to the plot. It will give the characters who still live a chance to grow…or to be paralyzed. Watching them decide which way to go will be interesting even as it may wind up being heartbreaking.

 


Tell me that’s not heart-wrenching

 

And no, I’m not pissed at the writers. The only way they’re going to piss me off is if they take a page from Captain Kirk’s Kobayashi Maru playbook and throw us “The Search for Speth” or some other kind of deus ex machina maneuver. Beth’s death is a tragedy. I feel horrible for Maggie* because I know exactly what must be going through her mind. I feel terrible for Daryl* because I know how this has to have hollowed him out completely. But she died. Nothing’s going to change that. And if the fandoms turn against the writers and the show because they’re not going to magic up a solution to this relentless and remorseless fact of life, then they can vote me right off the island, too.

 


And now permit me to deliver my rebuttal…

 

Still…hardest sucker-punch since Wrath of Khan. That’s a badge of honor, Kirkman. A badge of frickin’ honor.

 

— G.K.

*I do mean the characters and not the actors. I’m sure it must be difficult for them to lose a coworker in what must be a very emotionally-charged environment. But, I do respect that the actors and the characters are separate people so no, I’m not spending a lot of time wondering what Lauren Cohen or Norman Reedus is thinking. It’d be a bit creepy if I did since they probably already have half the fandoms sending them sympathy cards or the like. I’ll just continue my respectful “not ever interacting with them because the 30 seconds I don’t take from them is 30 seconds they can do something they’d rather do” policy. So far, it’s working great! 😉

Preparing For the Zombie Apocalypse

by
Preparing For the Zombie Apocalypse

The first part of any plan is preparation. This guide assumes that, if you’re reading the “Preparation” chapter, the zombie apocalypse is currently only forecast, not imminent, ongoing, or — God forbid — over. So, you currently have some leisure time to use to preparing for the day when zombies rise up and begin feasting upon humanity’s tasty still-living innards. That means (for the slower amongst you) that you should take the time to purchase necessary gear, make notes, and prepare yourselves mentally for the day when the excrement hits the circular ventilator and the undead horde comes a-growlin’.

Preparation Plans of Vital Importance:
1) This shirt and/or poster from Dinosaur Comics — Buy this shirt and/or poster. Actually, get multiple copies. Like two for each family member. Seriously. Quit looking at me like I’ve gone crazy. The information on these items can act as a very useful reference tool during the zombie apocalypse. It’s a succinct guide to how to cobble together useful modern inventions that you may not be able to find when the local big box stores are looted and/or home to a hungry horde of the undead.


This shirt might save your life. Don’t thank me; thank Ryan North who came up with it (and who I hope won’t be bothered by my borrowing the image)

2) Purchase a composite bow or crossbow — Unless you have access to the materials to make gunpowder, reloading equipment, and knowledge of gunsmithing, chances are that, in time, you’re going to run out of bullets or your gun is going to need repair. After repeated use, guns need to be taken apart and cleaned and you may find that supplies to do so and to keep all of the moving parts oiled are in very short supply. However, a bow and arrows are technology that anyone can learn to maintain. True, today’s composite bows aren’t nearly as durable or easy to maintain as the old English longbows but they are much easier to use and repair. Keep plenty of spare bowstrings with you. Also, learn how to make your own arrows since, during the ZA, you probably won’t be able to stop off at the sporting goods store to pick up extra ones.

A crossbow is great for women since it doesn’t require as much upper-body strength to use. It’s also great for weirdos like me who have to aim out of their left eye but are right handed (meaning we have to use a southpaw bow to have a hope of hitting the target but can’t pull it back because our main arm is the right arm, not the left). It’s also easier to learn to use and aim than a regular bow (though still more difficult than a gun).


Crossbows aren’t just for badasses

3) Store up food reserves — Store non-perishable food like uncooked rice, pasta, boxed macaroni and cheese, Ramen noodles, canned foods (like Spaghetti-oes with meatballs), jerky, salt, and sugar. None of these require refrigeration and they can all be cooked or eaten without needing anything more complicated than an open flame. Keep water on-hand as well — either bottled or in re-usable jugs. You will need to pay attention to expiration dates on the bottles and will need to switch the jugs around every so often. Water doesn’t “spoil” per se but it does become undrinkable after a few weeks/months depending on the atmosphere.

4) Stock up on power reserves — Batteries, solar panels, windmills, waterwheels, and gasoline can all be stored for varying amounts of time. Gasoline with ethanol in it will tend to collect water which, over time, will make it impossible to ignite. You can refine and re-distill it with the appropriate tools and knowledge. You can also use distilled corn whiskey to power a car for a while so you might want to consider adding a still to your list here.


Can double as a fuel-maker in a pinch

5) Gather trade-able hard currency — Paper currency and coins are very quickly going to be worthless for anything other than vending machines. Gold, silver, platinum, and gemstones will wind up acting as de facto currency immediately after the ZA ends while the world is putting itself back together. So, if you can, gather them together and cache them some place. Don’t keep them with you during the ZA — it’s too likely that you’ll either be robbed or unable to trade them for anything useful without losing a lot of value. You might keep some smaller ones with you — just in case.

6) Prepare a safe place to bolt when the SHTF — We’ll go over this in more detail later but, if you’ve been preparing ahead of time, one thing you definitely need is a place to bolt to when things get too bad where you are. This is mostly if you live in the city or in a suburban area near a city. Cities will be the absolute worst places to be during the ZA. You’ll want to be at least an hour from any city larger than 100,000 and two to three hours away from any major urban hubs like Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Austin, Orlando, Miami, Sacramento, Cincinnati, Seattle, Portland, St. Louis, Las Vegas, and Detroit. Getting away from the East Coast and West Coast urban corridors (Boston-NYC-Philadelphia-DC-Baltimore on the East Coast, Los Angeles-San Francisco-San Diego on the West Coast) is absolutely critical. Five hours or more is recommended.

Your safe house should be in an area where you are not easily seen from any high traffic roads. It should either be set in a clear area where you can see at least a half-mile in any direction or, if you are blocked in one or more directions, those areas should be difficult for vehicles or large groups of people to move through undetected. The house should have a basement or storm cellar with a strong ceiling and a single main entrance with a heavy door that locks on both sides. You’ll want to keep plenty of food in the basement in case a horde of the undead or a group of ne’er-do-wells comes through and you need to hide out. Ideally, you’ll have a tunnel hidden in the basement with a second locking door that will allow you to escape to a camouflaged (and locked) entrance some distance away.

This home should have plenty of fields for planting different crops, pastures for cattle, a barn (with a basement), stables for horses, pigs, chicken coops, water, a fruit orchard, vegetable and herb gardens, and should be defensible with a secure perimeter.

7) Learn some basic medical skills and stock up on medical gear and drugs — This includes local botany and a bit of pharmacology. Take course from the local Red Cross for first responders. Study up on how to set broken bones, sew stitches, perform minor surgery, and perform a C-section. You might also want to learn how to remove teeth safely. Anything more than that is probably going to be beyond your ability without access to a blood bank, a sterile environment, and advanced respiratory and cardiac equipment, and a lot of surgical tools. You’ll want to focus on learning about the most common illnesses and treatments for them. You might also want to learn about some of the now-less-common illnesses such as measles, mumps, rubella, typhoid fever, cholera, and the like.

Just because it will come up: no, there is no such plant, herb, or anything that acts as a “natural” birth control pill. There was such a thing but it went extinct during the Roman era.


If someone had known what they were doing, Lori would still be annoying us with her presence

8) Stock up on purification and sterilization equipment — Get some iodine or water purification tablets and equipment. They will let you purify water when you’re on the go.

9) Get basic survival gear and learn some basic skills — Get a good hiking backpack, a small tent, a sleeping bag, canteen, flint and steel, a compass, and learn to use them all. Learn how to make fire in a variety of ways including making a firebow. Learn to track, hunt, and skin game. Learn to live off the land.

10) Consider purchasing a loom and some old-fashioned sewing gear — When there are no clothing stores, you’ll have to make what you have last and you’ll have to learn to re-purpose some items to fit others.


Loom required to make this poncho. Awesomeness required to make the badass wearing it

Once you have made your preparations and gotten your plans in order, you should be ready to weather the zombie apocalypse. At least, physically. Mentally and emotionally is going to wind up being a completely different story.

— G.K.

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse

by
Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse

So, I’m a Walking Dead fan. As in I drive out of my way to watch it (I don’t have cable — my parents do). I’ve even read some really bad (and some really good) fanfics. Hell, I get story and character ideas from the show and the buzz around it. And yes, Daryl Dixon is my favorite character. No, not because he’s good-looking or a bad boy or any of that but because he understands the value of silence, speaks only when he has something to say, thinks things through, and is ruthlessly competent. He also doesn’t suffer fools and will go his own way if he thinks it’s right. Ask me and those things are so much more important than looks.


If I had something to say, I’d say it. Otherwise, I’mma just be quiet and do useful things.

He kinda reminds me of the guy I married. In good ways, sweetie, I promise.

Anyhow, The Walking Dead isn’t the first zombie apocalypse thing I’ve gotten into. There was Resident Evil when I was in high school, World War Z (the novel, not the crappy movie that only has the title in common with the book), 28 Days Later (Chris Eccleston was great in that)… But, The Walking Dead has gotten me thinking about the ZA (Zombie Apocalypse) in different ways. Not only are a friend of mine and I thinking about getting together and doing a MST3K-style webshow, but I’ve been thinking about the different types of survivors, the different ways they band together, how they’re impacted by the ZA and the collapse of social order, how many of them have no real useful skills for surviving and how those who do (like Rick, Daryl, Hershel, and Glenn) wind up carrying those who don’t.


Better survival strategy than 90% of people

So, in short, this show has gotten all of my little INTJ lights glowing. So many things to think about. Which brings me to my next point: my latest book idea — “How to survive the Zombie Apocalypse (and rebuild the world after)” (yeah, the title’s rough). I’m going to be posting excerpts and sample articles from it here on the site. If you have a particular topic you think I should include, feel free to suggest it and, if I’m not already planning to cover it (and I’m planning to cover a lot), I’ll add it and give you a mention in the Acknowledgements. Keep in mind I’m just looking for topics — not full articles. So, saying something like “how to re-establish communications overseas” is fine — giving me a point-by-point list on how that should happen is not fine.

Anyhow, with that out of the way — keep an eye out here (or on Twitter, Facebook, G+, Tumblr, or even Pinterest) to see the latest in this weird, random, rambling series!

— G.K.

Women in Science: Doing Some Research

by
Women in Science: Doing Some Research

Last week I made the statement that I think that most of the people who choose to go into science are of the Rational (Myers-Briggs NT) temperament. I said that based on population studies of temperament and a gut feeling based on just about every STEM person I’ve known being an NT in temperament (with the odd ST here and there). I believe that, if that is correct, then that explains the lack of women in science much better and more clearly than believing in a sexist conspiracy theory.

 

However, right now, there doesn’t seem to be much hard data to support that statement. So…

 

 

I guess I’m going to have to collect the data myself. So, I’ve been hitting up MILO all weekend when I wasn’t working on my NaNoWriMo novel and have dug up some fairly good articles. I’m going to try to contact some of the sites that have MBTI-type quizzes on their sites and ask about their fees for buying one. Then I’m going to set it up here and invite people in the science world to take it and to note down what their job is. Once I have a fairly large data set on that, I’ll invite non-science people to take it and note down their jobs to see if there is any correlation between career choice and temperament. I have a fairly strong feeling that the two spheres giving SJWs headaches — #ShirtStorm and #GamerGate — will have an over-representation of men and women of an NT/Rational temperament compared to what you would find in the population at large.

 

 

Okay, that’s not really science. It’s data collection and statistics. I will be publishing the raw data once this is done so that if there is anything I missed (or mucked up), it can be caught. And, that’s close enough to science for Rose Eveleth and her ilk so (see how “doxing” came to mean “criticized” for her and her lot), in deference to their love of using words they shouldn’t use, I’m calling this shit “science.”

 

— G.K.

Women in Science: Can We Make Science and Math Non-NT Friendly?

by
Women in Science: Can We Make Science and Math Non-NT Friendly?

I honestly don’t think anyone in their right minds is asking this question. However, when we live in a world where an alleged science and tech writer for a major publication gets more caught up in a guy’s shirt than a major historic event, one can’t assume that they’re dealing with a sane populace. And, given how deeply SJWs have penetrated print and film, it’s probably safer to just assume arguendo that you’re dealing with complete morons who barely register as sapient, let alone sane, from the beginning.

So, can the subjects of math and science be changed to make them more readily graspable by non-NT minds? Short answer: no. Longer answer: sure. Just as soon as theorycrafting various sci-fi shows/movies becomes an Olympic event.


And the Golden Pikachu goes to Sam for winning the “Kirk vs Picard” debate

Science and math are abstract disciplines. Science, at least, has some concrete applications and studies that people without the NT temperament can grasp. People who are Sensors and Thinkers (XSTP, XSTJ) can more easily get into those fields. There are also fields were feelings are important (mostly in medicine) so NFs and XSFXs can participate there. Still, on average, even in these less abstract fields, non-NTs are going to have a harder time grasping the fundamental structures and patterns because their minds aren’t geared to it naturally the way that an NT mind will generally be. Science is a bit more accessible because it has many concrete and inductive aspects, unlike math.

For math — advanced and theoretical math — anyone without a “Thinking” in their temperament can pretty much just not bother. XSTXs can probably hack it if they really are interested but XSFXs and NFs probably won’t want to have much to do with abstract and theoretical mathematics. They might be happy in applied mathematics like finance, banking, accounting, and the like but they are probably not going to be found amongst the Nobel Prize crowd or solving the ultimate core model problem in set theory. Math is completely deductive, artificial, and abstract. Math, unlike science, cannot be “observed in nature.” You’re not going to see two numbers mating and be able to figure out what their product would be.

Or rather, if you do see such a thing, you are probably under the influence of some really fun stuff and you might want to check into a psychiatric hospital just to be safe.


I’m going to factor your brains out, baby.

The big problem comes in with math being applied in science. See, math can produce models that scientists can use to demonstrate, predict, or disprove hypotheses. Math is also a way of measuring distances, times, and references precisely. That’s why to advance high in science, you generally need to understand the mathematical statements that prove (or disprove) the theorems. Most anyone who paid attention to the teacher (instead of what the teacher was wearing — Chris Plante, I’m looking at you and Ms. Eveleth over there) in science knows that Newton’s first Law of Motion can be summarized as “an object in motion tends to stay in motion while an object at rest tends to stay at rest unless an external force acts on them.” That’s good enough if you’re just wanting to understand what the law is and how it might apply to simple real-world things (like how to get water to flow through an irrigation ditch) but if you’re going to try to figure out how to predict the path of an asteroid to see whether or not it’s going to hit Earth, you need to really know Newton’s law which is properly stated as:

ΣF = 0 ⇔ dv⁄dt = 0

Plugging that in with the data you have on positioning, spin, velocity, etc is part of how an objects’ path through space might be known. There probably are cleaner ways to figure it out but they’ll involve math that I can’t find let alone get the HTML code for, so we’re just going to stick with something simple.

Now, if you have a mind/temperament that doesn’t like to deal with abstractions easily and that doesn’t play well with being creative, you’re going to have a bad time trying to be a scientist. It’d be like sticking someone like me (an INTJ) into a counseling office and expecting us to be able to help some overwrought couple make an emotional connection.

In other words, it’s a bad idea all around.

And, while science and math are great — they’re what power the world right now — being good at them is not the only way to be smart. Sure, they’re probably the best way to be smart and do things that will have centuries’ of significance where your name will be remembered by generations untold, but they’re not the only way to be smart. There are ways for NFs (diplomats) to shine — just look at Mother Teresa or Tom Hiddleston. There are ways for SJs to shine — many American presidents have been SJs, after all. Even SPs have their place — most actors and artists are SPs. And these temperaments are not unimportant. They’re necessary. As much as it might seem that the world would be a great place with only NTs, it’d actually get a bit boring and argumentative. Sure, there probably wouldn’t be any wars because NTs are great at finding ways to get what they want even if the other side doesn’t want to cooperate. But, arguing would practically be a spectator sport. There’s also the added minus of the human population undergoing a massive contraction since INTJs and INTPs rarely bother with social interaction beyond our vague (and usually accidental) plans for world domination — which would make getting married and having kids a bit tricky — and the ENTJs and ENTPs would be too busy building their own empires and engaging in spirited debate. Maybe a few of us might engage in sexual intercourse (probably by accident or under the influence of alcohol and hormones) but probably not enough to keep the population booming.

On top of that, our kids would be miserable unless they were Thinkers because NTs are pretty crap at the whole “emotional connection and support” aspect of parenting (we’re also crap at it from the “being the kid” aspect — just ask my mother).

So, you’d have a world with loads of female scientists, yeah, and probably with all kinds of neat gadgets, interstellar flight, off-world colonies, etc…but it wouldn’t have things like Christmas, random barbeques, bars with pool tables, all kinds of different music, romantic comedies, or (and this is probably of supreme importance to Chris Plante and Rose Eveleth) fashion shows with models wearing a plastic Harley-Davidson motorbike front-end for a shirt (yeah, fellow NTs, I’m stumped on why such a thing exists outside of someone really wanting to be a motorcycle for Halloween).


That this actually exists is a bit frightening

Though, on the plus side: in a purely NT world, there would be no SJWs. So, maybe…hmph. I’ll schedule that for next Saturday’s Global Domination Summit meeting with my minions.

— G.K.

Women In Science: Can We Create More Female NTs?

by
Women In Science: Can We Create More Female NTs?

Ethically and legally? Probably not. But, if we’re looking at just “is this within the realm of probability with current technology” then the answer is “yes, maybe.” Understand, of course, that it’s not going to be something we could start working on tomorrow and that the suggestions on what to do range from mildly terrifying to downright scary. However, if your end goal is more women in science and you don’t care much about the means used to achieve that goal (which probably makes you part of the crowd clutching their pearls and fainting over a shirt), then consider this ground zero for your completely terrible campaign.


Even the Master is horrified by your callousness

The first thing we’ll need to do is figure out what determines and creates the different temperaments. There’s a lot of debate over this. Temperament does seem to be extant from birth and observable in infancy (though, again, that’s somewhat debatable). It’s unknown if temperament is genetic, if it’s encoded into a specific gene or series of genes, if it’s inherited but not genetic, if it’s a result of chemical washes in utero during fetal brain development, or if it’s just the result of something spinning the Wheel o’ Temperament and bam — you get whatever the arrow’s pointing to when you exit the birth canal. It could also be influenced by various environmental and nurturing factors in infancy. So, the first step is to:

  1. Collect several hundred thousand pregnant women of various races, age ranges, ethnicities, nationalities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic levels, and marital statuses. Note down who is who and then assign each one a random testing number so that a proper double-blind study can be done.
  2. Monitor maternal food and liquid intake and output, noting the times and frequency of hunger, elimination, and strange cravings. Also monitor maternal emotional levels and stress levels.
  3. Figure out a way to determine the exact hormonal levels being washed over the fetus in utero at each stage of pregnancy and note those down.
  4. If the mother chooses to breastfeed, continue to observe intake-output of maternal nutrients until the child is weaned.
  5. Test each child to determine temperament/personality type at an appropriate age (usually no earlier than 17).

That concludes the first part of this process. Once you’ve determined which children are NTs, go back over the data gathered earlier and try to tease out the commonalities in maternal (and paternal) traits. Did the mothers all experience similar hormonal washes during their pregnancies? Did they tend to eat or crave certain foods as a class? Note down all commonalities among the parents and prepare to proceed to the next step.

  1. Collect males and females with traits most likely to create an NT child (if there are any).
  2. Impregnate the females with sperm carrying only the X chromosome.
  3. Monitor each pregnancy to ensure that the proper foods, drinks, and in utero hormonal washes occur, terminating any that seem likely to be an non-NT temperament.
  4. Ensure that the parents use only child-rearing methods that were found in homes with INTJ children from phase one.

There, you should have a new generation of pure NT females now. Provided, of course, that temperament is determined this simply. If you repeat these steps over the course of enough generations, you might be able to extinguish all of the non-NT temperaments in the human race, leaving a world only of Rationals. Of course, at future steps, you will need to breed some male children (after all, it’s hard to reproduce sexually when there’s only one sex and even if you can, that has its own problems) but you should be able to figure out how to create male NT children and how to ensure that their children will be NTs.

Also, added “bonus:” you should be able to use the data from phase one to determine the commonalities for the other three temperaments so if you decided that one of them needed a greater population, you could selectively breed them.


And if we add more of this, we’ll get a batch of nice ESFPs…

Of course, if you actually try to do this, you’re probably a terrible person. You’re completely eliminating choice and freedom in mating and reproduction for both men and women but you will get more female scientists. If that is your end goal and you don’t care how ethically it’s achieved, then you’ll be okay with placing restrictions on humans having sex with partners of their own choice at times of their own choosing. You’ll get what you want but only at the price of virtually enslaving millions of women and making reproductive decisions on their behalf.

Which probably makes you a feminist and a social justice warrior but almost absolutely precludes you being a Rational.

— G.K.