Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share “The Corner-Stone” by Benquo
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
“The Corner-Stone” by Benquo
Is the US a ruthless cognitive meritocracy that reliably promotes outlier talent? VB Knives defended that claim in a Twitter argument against Living Room Enjoyer that got my attention.
[1]
Knives argued that if you have a 150 IQ, you'll be a National Merit Scholar, which "at a minimum" gets you a free ride at a state flagship university, from which you can proceed to law school, med school, etc. Enjoyer shot back: I'm a Merit Scholar, where's my free ride? Knives asked Grok, Elon Musk's AI; Grok recommended the University of Alabama, ranked #169.
How elite is elite?
About 1.3 million high school juniors take the PSAT each year. Around 16,000 become Semifinalists (top 1.2%), of whom about 95% become Finalists. Of those 15,000 Finalists, only about 6,930 receive any NMSC-administered scholarship at all. The best-known category is a one-time $2,500 payment; most other awards are corporate- or college-sponsored.
The prospect of a free ride comes from a handful of schools that use National Merit status as a recruiting tool. The University of Alabama (the example Grok cited in the thread) offers Finalists a package covering tuition for up to five years, housing, a $4,000/year [...]
---
Outline:
(00:46) How elite is elite?
(08:20) What meritocracy was for
(11:36) The compliance pipeline
The original text contained 19 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.
---
First published:
April 2nd, 2026
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tihhx7iy8C6yyHaC2/the-corner-stone
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
View all episodes
By LessWrongIs the US a ruthless cognitive meritocracy that reliably promotes outlier talent? VB Knives defended that claim in a Twitter argument against Living Room Enjoyer that got my attention.
[1]
Knives argued that if you have a 150 IQ, you'll be a National Merit Scholar, which "at a minimum" gets you a free ride at a state flagship university, from which you can proceed to law school, med school, etc. Enjoyer shot back: I'm a Merit Scholar, where's my free ride? Knives asked Grok, Elon Musk's AI; Grok recommended the University of Alabama, ranked #169.
How elite is elite?
About 1.3 million high school juniors take the PSAT each year. Around 16,000 become Semifinalists (top 1.2%), of whom about 95% become Finalists. Of those 15,000 Finalists, only about 6,930 receive any NMSC-administered scholarship at all. The best-known category is a one-time $2,500 payment; most other awards are corporate- or college-sponsored.
The prospect of a free ride comes from a handful of schools that use National Merit status as a recruiting tool. The University of Alabama (the example Grok cited in the thread) offers Finalists a package covering tuition for up to five years, housing, a $4,000/year [...]
---
Outline:
(00:46) How elite is elite?
(08:20) What meritocracy was for
(11:36) The compliance pipeline
The original text contained 19 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.
---
First published:
April 2nd, 2026
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tihhx7iy8C6yyHaC2/the-corner-stone
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
More shows like LessWrong (30+ Karma)
View all
The Daily
112,347 Listeners
Astral Codex Ten Podcast
130 Listeners
Interesting Times with Ross Douthat
7,244 Listeners
Dwarkesh Podcast
560 Listeners
The Ezra Klein Show
16,327 Listeners
AI Article Readings
4 Listeners
Doom Debates!
14 Listeners
LessWrong posts by zvi
2 Listeners