Note by Paul Cooijmans: This interview originally appeared at http://thebestpulpfiction.com/stso/id204.html. A curriculum vitae of Jonah Lissner is at http://joe3998.tripod.com/. An interesting article by him is Evidence for the Ancestors of the Guanches as Founders of Pre-Dynastic Egypt.
Q. Why do you write music?
To let people hear how I experience life and how my thinking goes, and to make something that is exactly the way I want it to be. A world of my own. The idea to start with music came when I was about 14, and mostly listening to Van Halen and Pink Floyd. My first record I bought when I was 13: Bat out of Hell by MeatLoaf. Not that I write or play that kind of music, but that is how it started.
Q. What was the best day of your life?
I have never thought about that or asked myself that. I suppose the best day of my life is still to come. I can't think of any day in my life that would be the best. Maybe this is because I am rather stable, mood-wise.
An interesting day to mention though was when I had submitted a short story for a story contest, and at the ceremony where the winner would be announced, a video portrait of me was displayed, and those of two other competitors. I didn't get the prize eventually by the way. The nice thing is that in my story too, the main character took part in a story contest, and a video tape of him was displayed at the ceremony (in the story). Also, my father had died the day before (in reality).
Q. What is your favorite city?
I don't like cities, they are too crowded and busy for me. I like deserts better. But if I would have to choose one, it would be Maastricht, in the south of the Netherlands.
Q. What is it about pulp fiction that you enjoy and whom is your favorite author and character?
I don't know exactly what is pulp fiction and what not, but the first that occurs to me is Douglas Adams' Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, which I read many times when I was about 16, and inspired me to start writing myself. The first I wrote was a science fiction novel of about 100 pages, which I never showed to anyone. After that I really only wrote short stories and very short pieces of text. A favorite character in Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy was Zefod Bijsterbuil. That's his name in the Netherlandic version. I believe he had two heads.
Currently I don't read much fiction; what I enjoy when I read is often the absurd. Another example is the cartoon Mortadelo y Filemón (Paling en Ko in the Netherlandic version). They have a web site at www.mortadeloyfilemon.com . I have many of their books, although most serious cartoon book stores refuse to sell them, I don't know why.
Q. What fascinates you about intelligence testing?
My original fascination started when I didn't yet know much about intelligence and testing. I designed a system for grading a guitarist's level of advancedness, and was fascinated by the possibility of climbing through the grades to higher levels. Systems of grades based on advancement in knowledge and skill were what fascinated me.
From that I went on to design I.Q. tests. But one of the discoveries I made, a bit disappointingly, was that with I.Q. you can't really advance much once you're an adult. With I.Q. tests you really don't measure advancedness, but a largely inborn property of mind. It took years to fully realize that, and how important it was. I kept going on with I.Q. testing, although the fascination with advancing through a system of grades turned out not to apply.
I do see now the value of I.Q. tests as a tool to achieve a better organization of society, and ultimately universal peace.
Q. Where were you born and your earliest memory?
I was born in Lieshout, Netherlands. Lieshout has 4400 inhabitants. My earliest memory is that I was lying in the cradle on my back and wanted out. I said "ut", meaning "uit" ("out" in Netherlandic), and was frustrated that I could not pronounce the "ui" sound. I did not like lying on my back. I was probably nine months old then.
Q. What is improvable concerning intelligence testing in the 21st Century?
First, it should be used more, especially in education to help form groups of children based on ability rather than age. Also in career choice, and in personnel selection. In screening job applicants, I.Q. and other ability testing should be the major method, and we have to get rid of evils like "EQ", "social intelligence", "team player", "networking", "politic of friends", "old boys network" and so on. I.Q. tests should also be used in elections, to apply vote weighting based on intelligence (the more intelligent voters getting the greater weights of course). A nice fine-tuning of democracy. World peace is around the corner then.
Second, tests based on measurement of Elementary Cognitive Tasks (E.C.T.s) should supplement, and maybe partly replace, traditional I.Q. tests. E.C.T.s are for instance reaction time and short-term memory capacity.
Third, it should be established through research up to what level intelligence is validly measurable; in other words, if special high-range tests are meaningful or not. We know through past research that really all correlates and criteria concerning I.Q. have a far stronger effect in the lower regions, and become less relevant the higher you go. This goes for heredity, "g" (general intelligence), correlation with ECTs, correlation with real-world achievement, correlation with violence and crime and so on. So we must find out up to what I.Q. level it is still possible to find validity; that is, correlation with real-world criteria.
Fourth, the taboos surrounding intelligence should be abolished. Taboos on the relation between intelligence and functioning in society, including involvement in crime and violence. Once we manage to overcome the taboos of political correctness, we will be able to improve society as a whole.
Q: Is the opposite sex really the fairer sex and why?
Yes, but only in the rhetorical sense of "beautiful", and that is how the expression "the fairer sex" is meant. It's about their outer appearance only.
In fact they are also less likely to commit violence and crime, which is a side-effect of having less testosterone. But of course they have less of the positive effects of high testosterone as well.
Q. Whom is your favorite classic author or artist?
If "classic" is taken in its general sense, it would be J. S. Bach. Especially for his polyphonic instrumental works, like the Musical Offering and the Goldberg Variations. Those works show us what result you get when every element in a structure has its function and is not just there, or even has multiple functions (which severely restricts what it could have been). It's also about applying a structural principal to all levels, from lowest to highest.
Q. Why does humor "work" and is it logical?
Humour is logical, it's usually about absurd self-reference, contradictions and so. It creates a kind of strange loop in the brain, which results in a kind of explosion, maybe a kind of harmless seizure.
Humour is also a sort of test. Many things can be feigned, but not sense of humor, let alone the ability to produce humor. Someone with "social skills", "EQ", a suit, a haircut, a firm handshake and so on, can make a pretty good impression on whole lot of people. Such a person can feign erudition, importance, ability. But what you can NEVER feign is the ability to understand a good joke, let alone make one. You either laugh or you don't. And that betrays you. And you never know it. In this respect it is also interesting to consider that in circles where I.Q. testing is frowned upon, humor is usually strictly forbidden as well!
Q. What are your plans for your current and future publications?
I'm working on a computer-based I.Q. test for professional use (in Netherlandic, later also English) that will be ready in some months. After that I may create a computer-based test for Elementary Cognitive Tasks, to be used as a sort of I.Q. test. That will probably take a few years. I also have plans to learn to create MIDI files; that's a music file format that contains information on pitch, duration, instrument sound etcetera, and can be played by a MIDI synthesizer of a computer sound card or so. I will need to acquire a program that allows me to write in conventional music notation and convert that to MIDI. I will then be able to compose music that can easily be used on web pages. MIDI files are very much lighter than MP3 files, so much more music can be added to a page then.
And currently I'm redesigning the Glia Society web site (not GliaWeb as a whole, just the limited number of pages about the Glia Society). I'll add some mind games to it, and probably a Flash thing too.
Q. Best sportscar, boat or SUV?
The Lotus Elise. Also good are Jaguar E-type and Jaguar XK8. Even better would be if they had human-powered versions of such cars, where you could pedal to propel yourself. Like the Flintstones, but different.
Q. Which genius character do you prefer: Mr. Spock, Data, or Sherlock Holmes and why?
From those three, Sherlock Holmes. Otherwise Dr Who. I don't know Data by the way.
Holmes in his early days (A Study in Scarlet) was roaming around at a university, very investigative and interested in exact sciences, particularly chemistry, but exactly what he was studying remained a mystery. Like with Dr Who; you never find out what he is a Dr at. I believe once someone asked him, and he said something like, "everything", or another inconclusive answer.
I too was very interested in chemistry and other exact sciences when I was young, and did chemical experiments and tried to make explosives. So did Frank Zappa by the way.
Q: What are your intellectual opinions on Tesla's scientific achievements.
I don't know enough about Tesla. He invented alternating current. He also had very many new ideas that still remain largely unresearched to my knowledge, often of a rather spectacular nature. The UFO/crop circle people have confiscated some of his ideas, like about anti-gravity and free energy, which is pity as it makes it harder to find out what is real and what not. I don't know enough about it to say more.
Q. Have you ever played role playing games and when?
I don't know what role playing games are, so I guess I haven't played them.
Q. How do you feel about the publishing scene in Europe today?
I don't know any specific publishing scene. Years ago I have tried to get music and writings published but was largely unsuccessful, except for one or two compositions and a small booklet of short stories, and I decided to basically self-publish everything from then on and no longer contact publishers.
Q. What do you think about the European Union?
I am not very interested in politics. I think it's good there will be some sort of agreement between European nations, but it shouldn't get too much power too soon.
Q. Whom was your favorite US President?
Bill Clinton. You could laugh with him.
Q. Name something novel about yourself or your achievements.
I descend from Charlemagne, or "Charles the Great", but many people do. When I was 10 or 11 I participated in a school quiz and won. In primary school I was also the fastest runner of my class. When I was 17 I made a short amateur movie named "Liquidatie", with a few friends. Unfortunately I don't have a film projector so I can't view it. I believe it is on "Super 8", in color with sound.
Q. From whence comes the surname 'Cooijmans'?
Many of my forefathers were slaughterers or butchers. "Cooijmans" evolved from older forms like "de Coyman", which in local dialect meant something like "the cows man", or "cow man".
Q. Tell us about your academic education and profession.
I studied guitar and composition at the Brabants Conservatorium in Tilburg, Netherlands, from 1986 to 1993. I tried to make a living as a guitar teacher, but quit that. I'm now reschooling to be a computer programmer.
Q. Whom is the most influential figure in intelligence research history in your opinion?
So far that would be Charles Spearman, who discovered "g", the common factor in all mental tests. Spearman discovered that all tests for mental abilities intercorrelate positively, which means that there is a common factor in what they measure. Without this common factor, I.Q. tests would not have the practical relevance they actually have. Without "g", I.Q. tests would not have their correlation with school and real-life achievement.
There are more factors than just "g", like the verbal, numerical and spatial "group factors", but those are subordinate to "g" in a hierarchy based on intercorrelations. There are no independent, uncorrelated factors in mental testing, as some other scholars have claimed ("multiple intelligences"). It has essentially been proven that the "g" model, so the hierarchical model with "g" on top, is correct, and that the model of uncorrelated "multiple intelligences" is wrong.