Alex,

I can't say much about my intelligence, let's just say that I'm satisfied with what I have available. As far as my reason for active participation I would consider the following reasons to be high on my priority list:

1) To interact with those who have opposing or substantially different views than myself so that I can understand how other minds tick. Often this leads to new insights as to what issues are more important than I had previously considered important. For example, Dick has definitely raised my appreciation of the problem of skepticism (i.e., extreme skepticism).

2) To identify weaknesses in my views as how they are perceived by others. For example, with you Alex, I have had to focus more of my interests in finding where our mathematical realism diverges. We are both mathematical realists, but obviously we have different interpretations as to the theological implications. So, my thoughts are often channeled to respond to a view like yours.

3) To advance my views further by (1) and (2). I consider this research in that during the 6 or so years that I have debated on forums such as these, I have come to some interesting tidbits of knowledge that I consider worth my time. Dialetic communication is a very powerful research tool.

4) And, finally, I would like to share my 'research' results and speculations with others. I find the internet a suitable medium for this purpose. The purpose is to put well thought out memes 'out there' that will enrich the human species. Of course, that is a very very small achievement with virtually no impact, but however small I find it worthy of my time.

So, this stuff isn't fun and games for me. It isn't my idea of a chatroom. For me, it is my attempt to extend the domain of knowledge on the questions that I consider to be the highest importance. If at some point I feel that it is no longer a priority (which could happen at any time) then I'll just stop.

Warm regards, Harv