"You keep on and on thinking that correlation makes true,it does not,correlation is only having some shared parts"
Have you even tried computer science? Wasn't it you who said that nothing beats trial-and-error? How could you possibly know whether or not it's valid advice by your own metric?
It's a laughable comment too coming from a self-proclaimed math geek. Theoretical computer Science is math. Alan Turing was a mathematician. Math gave birth to CS and continues to have a profound influence. Hell, my math professor now is doing work in quantum computing. Why do you think you wouldn't like it? You said you were applying to quantitative finance jobs. CS is in extremely high demand in that particular field....
Are you afraid that you're going to find out you're actually a "typical" INTP, and that Architect isn't wrong in endorsing this field for INTPs? Does that really pose an existential threat to your worldview? I don't get the extreme aversion from you to giving people career recommendations based on personality type. Best case, they make a wiser choice than they would have, and are better off for it. Worst case, they find out it's something they didn't like and go back to the drawing board. It's no different than if they hadn't taken the test. They still would have had to make a choice. All the other factors like upbringing, interest, values, etc. still apply. They don't just disappear all of a sudden simply b/c someone gets an "INTP" test result. People aren't mindless drones.
I think I've figured you out Tannhauser: You have an irrational fear of personality tests. You gotta give people more credit. Their lives are not going to be ruined by four little letters. It's just a tool of self-exploration. You can relax.
OP, I think the thread topic was valid. It is somewhat inconvenient to search through past threads, b/c you have to wade through a lot of roughage in the process. I did it for a while, but eventually just realized books are better. Sometimes I still get useful information from here when I do searches on particular topics though...
The type dynamics stuff as conceived by Jung is not scientific, but I think it holds greater utility in terms of understanding the nature of the psyche and the origins of suffering (the inferior function). It's everyone's big problem. The way it manifests is different for all 8 types. As far as the "wisdom of the ancients" goes, that's about as good as it gets for psychological types. More modern interpretations include the MBTI.
As far as a vote goes of the top 10 ideas for INTPs, keep in mind most people here are in their twenties and younger. There are some exceptions. If you want to get advice on serious life issues (like career) from a bunch of kids, that's fine. Not my style personally, as other people here know. I'd rather listen to people who have actually lived and experienced life and aren't just out of school.
That said, there may be a few domain experts on here that have interesting ideas related to INTPs. Relationship issues though can be useful to talk through with people here. I've seen that happen often enough.
I like math and programming as tools for thinking about real-world problems. In themselves, they are not any more interesting to me than solving Sudoku-puzzles*. So I think it is strange to have this view that INTPs should be Ti-machines either doing math or CS. Sure, I have respect for CS (and yes, I have tried it), but it is a very specific field, and people who do it usually have passion for it – they didn't stumble into it via an 80-question personality test.
*Does this mean I am not INTP?
I agree with Architect that the purpose of the OP would be best served by a wiki (indeed many things would be better served by a wiki seems to me); however this recurrent theme of wanting to turn this place into something "more" is misguided. This forum is good as it is. Not in implementation (there's a lot of technical and managing things that could improve), but in concept. It is meant to be social meeting place for a certain kind of people, and it has been working great at it for years. It is stable; which is not the same as stagnant. I think trying to attach or morph it into something else would probably end up splitting it due to divided purposes. It would be best to avoid the splinter drama from the start and make a spin-off sister site whose explicit purpose is "INTP knowledge vault". (It would also be more expedient considering our administrative impasse). Such a place would be great.
People that reach a certain level of development naturally feel a frustration when their interests shift and younger members retrace the same paths but this is how it should be; young people need to develop themselves through their own experience. The frustrated should move on to other places or be more proactive in bringing their interests to new threads and guiding forum development instead of whining and hand wringing.
Cheeseumpuffs advice system would flop. Even if people had all the solutions laid out, they'd still make threads about them. They and their problem are "unique". They need to vent about it, be validated about it, and feel like they themselves came up with the solution others give them. An automated system can't do what they actually came for. Unless it's a well-designed chatbot...
Many people misunderstand what INTPforum IS. The purpose of this place, or the reason people stay in it, is not to be problem solving central. Most people that come here looking for a quick fix for their problems don't stick around. People come in search of validation of their eccentricities, they come in search of stimulating engagement with (like-minded) humans, a place for exploration and mindplay without serious repercussions. It is a safe haven for social-emotional-intellectual development for young introverts. To use MBTI-speak, this place caters as much, if not more, to the Si-Fe needs than the Ti-Ne. As it should. Anything else is secondary.
