Henri
Article
Henri is a recurring person in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 7 times across 7 issues between June 10, 2021 and April 01, 2026. The archive places it in contexts such as “Or there was Henri, who worked in the sewers”; “If you asked him why he worked in the sewers he never answered”; “the same intellectual skills that made Henri a great mathematician”. It most often appears alongside California, Charlie, France.
Metadata
- Category: People
- Mention count: 7
- Issue count: 7
- First seen: June 10, 2021
- Last seen: April 01, 2026
Appears In
- Your Book Review: Down And Out In Paris And London
- Secrets Of The Great Families
- Meetups Everywhere 2023: Times & Places
- Meetups Everywhere 2024: Times & Places
- Meetups Everywhere Spring 2025: Times & Places
- Meetups Everywhere 2025: Times and Places
- Meetups Everywhere Spring 2026: Times & Places
Related Pages
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- California (6 shared issues)
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- Charlie (6 shared issues)
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- France (6 shared issues)
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- India (6 shared issues)
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- Scott (6 shared issues)
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- 200 Degrees (5 shared issues)
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- ACX (5 shared issues)
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- ACX (5 shared issues)
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- ACX MEETUP (5 shared issues)
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- Adam (5 shared issues)
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- Andrew (5 shared issues)
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- Ann Arbor (5 shared issues)
External Links
Source Context
Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.
Or there was Henri, who worked in the sewers. He was a tall, melancholy man with curly hair, rather romantic-looking in his long, sewer-man's boots. Henri's peculiarity was that he did not speak, except for the purposes of work, literally for days together. Only a year before he had been a chauffeur in good employ and saving money. One day he fell in love, and when the girl refused him he lost his temper and kicked her. On being kicked the girl fell desperately in love with Henri, and for a fortnight they lived together and spent a thousand francs of Henri's money. Then the girl was unfaithful; Henri planted a knife in her upper arm and was sent to prison for six months. As soon as she had been stabbed the girl fell more in love with Henri than ever, and the two made up their quarrel and agreed that when Henri came out of jail he should buy a taxi and they would marry and settle down. But a fortnight later the girl was unfaithful again, and when Henri came out she was with child, Henri did not stab her again. He drew out all his savings and went on a drinking-bout that ended in another month's imprisonment; after that he went to work in the sewers. Nothing would induce Henri to talk. If you asked him why he worked in the sewers he never answered, but simply crossed his wrists to signify handcuffs, and jerked his head southward, towards the prison. Bad luck seemed to have turned him half-witted in a single day.
Henri Poincare was a great mathematician, credited with pioneering chaos theory and topology. The Poincare Institute, Poincare Prize, and the Poincare Crater on the moon are all named after him. His cousin, Raymond Poincare, was president of France from 1913 to 1920. Raymond's brother, Lucien Poincare, was a distinguished physicist, and head of the University of Paris.
Inline links: Henri Poincare, Raymond Poincare
And the second problem is: what gene do we think Niels and Harald Bohr shared that made one of them a physics Nobelist and the other an Olympic athlete? What gene did Henri and Raymond Poincare share that made one of them a math genius and the other President of France? What gene did George and Freeman Dyson share that made one of them a great composer and the other a quantum physicist? The gene for excellence? Seems suspicious.
Not only do politicians have higher IQs than the general population, but the higher you go in politics (from nominated, to city council, to mayor, to member of Parliament), the higher your IQ! Members of Parliament average 6.7 on this test, which I think equals IQ 115 - not as high as Ivy Leaguers, but still well above average. So the same intellectual skills that made Henri a great mathematician could have helped Raymond become Prime Minister.
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA Contact: Henri Contact Info: acxmontreal[at]gmail[dot]com Time: Saturday, September 16th, 1:00 PM Location: Jeanne-Mance Park, at the corner of Duluth and Esplanade. We'll have an ACX Meetup sign. Coordinates: https://plus.codes/87Q8GC89+37 Event Link: https://www.lesswrong.com/events/ngpZH9gA76CyHhrER/acx-meetups-everywhere-fall-2023-montreal-qc Group Link: Lesswrong group: https://www.lesswrong.com/groups/3nnqSgGbF8x3mTcia. Mailing list form: https://forms.gle/GG6JeejyLwvxz5t8A. Notes: Please RSVP on LessWrong: https://www.lesswrong.com/events/ngpZH9gA76CyHhrER/acx-meetups-everywhere-fall-2023-montreal-qc
Contact: Henri Contact Info: acxmontreal[at]gmail[dot]com Time: Saturday, September 14th, 01:00 PM Location: Jeanne-Mance Park, at the corner of Duluth and Esplanade. We'll have an ACX Meetup sign. Note: join our Discord server to receive last-minute information in case of bad weather. Coordinates: https://plus.codes/87Q8GC89+37 Group Link: LessWrong group: https://www.lesswrong.com/groups/3nnqSgGbF8x3mTcia ; Mailing list: http://eepurl.com/io5vZM ; Discord: https://discord.gg/K8gMNzqPVG ; Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/less.wrong.montreal/ Notes: Please RSVP on LessWrong: https://www.lesswrong.com/events/zxcTsabESBbshjA98/acx-meetups-everywhere-fall-2024-montreal-qc
Inline links: https://plus.codes/87Q8GC89+37, https://www.lesswrong.com/groups/3nnqSgGbF8x3mTcia, http://eepurl.com/io5vZM, https://discord.gg/K8gMNzqPVG, https://www.facebook.com/groups/less.wrong.montreal/, https://www.lesswrong.com/events/zxcTsabESBbshjA98/acx-meetups-everywhere-fall-2024-montreal-qc
Contact: Henri Contact Info: acxmontreal[a t]gmail[period]com Time: Saturday, May 10th, 1:00 PM Location: L'Esplanade Tranquille, 1442 Clark. Rough location here: https://plus.codes/87Q8GC5P+P2R. We'll have an ACX Meetup sign and I'll be wearing a funky hat. Coordinates: https://plus.codes/87Q8GC5P+P2R Group Link: LessWrong: https://www.lesswrong.com/groups/3nnqSgGbF8x3mTcia | Discord: https://discord.gg/K8g [remove this bit] MNzqPVG | Mailing list: http://eepurl.com/io5vZM | Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/less.wrong.montreal/
Contact: Henri Contact Info: acxmontreal[a t]gmail[period]com Time: Saturday, September 13th, 1:00 PM Location: Jeanne-Mance Park, at the corner of Duluth and Esplanade. Rough location here: https://plus.codes/87Q8GC89+37. We'll have an ACX Meetup sign, and I'll be wearing a funky hat. Coordinates: https://plus.codes/87Q8GC89+37 Group Link: LessWrong group: https://www.lesswrong.com/groups/3nnqSgGbF8x3mTcia ; Mailing list: http://eepurl.com/io5vZM ; Discord: https://discord.gg/K8g [remove this bit] MNzqPVG
Contact: Henri Contact Info: acxmontreal[@]gmail[.]com Time: Saturday, May 23rd, 1:00 PM Location: Jeanne-Mance Park, at the corner of Duluth and Esplanade. We’ll have an ACX sign. Note: join our Discord server to receive last-minute information in case of bad weather. Coordinates: https://plus.codes/87Q8GC89+37 Group Link: https://www.lesswrong.com/groups/3nnqSgGbF8x3mTcia Notes: Please RSVP on LessWrong: https://www.lesswrong.com/events/KDr8vWLayWjoWxHok/acx-meetups-everywhere-spring-2026-montreal-qc
Backlinks
- Meetups Everywhere 2023: Times & Places
- Meetups Everywhere 2024: Times & Places
- Meetups Everywhere 2025: Times and Places
- Meetups Everywhere Spring 2025: Times & Places
- Meetups Everywhere Spring 2026: Times & Places
- Nice
- People: H
- Places: N
- Secrets Of The Great Families
- Your Book Review: Down And Out In Paris And London