Active Users:248 Time:29/03/2024 10:49:56 AM
Still fun though Isaac Send a noteboard - 05/02/2012 01:30:26 AM
For the study itself, your last line covers my reaction well, though you made a number of good points prior to that. Ultimately, if it were as simple as "smart people vote x, dumb people vote y," elections would be rather superfluous: Just poll all the Mensa chapters and whoever wins is president. Any study like this that draws broad and/or firm conclusions is all but guaranteed to be unavoidably oversimplified (and even the title of the Huff Post article only claims "links," which is far from definitive.)

This is the comic that used hang on the bookshelf in the gifted class I was in as a kid, pre-home school, as the teacher used to remind us, represented a valuable lesson in humility. I've tended to keep a copy of it around and visible in many an office or setting I worked in, every time someone suggests rule by the smart in any given situation, I think of that.

About the only complaint I have with your response is: Cut social scientists some slack. Physicists get to measure things like the volume of the Hindenberg filled with hydrogen at STP. Social scientists are tasked with measuring its volume with a ruler—after it explodes but before it hits the ground, and they are on their own figuring out temperature and pressure. They say it is an "not an exact science," which is like saying, "the sun is larger than Pluto." They do rather well despite that, IMHO, and as long as we do not expect and they do not claim accuracy to fifteen significant figures, all is well.


Oh, I cut them some slack, they routinely hang themselves with it. But that was fairly tongue in cheek anyway. A lot of these kinda studies are legit enough in of themselves they just get warped by the news the way so many science article do. I also like ragging on the soft scientists, because it allows me to remind myself how superior us physical scientists are, really though I just think anyone who produces research of this sort in the name of scientific purity should publish their own political affiliations and opinions to go with it. Of all people, psychologists should know about mental bias and how awareness of it does not automatically remove the effect of it.

Feel obliged to point out though that the Hindenberg was a rigid airship, and thus wouldn't have varied significantly by temperature or pressure. Also I can think of about half a dozen way I could measure the volume of a recently detonated ruler before it hit the ground, including some which would not require computerization and would be able to take into account vaporization. It's pretty much the same concept as a detonating artillery shell.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein

King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
This message last edited by Isaac on 05/02/2012 at 01:32:18 AM
Reply to message
Intelligence Study Links Low I.Q. To Prejudice, Racism, Conservatism - 03/02/2012 08:58:00 PM 1342 Views
I think ... - 03/02/2012 09:28:02 PM 838 Views
I agree. - 03/02/2012 10:48:25 PM 1577 Views
Yeah, I am unsure whether to be impressed or disappointed. - 05/02/2012 02:38:05 AM 1751 Views
That is a logical and reasonable assessment. - 04/02/2012 08:59:59 PM 1728 Views
You think very well. - 05/02/2012 04:12:11 AM 1578 Views
note: "social conservatives", not "fiscal conservatives" - 03/02/2012 09:37:18 PM 1597 Views
I've wondered: - 03/02/2012 09:55:14 PM 1613 Views
It bothers the living fuck out of me - 03/02/2012 10:59:01 PM 1576 Views
Just wait ten years - 03/02/2012 11:21:25 PM 1472 Views
Oh, I still vote Republican. - 04/02/2012 01:49:43 AM 1497 Views
Re: Oh, I still vote Republican. - 04/02/2012 01:15:10 PM 1553 Views
Re: Just wait ten years - 04/02/2012 05:16:16 AM 1511 Views
By referencing it… - 03/02/2012 10:50:59 PM 1481 Views
That's an odd idea. - 03/02/2012 11:10:31 PM 1543 Views
It was a mostly facetious comment…. - 03/02/2012 11:49:28 PM 923 Views
Clearly you endorse it. - 05/02/2012 02:23:41 AM 661 Views
Only endorsing its validity, not its soundness. *NM* - 04/02/2012 02:24:24 AM 414 Views
Tempting... - 03/02/2012 11:17:43 PM 815 Views
I expected no less. - 05/02/2012 12:25:14 AM 841 Views
Still fun though - 05/02/2012 01:30:26 AM 917 Views
Well, that is the main thing. - 05/02/2012 02:25:36 AM 957 Views
Well, racists are dumb. What's to discuss? - 04/02/2012 01:23:27 AM 657 Views
I think that generally agreed, though we need a study PROVING what we already know. - 05/02/2012 12:41:26 AM 923 Views
Proving is something you do in maths, not science. - 05/02/2012 09:05:30 AM 641 Views
So the Moon might still be made of green cheese? - 05/02/2012 10:20:57 AM 751 Views
Yes. It is not very likely, though, since no measurement we have done so far indicates that it is so - 05/02/2012 02:28:18 PM 589 Views
Oh, let us not go THERE. - 05/02/2012 02:54:30 PM 834 Views
Bad comparison - 05/02/2012 03:36:12 PM 703 Views
Well, that last part will make sure this gets ugly.... - 04/02/2012 02:05:11 AM 541 Views
Do you not think it's true then? - 04/02/2012 07:32:13 AM 852 Views
Same here *NM* - 04/02/2012 12:13:44 PM 331 Views
Not in my experience. - 04/02/2012 04:17:01 PM 742 Views
Granted, you do move in different circles than I (or Jens, for that matter.) - 04/02/2012 10:24:52 PM 712 Views
Corfirmational bias much? - 04/02/2012 04:25:24 PM 705 Views
I did mention that I didn't care enough to look into it. - 04/02/2012 10:22:09 PM 742 Views
As a few others have noted, it is important to preserve the causality chain. - 05/02/2012 02:35:02 AM 717 Views
I dont see that it matters. - 13/02/2012 01:40:45 AM 908 Views

Reply to Message