Homer Simpson / ignorance is bliss

I don’t think anyone’s decided anything, people are just discussing how they personally deal with the fact we live in a very uncertain world.

Couldn’t agree more.  However,  the words ignorant and stupid come up an awful lot in this thread. How we deal with uncertain and often horrific times, is not the same as judging someone for not knowing something or not wanting to know something that we have decided is important.

And perhaps blokeuptheroad is in on it too, as he considers secondary school statistics as intellectual……..

No I’m just another thicko. I somehow manage to avoid personally insulting fellow contributors on what should have been a light hearted thread though. So on balance, I’m happy with my ignorant lot 🙂

And it’s probably fair to say that everyone is burdened by a degree of ignorance on a variety of things no matter how much they try to expand their knowledge & experience base.

Such is the fact we cannot know everything about everything. Being informed is still a subjective standard that I’d argue is impossible to quantify.

I’m okay with that.

No I’m just another thicko.

Don’t worry mate, I like crayons as a snack too. {Insert wink emoji here}

Also, you did volunteer to mess about with things that go bang, not really bright is that. {Insert wink & laughing emoji here}

😆 The blue ones are best! 😉

Anyhow, the petty statistics argument. Isn’t it reasonable to assume that at a population level IQ is normally distributed? That would suggest that mean, median and mode are the same (near enough) so 50% of the population would fall below any of the usual definitions of average intelligence.

Assumptions in statistics?!

The data must be out there……..

heard somehere: “My desire to stay sane has exceeded my desire to stay informed”

 Isn’t it reasonable to assume that at a population level IQ is normally distributed?

The tails probably won’t be. How big of a problem that is, I don’t know.

surely the tail is thick rather than long

This

Instead of this

Assumptions in statistics?!

The data must be out there……..

According to Wikipedia (I know….)

For modern IQ tests, the raw score is transformed to a normal distribution with mean 100 and standard deviation 15

Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You understand it better but the frog dies in the process

Precis.
It’s funny cos it’s true. Not mathematically accurate.

Homer laying down a truth bomb.

I see plenty of examples of people around me whose ignorance doesn’t seem to make them any happier. Looks like a total pain in the arse to be honest. The ability to make informed decisions about your life obviously doesn’t guarantee happiness, but I’d hate to be without it all the same.

Also, being apathetic and disengaged arguably plays into the hands of some of the very worst people in the world.

I recall talking to a manager at my last place of work and mentioned Harry, who worked in the warehouse, had helped me with a task.

“Don’t like him – He’s so thick” I was told.

I always found Harry cheerful, hard working and helpful. I always had a quick chat when I saw him as he was always bright and sunny.

His intellect had never, ever occurred to me. Why would it?

Maybe I need to be more judgemental.

Some of the statistical pedantry on this thread is frankly just mean.

My biggest worry today is whether or not i have cake before tea or after.

Both?

Some of the statistical pedantry on this thread is frankly just mean.

Sure it’s not just statistical bell-endery?

Starting to imagine a parallel universe where there’s a forum on which a thread exists titled “What type of graph/chart would you like to be?”

Is that a bad thing?

It is when they wear their ignorance as a badge of honour yet still get to make world-altering decisions – without the expertise, information, knowledge and ability to discern fact from fiction to back that up.

I’m referring fairly directly to Brexit but there are any number of other decisions being made by people who are too ignorant to know better, and who often know that they’re ignorant but jump in anyway.

In a previous role, my boss was completely IT clueless, used to joke about it, used to be fairly open about her ignorance and brush it off with comments about how computers were all too clever these days and how was an old biddy like her supposed to know, haha, wasn’t it all larks. Then – using her seniority within the company – she implemented a change to IT and brought in a universally loathed bit of software in spite of being ignorant about the consequences. Thing is, she wasn’t “thick”. Good degree, very well read, well travelled, not remotely racist or sexist, and a nice person. But just (almost wilfully) ignorant about IT.

There is a pedant’s trap in this post.

Presumably Carlin’s joke plays on the idea that most people think they’re fairly smart themselves and have a lower opinion of others. We intuitively think we’re surrounded by idiots whether or not an IQ test would bear that out.

Anyhow, the petty statistics argument. Isn’t it reasonable to assume that at a population level IQ is normally distributed? That would suggest that mean, median and mode are the same (near enough) so 50% of the population would fall below any of the usual definitions of average intelligence.

I’m glad you said that, because I feel I have an excellent grasp on statistics and I was too afraid to ask why people thought Carlin’s quote was incorrect. Even if someone wants to be pedantic about whether ‘average’ in common parlance means (ha) the mean, the median or the mode, it doesn’t make a difference for the reasons you’ve cited. It’s a good example of the ‘Mt Stupid’ peak that Dunning and Kruger wrote about.

When I was 17, I drank some very good beer.

It’s a funny world – to me only stupid people without a grasp of statistics are impressed by that George Carlin quote.

Unless of course I’m stupid and don’t realize he was aware of the error in the statement – or in humanity the median is the same as the average.

I think he was just being mean.

EDIT – I hadn’t seen the last page! D’oh!

But I agree with Superficial… whose username doesn’t check out.

There’s me worrying I’m too smart/too casual…will my shoes match. What impact my car does/doesn’t have… Am i detraining if I run a bit slower etc etc.

See, that’s where my life has been different – I always dress casual, except for the odd occasions where shorts, vest tops, tee shirts and skate shoes would be frowned on, I know my car is making minimal impact, and I never run anywhere. Ever.

I’m not unaware of what’s happening in the world, though, I spend a lot of time reading about a lot of stuff happening internationally, but while I like to keep informed, I don’t spiral into worrying, because there’s nothing that I can do about it.