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A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

theatlantic.com

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Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

#171

Post by rho4 »

mam2 wrote: post #109
baddox wrote: post #84

I don’t really understand the point of the article. It seems to be challenging an assumption that being “smart” has something to do with being financially successful. But why would we start with that assumption? Why would we conflate being “intelligent” with being good at making money? To me, this seems as preposterous as asking “if you’re so smart, why are you so bad at playing the violin, or why aren’t you a Hollyw…

Nah it just means too many people think they are "smart" while not applying their supposed edge to get any practical thing done better. Money is just one example. The baseline is "if you are so smart why how come you don't have a better life", this can be more money, a better job, more time for your children, a hotter wife for some. If you don't like the materialistic versions, My personal version of it is "if you ar…

love your personal version

Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

#172

Post by michaelt »

koheripbal wrote: post #122
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See also: "If you're really so smart, why do you care so much about being rich?"

Because have lots of money gives you the economic power to survive adversity, pursue interests that are more fulfilling, do more good in the world, etc...

I think what TheOtherHobbes means is you can survive adversity and pursue fulfilling interests without rising to the level of 'rich' - unless your interest is something like having colleges name buildings after you!

Indeed, it would be a poor reflection on our society if you had to be in the top percentile for income to merely be economically secure.

Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

#173

Post by [deleted] »

kolleykibber wrote: post #148
stjo wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL: Didn’t know I was stupid for having different goals than starting a family. In non mockery voice: I think there is nothing wrong in being smart and perusing academic titles, wealth or recognition. Can’t I be happy travelling the world because I have so much passive income that I don’t care how much I spend? Can’t I be happy running megacorporation without a child?

Generally, happiness is a reward from doing what your genes want you to do. The greatest happiness therefore, should be found in the process of breeding and caring for offspring. Social status (consumption, skills and achievements) helps you secure higher quality mates and offers greater security to your offspring. That's why gaining social status, feels worthwhile, but without kids it feels a bit empty. Before kids,…

[deleted]

Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

#174

Post by kolleykibber »

virgilp wrote: post #165
kolleykibber wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally, happiness is a reward from doing what your genes want you to do. The greatest happiness therefore, should be found in the process of breeding and caring for offspring. Social status (consumption, skills and achievements) helps you secure higher quality mates and offers greater security to your offspring. That's why gaining social status, feels worthwhile, but without kids it feels a bit empty. Before kids,…

> Generally, happiness is a reward from doing what your genes want you to do. I disagree. Generally happiness comes from being happy/content/thankful for what you have (as opposed to "having a lot"). You can be happy having no children, no fortune, no fame, etc. Conversely all of these do not guarantee happiness - Robin Williams committed suicide despite having them all, I think it's fair to assume he was not happy.

> Robin Williams committed suicide despite having them all, I think it's fair to assume he was not happy.

That's why I added 'Generally' and 'should be found'. It would be fair to say that Robin Williams was ill.

Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

#175

Post by netcan »

DecayingOrganic wrote: post #28

While I agree with the article, it is important to distinguish the macro from the micro point of view. From the micro point of view, a talented individual has a greater a priori probability to reach a high level of success than a moderately gifted one. On the other hand, from the macro point of view of the entire society, the probability to find moderately gifted individuals at the top levels of success is greater th…

Agreed.

Wee need to teach thiss type of logical reasoning about statistical information at the high school level. It needs to be instinctive, and our default instincts are completely wrong for the task.

Statistical information has become extremely salient. Covid-19 is the current example. Most information is statistical. The same is true in many work contexts, where companies generate statistical knowledge that people need to interpret.

Meanwhile, this logic toolset is typically much weaker than our other ones. Average numerical ability is actually quite good, comparatively. The average person would perform ok on classic logical reasoning (Socrates is a man...). Throw in some statistical information... bogus conclusions (or no conclusion) are more common.

It's doable. Nothing too hard here. It's on par with simple algebra. We just haven't adjusted education to the needs of the times.

Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

#176

Post by krapp »

lucozade wrote: post #150
krapp wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Trump is a world-class salesman. When did Mexico agree to pay for the wall?

He's not world class at selling walls. He's world class at selling Donald Trump.

Unfortunately, selling "walls" (policy) is his actual job.

He's like a vacuum cleaner salesman who can always get his foot in the door, but can never manage to sell a unit.

Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

#177

Post by WJW »

growlist wrote: post #101
AbrahamParangi wrote: post #4

Whenever you see someone who you believe to be an idiot succeeding, it usually means they're really good at the game and you don't even understand what the game is .

or, the people playing the game and the rules of the game are so utterly moronic and worthless that it defies belief, e.g., celebrity culture.

This seems a clear example of the parent comment though. You don't see the value in it and that's fine. Other people enjoy an endless parade of almost free entertainment that they find more interesting than the usual drudgery of life.

Even the Romans knew you only needed to supply bread and games to keep the people pacified. Celebrity culture is just a modernized and less directly violent form of "games". The game modern celebrities are playing is apparently completely invisible to you?

Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

#178

Post by 77pt77 »

koheripbal wrote: post #128
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or their family donated enough money to an Ivy to have a building named after them.

I think you just proved his point. Going to an ivy league school does not make you successful. There are many many unemployed useless Stanford, MIT, Harvard graduates in this world.

> There are many many unemployed useless Stanford, MIT, Harvard graduates in this world.

Is this really true?

All the statistics I've read suggest otherwise.

Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

#179

Post by WJW »

lucozade wrote: post #150
krapp wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Trump is a world-class salesman. When did Mexico agree to pay for the wall?

He's not world class at selling walls. He's world class at selling Donald Trump.

Indeed. He's not getting paid (in both actual dollars and in attention) for having walls built. Whether the wall gets built or not is entirely irrelevant as long as he gets votes.

Re: A lot of “idiotic” things have reasonable explanations (2011)

#180

Post by MagnumOpus »

axegon_ wrote: post #92

There is no correlation between being an idiot and being rich. Being rich is (in most cases) the ability to... Sell yourself, for the lack of a better expression. And smart people commonly can't sell themselves or their products because they often solve problems which are far more complex than the ones ordinary people have. They will spend brutal amounts of resources and efforts to solve a problem which ordinary peop…

> There is no correlation between being an idiot and being rich

Correction: there is actually a rather strong correlation [0].

Of course it is not a perfect correlation and a lot depends on other factors like luck or hard work. So out of a billion people you can always point to millions who are outliers.

[0]https://ifstudies.org/ifs-admin/resources/income-by-afqt-cop...

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