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Brilliant jerks, crazy hotties, and other artifacts of range restriction (2019)

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Re: Brilliant jerks, crazy hotties, and other artifacts of range restriction (2019)

#61
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NBA is at the top right of the graph (for basketball skills) so you shouldn't see any such weird anomaly there. Suspect its actually just a biological thing that your hand eye coordination worsens at the 'extreme' heights

I've also heard that since it's necessary to arc the shot a reasonable amount for the ball to go in (or else it will hit the rim and bounce away), being shorter than the hoop can actually be an advantage. If the hoop is above you, the ball already has to travel vertically to be able to get there in the first place, but if you're close to the same height, you have to throw it relatively higher to achieve a good arc. I…

And yet all those short good shooters jump.

I know that sounds facetious, but like, there’s a reason no one jumps on a free throw. It’s easier if you don’t. But you have to jump to get your shot over a defender.

If you are sufficiently tall, you could just… jump less, so that your release height is the same.

I actually think the bigger reason is simply that there are more important skills for tall players to work on. If your main job is rebounding , it is better to work on rebounding than shooting.

Of course, the changes to how NBA teams play over the last decade or so have changed this, which is presumably why you now see more players who are both tall _and_ good shooters.

Re: Brilliant jerks, crazy hotties, and other artifacts of range restriction (2019)

#62

I wonder if very beautiful people are more prone to diseases, or to some other evolutionarily negative trait that compensates for its beauty. Otherwise, why isn’t everyone beautiful?

I'd expect preferences to also adjust accordingly, so that there are always people on both sides of the distinction.

Re: Brilliant jerks, crazy hotties, and other artifacts of range restriction (2019)

#64

This feels like a well written article from someone who is very good at understanding numbers and finding objective facts but also is not quite able to fully grasp how the world works.

The mutational load thing rings true, because i both have a weird uneven resting expression and I am crazier than a shithouse rabbit.

I do think there is a big correlation between crazyness and “professional hot people” (sex workers, intimacy workers, many service people, models, actors, etc), being that the mental game of attraction is inherently irrational and it helps to operate on vibes vs. numbers.

Re: Brilliant jerks, crazy hotties, and other artifacts of range restriction (2019)

#65

I wonder if very beautiful people are more prone to diseases, or to some other evolutionarily negative trait that compensates for its beauty. Otherwise, why isn’t everyone beautiful?

If people did not reproduce if they couldn't get a beautiful mate, then beauty would be widespread. But even if you can't get the most beautiful girl, most men still settle for what they can get, thus continuing the non-beautiful lines.

Re: Brilliant jerks, crazy hotties, and other artifacts of range restriction (2019)

#66

It's a great article and there is probably a lot of truth to it but I suspect people who are constantly told how great they are are actually more likely to be jerks. I don't think beauty / intelligence are entirely uncorrelated with niceness to begin with.

> It's a great article and there is probably a lot of truth to it but I suspect people who are constantly told how great they are are actually more likely to be jerks. They can both be true. The selection process is enough to explain a negative correlation regardless of whether the true correlation is negative, zero, or strongly positive. Separately, it's very possible for a girl who naturally has 40 attractiveness p…

Yup the author describes how it's possible to see such a correlation even if they were uncorrelated. But the same would apply if they were slightly correlated. But I am neither intelligent nor beautiful so take my words with a grain of salt!

Re: Brilliant jerks, crazy hotties, and other artifacts of range restriction (2019)

#67

Regarding hot/crazy: if you try dating in a heavily fished (heavily sorted) environment like online dating, a person of modest looks (me) is likely to meet highly attractive persons only if they have some flaw that keeps them ‘in circulation’ On the other hand, meeting more attractive persons in real life proved much less biased. YMMV All that said, very attractive persons can go a little crazy from the stares and cl…

> So don’t do those things its not nice Advice like this makes the situation worse, because nice people will take your advice and not approach extremely attractive women, because they understand it is the nice thing to do, but assholes will approach extremely attractive women, because they don't care about being nice. So these women end up only being approached by bad actors.

I think there is a nuance to tell that nice people.

If you approach someone, be honest with your intentions while also caring for them. What does that mean? Both attractive and un-attractive women like to date people and get attention. So it’s okay to approach an attractive women. However, when you do it, be honest with yourself that the reason you want to be around her is whatever (a good relationship) and then if she says no, just leave it at that.

Approaching? Ok. Approaching to be a friend? Ok. Approaching to be a friend because you want to have sexy time later? Not ok, this isn’t honest. Not honest = not ok = being a jerk. Approaching because you share an interest in Venus fly trap plants and you want to talk about it? Perfect. She says she doesn’t want to talk? That’s ok. Leave it at that.

Re: Brilliant jerks, crazy hotties, and other artifacts of range restriction (2019)

#68

Regarding hot/crazy: if you try dating in a heavily fished (heavily sorted) environment like online dating, a person of modest looks (me) is likely to meet highly attractive persons only if they have some flaw that keeps them ‘in circulation’ On the other hand, meeting more attractive persons in real life proved much less biased. YMMV All that said, very attractive persons can go a little crazy from the stares and cl…

> So don’t do those things its not nice Advice like this makes the situation worse, because nice people will take your advice and not approach extremely attractive women, because they understand it is the nice thing to do, but assholes will approach extremely attractive women, because they don't care about being nice. So these women end up only being approached by bad actors.

Just approach someone in your attractiveness band

Re: Brilliant jerks, crazy hotties, and other artifacts of range restriction (2019)

#69
Isn't that Regression to the Mean[1]? You have two tests, A and B. You take the best N samples by score A, then look at the corresponding score B. Regression to the mean tells you to expect scores B to be lower than A.

The classical example is taking the same random test twice and seeing a lower result the second time around. In the post there's a correlation between the tests, so the second test will not have a low value in absolute terms, but will be low relative to the first one (negative correlation). Taking test B before or after the filtering shouldn't matter.

My intuition is that this sort of selection picks some samples that got "lucky" on test A, and will score closer to the mean on test B, bringing the distribution down and obscuring or reverting any potential correlations.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean

Re: Brilliant jerks, crazy hotties, and other artifacts of range restriction (2019)

#70
post #58

Part of me wonders if these ideas are pushed by people because it's more convenient for them to push them. Like, if you're a 'brilliant' jerk, it's probably easier to stay employed if people think technical skills and people skills are something of a trade off. And if you're not some sort of genius, it can be comforting to think "well, at least I'm not a jerk/crazy/an awful person". Same with the dating situation. Mu…

Wouldn't be surprised. The thought somebody else can be better at everything you do or are gotta sting some people.
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