21–30 of 30 posts
well part of it, is we don't need to rely on our brain as much any more. When my parents were in school you had to do complicated math in your head. Nowadays you get a calculator. Same for spelling, in 1975 you needed to be a walking dictionary. Nowadays we have spell checker. As far as kids are concerned, a lot more of their time is now "wasted" on TV and video games.
well part of it, is we don't need to rely on our brain as much any more. When my parents were in school you had to do complicated math in your head. Nowadays you get a calculator. Same for spelling, in 1975 you needed to be a walking dictionary. Nowadays we have spell checker. As far as kids are concerned, a lot more of their time is now "wasted" on TV and video games.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regarding the downmodding... discussing biological differences in the races is one of those Things You Can't Say ( http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html ). It's been discussed here before and it never goes anywhere. I would recommend letting it go. I am inclined to agree with you that this study is just as worthless as the ones comparing American students to foreign ones, but for different reasons. It's just about what…
You can discuss biological differences, but you have to do it carefully and extremely intelligently. Eugenics have been used by bad and tremendously ignorant people to do terrible things, and people are rightfully wary about entering the "biological difference between races," territory. In any case, we're talking about the exceptional students, so racial averages are irrelevant to the conversation.
Nonsense. Assume intellect is normally distributed, with equal sigma to simplify things (1). Assume a racial difference in mean of 0.5 sigma, then 2.2% of the higher intellect group will be 2sigma beyond the (high intellect) mean, while 0.6% of the lower intellect group will reach this level.
This difference grows exponentially when we consider more exceptional people (2).
(1) Between males and females, sigma is not equal. Men have higher sigma, as Larry Summers famously hypothesized.
(2) To see this, write out the CDF for a normal distribution and use the asymptotic expansion for erf. The rate of growth is (smarter group's mean - dumber group's mean)/sigma^2.
I have talked to a couple of immunology professors and they aren't really very comfortable with this mad rush to have a vaccine fix for everything.
This is a huge topic, but if any of you are planning to have kids, research this topic of vaccines. Do not blindly accept what your pediatrician says - they are not all that well-informed.
Does this take into account immigration to England? If not, it's as worthless as studies saying American students aren't on a par with students abroad. The question is, which American students we're talking about: the black ones or the white ones? The distribution of IQ among white students is on a par with that of other white kids in other places. The distribution of IQ among black students is less favorable. (This…
Regarding the downmodding... discussing biological differences in the races is one of those Things You Can't Say ( http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html ). It's been discussed here before and it never goes anywhere. I would recommend letting it go. I am inclined to agree with you that this study is just as worthless as the ones comparing American students to foreign ones, but for different reasons. It's just about what…
Statistics?
I see your point, but one must intellectually curious to make use of the vast pool of resources that is available. Google also allows mis-information to be more readily disseminated.
well part of it, is we don't need to rely on our brain as much any more. When my parents were in school you had to do complicated math in your head. Nowadays you get a calculator. Same for spelling, in 1975 you needed to be a walking dictionary. Nowadays we have spell checker. As far as kids are concerned, a lot more of their time is now "wasted" on TV and video games.
You still need to be able to do the maths in your head, otherwise how can you interpret what the calculator is telling you? Maybe your whole calculation is an order of magnitude out, for example. A calculator saves time , not understanding. The same is true of a spellchecker. Doesn't matter if every word is correct if no meaning is communicated. And even if it were true for the general population it wouldn't be true…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can discuss biological differences, but you have to do it carefully and extremely intelligently. Eugenics have been used by bad and tremendously ignorant people to do terrible things, and people are rightfully wary about entering the "biological difference between races," territory. In any case, we're talking about the exceptional students, so racial averages are irrelevant to the conversation.
>In any case, we're talking about the exceptional students, so racial averages are irrelevant to the conversation. Nonsense. Assume intellect is normally distributed, with equal sigma to simplify things (1). Assume a racial difference in mean of 0.5 sigma, then 2.2% of the higher intellect group will be 2sigma beyond the (high intellect) mean, while 0.6% of the lower intellect group will reach this level. This differ…
this is what fluoridated tap water gets you... and aspartame
Is there any evidence of undesired effects?
this is what fluoridated tap water gets you... and aspartame
As far as I know, all fluor (and chlorine) does to water is keep it as free as bacteria as possible, and make your teeth stonger. Is there any evidence of undesired effects?
be very afraid
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as I know, all fluor (and chlorine) does to water is keep it as free as bacteria as possible, and make your teeth stonger. Is there any evidence of undesired effects?
http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/brain/ be very afraid
Fear may motivate you to get informed, nothing else.