<!--QuoteBegin-Soylent green+Nov 2 2004, 02:20 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Soylent green @ Nov 2 2004, 02:20 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Think how stupid the average person is, then realise by definition, half of them are even more stupid than that.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It's not by definition, let's just disprove this OK?...
Say you have a group of eleven people, one has a wage of 20,000€/month and the rest have a sane wage, say around 2000€/month each.
The regular arithmetic average that everyone means when they say average is 4000€, but 10 out of those eleven people earn less then that!
Now, the average you MIGHT(and then certainly should have said) have meant is the median, which by definition has as many samples on either side.
If the distribution is symmetric(and it often is(often gaussian)) then you will have as many people on either side of the average even if you mean the arithmetic one. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> but since stupidity isn't quantifiable, we have to assume we're talking about percentiles, in which case it's correct. 'average' can mean mean, median, mode, etc... and by context we can assume median is appropriate, suggesting that yes, half of all people are stupider than this theoretical average stupid person...
oh noes, I'm sucking the humor out of this thread too!
AllUrHiveRblong2usBy Your Powers Combined...Join Date: 2002-12-20Member: 11244Members
Psh! If you people payed any attention to science, you would know that Wormhole Viruses have been proven mathmetically for many years now. Finally we have solid evidence to back up Stephen Hawking's great mathmatical proof of the phenomenon. Here he is moments after finishing his historic discovery!
i am confused... what woud happen if you trew somthing thats not softwhere (like a pice of brocoli) in the wormhole... woud it become manny small brocolis with feets or maybe mutate into a Photograph of your fammily running in circels?
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> but since stupidity isn't quantifiable, we have to assume we're talking about percentiles, in which case it's correct. 'average' can mean mean, median, mode, etc... and by context we can assume median is appropriate, suggesting that yes, half of all people are stupider than this theoretical average stupid person...<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you don't assume that stupidity is quantifyable then you can't rank people in any way, you cannot even compare their "intelligence", the only sensible option is to compare their "intelligence" by deriving some form of score for each person, with a different weight to compensate for the relative importance of each task, and use it to calculate a mean(arithmetic average) which in common usage is called simply "the average". You have a function with which to compare "intelligence" by necesity or you can do no comparison at all in any practical way(you could do something like pit n people against each other in chess and use some fast sorting method to minimize the number of required chess games for sorting them worst to best, which would not constitute a randomized sample as most people are busy/impatitient/uninterested and would be an exercize in futillity for large n. If you intended to include more than one game you would have to start introducing weights and calculate some sort of score to be able to compare people as some people may solve the rubriks cube quickly(a game of mostly slight of hand and practicing various moves, it can be solved systematically without thinking much at all) but still suck at chess), why would you use the median of all things except out of spite? <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/nerd-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->( <--- nerdy vampire fangs)
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Except for the nexus threads, those are gold. Welcome to the Nigeria off-topics, now featuring zimbabwe matrix codes.</span>
QuaunautThe longest seven days in history...Join Date: 2003-03-21Member: 14759Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
<!--QuoteBegin-007Bistromath+Nov 2 2004, 04:09 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (007Bistromath @ Nov 2 2004, 04:09 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> We need to bring this thread to the attention of Fark and Something Awful. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Dude, seriously. This is like the funniest thing I've read in weeks.
<!--QuoteBegin-Invader Scoot+Nov 2 2004, 04:44 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Invader Scoot @ Nov 2 2004, 04:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> This thread so makes me wish I had photoshop so that I could make some pictures like this... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> No, photoshop removes the fun. You need MSPaint.
Hrm I have another theory for this "wormhole" virus. Since its been theorized that space-time is a plane and that objects with mass create depressions in the plane, and that mass is directly related to the density and volume of an object (a denser object in the same volume has greater mass), and that the size of the bend in space-time created by a mass is directly proportional to the mass, here's a new theory: Since it has been stated that idiots are "dense", and that, on average, people have approximately the same sized brains, it can be derived that the brain of a moron weighs more then the brain of a genius (contrary to Broca's theory, but thats been disproven anyways). Therefore stupid people will create a greater warp in space-time. If a person's stupidity exceeds a certain value (approximately 1.5 times dumber than your average person), that the warp in space time will be so great that it will collapse upon itself. This will create a singularity of stupidity at a certain point, much like a black hole. Now that we have a vortex of stupidity at a certain point, we can theorize that if the person connects to an instant messenger service such as Yahoo (or any other online communication service, such as the chat in CounterStrike), that this singularity (which due to its similarity to a black hole would have infinite stupidity) would be attracted to intelligent people (such as a negative and positive charge attract each other). The singularity would be transmitted across the internet and would create an unstable wormhole between the two people's computers. This unstable wormhole would attract your file (just one of them, the most crucial one however) and spew it out the other end as random unintelligible symbols. This is the wormhole virus.
This whole bending of space-time also explains why people around really dumb people seem to get even dumber, since they are constantly spiralling down into the singularity and eventually get sucked in.
I once lived in a very technology oriented place, among other things. I look forward to returning home, at last. Never the twain shall meet. These two universes will never collide..
Comments
It's not by definition, let's just disprove this OK?...
Say you have a group of eleven people, one has a wage of 20,000€/month and the rest have a sane wage, say around 2000€/month each.
The regular arithmetic average that everyone means when they say average is 4000€, but 10 out of those eleven people earn less then that!
Now, the average you MIGHT(and then certainly should have said) have meant is the median, which by definition has as many samples on either side.
If the distribution is symmetric(and it often is(often gaussian)) then you will have as many people on either side of the average even if you mean the arithmetic one. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
but since stupidity isn't quantifiable, we have to assume we're talking about percentiles, in which case it's correct. 'average' can mean mean, median, mode, etc... and by context we can assume median is appropriate, suggesting that yes, half of all people are stupider than this theoretical average stupid person...
oh noes, I'm sucking the humor out of this thread too!
*does a happy clown dance*
that's better.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> but since stupidity isn't quantifiable, we have to assume we're talking about percentiles, in which case it's correct. 'average' can mean mean, median, mode, etc... and by context we can assume median is appropriate, suggesting that yes, half of all people are stupider than this theoretical average stupid person...<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you don't assume that stupidity is quantifyable then you can't rank people in any way, you cannot even compare their "intelligence", the only sensible option is to compare their "intelligence" by deriving some form of score for each person, with a different weight to compensate for the relative importance of each task, and use it to calculate a mean(arithmetic average) which in common usage is called simply "the average". You have a function with which to compare "intelligence" by necesity or you can do no comparison at all in any practical way(you could do something like pit n people against each other in chess and use some fast sorting method to minimize the number of required chess games for sorting them worst to best, which would not constitute a randomized sample as most people are busy/impatitient/uninterested and would be an exercize in futillity for large n. If you intended to include more than one game you would have to start introducing weights and calculate some sort of score to be able to compare people as some people may solve the rubriks cube quickly(a game of mostly slight of hand and practicing various moves, it can be solved systematically without thinking much at all) but still suck at chess), why would you use the median of all things except out of spite? <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/nerd-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->( <--- nerdy vampire fangs)
If the wormhole virus has been detected on your system, DO NOT attempt to play Doom 3. Chances are very high that your soul will be trapped in Hell!
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Except for the nexus threads, those are gold. Welcome to the Nigeria off-topics, now featuring zimbabwe matrix codes.</span>
Dude, seriously. This is like the funniest thing I've read in weeks.
No, photoshop removes the fun. You need MSPaint.
This whole bending of space-time also explains why people around really dumb people seem to get even dumber, since they are constantly spiralling down into the singularity and eventually get sucked in.
Edit: A diagram
I once lived in a very technology oriented place, among other things. I look forward to returning home, at last. Never the twain shall meet. These two universes will never collide..
Holy Crap dude INDEED <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->