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It's an interesting phenomenon, perhaps worthy of study by propagandists or advertisers. If you tried to claim that a person's physical strength could be measur

by bloak 8y ago

It's an interesting phenomenon, perhaps worthy of study by propagandists or advertisers. If you tried to claim that a person's physical strength could be measured with a single number people would think you're mad, and probably most people in the world would think the concept of "IQ" is mad, and yet, in some countries, so many people believe in it.

throwawaymath 8y ago
Eh... > If you tried to claim that a person's physical strength could be measured with a single number people would think you're mad I wouldn’t think you’re mad. Many others wouldn’t either. Powerlifting competitions are already close to this. Take your performance across the four major lifts (benchpress, squat, shoulder press, deadlift) and devise a formula to combine it into a total number measuring the “general” strength of a person. You can compete on individual lifts, and if you break out that score some will be better than others at individual lifts, but the larger number remains indicative of well-rounded achievement in orthogonal areas. That being said, I don’t think physical strength is comparable in any case. > probably most people in the world would think the concept of "IQ" is mad, and yet, in some countries, so many people believe in it. I think most people either “believe” in IQ or don’t think about it often enough to have an opinion. In fact skepticism about IQ is, in my experience, a distinct phenomeon on message boards and not at all representative of society in general.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
madeuptempacct 8y ago
"If you tried to claim that a person's physical strength could be measured with a single number" Its consistently measured as a single number by the US military - it's just a combination of your performance on several exercises - traditionally pull ups, distance run times, swim times, number of crunches, etc. So, again, fitness is consistently measured as a single number by one of the world's largest organizations. Don't postulate it's absurd. The same aggregation can be done for intelligence.
- bloak 8y ago
  Yes, you can do that: you aggregate the results from some arbitrary tests, using some arbitrary weights, and out comes an arbitrary number. The trick must be to give that number a catchy name, so that people think it's something highly meaningful, almost akin to mass, distance or time.

by bloak 8y ago

throwawaymath 8y ago

Eh... > If you tried to claim that a person's physical strength could be measured with a single number people would think you're mad I wouldn’t think you’re mad. Many others wouldn’t either. Powerlifting competitions are already close to this. Take your performance across the four major lifts (benchpress, squat, shoulder press, deadlift) and devise a formula to combine it into a total number measuring the “general” strength of a person. You can compete on individual lifts, and if you break out that score some will be better than others at individual lifts, but the larger number remains indicative of well-rounded achievement in orthogonal areas. That being said, I don’t think physical strength is comparable in any case. > probably most people in the world would think the concept of "IQ" is mad, and yet, in some countries, so many people believe in it. I think most people either “believe” in IQ or don’t think about it often enough to have an opinion. In fact skepticism about IQ is, in my experience, a distinct phenomeon on message boards and not at all representative of society in general.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

madeuptempacct 8y ago

"If you tried to claim that a person's physical strength could be measured with a single number" Its consistently measured as a single number by the US military - it's just a combination of your performance on several exercises - traditionally pull ups, distance run times, swim times, number of crunches, etc. So, again, fitness is consistently measured as a single number by one of the world's largest organizations. Don't postulate it's absurd. The same aggregation can be done for intelligence.

bloak 8y ago
Yes, you can do that: you aggregate the results from some arbitrary tests, using some arbitrary weights, and out comes an arbitrary number. The trick must be to give that number a catchy name, so that people think it's something highly meaningful, almost akin to mass, distance or time.