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Not enough people understand this. It blew my mind when I first learned about illiteracy rates among Americans. And once you understand innumeracy you begin to

Not enough people understand this. It blew my mind when I first learned about illiteracy rates among Americans. And once you understand innumeracy you begin to understand just how vulnerable people are to coercion. And how people think that 1% fatality rates are no big deal.

jengleton 6y ago
The illiteracy rate in the US is really quite incredible, with the federal government reporting something like 20% of the population to be "low literacy" https://nces.ed.gov/datapoints/2019179.asp https://nces.ed.gov/datapoints/2019179.asp
- ljf 6y ago
  Wow - I really thought the first gp in this thread must be wrong, and then researched the UK and we are similar - around 20 to 25 percent. Blows my mind - it appears the levels haven't changed much since the 40s in the UK - which shocked me.
thu2111 6y ago
Are there many people who think 1% fatality rate is no big deal? I haven't seen many. But of course the illiterate would not be commenting much online. There are many who don't think COVID is a big deal, because it doesn't have anywhere close to a 1% fatality rate. But that's not quite the same thing.
- JoelMcCracken 6y ago
  Yes, I was referring to covid, but just an example. Initially experts thought thought 1% was correct for covid, AND people thought it was not a big deal. Thankfully there have been reports that make us think the fatality rate is much less than 1%, but that doesn't change the fact that people though 1% was a tiny number.
  - silveraxe93 6y ago
    I mean, 0.01 is objectively a tiny number. The problem is when you multiply by 328 million ;)
    - JoelMcCracken 6y ago
      Hence the need for numeracy. You need to be able to do a little bit of thinking for any given number, the context, etc. For example, think about all the people you know, and also how that 0.01 might not be a random sampling of the entire population, but "cluster" in certain cohorts like the elderly, and consider that 0.01 is the worst-case outcome, but in many situations more will still have really bad consequences.

jengleton 6y ago

The illiteracy rate in the US is really quite incredible, with the federal government reporting something like 20% of the population to be "low literacy" https://nces.ed.gov/datapoints/2019179.asp https://nces.ed.gov/datapoints/2019179.asp

ljf 6y ago
Wow - I really thought the first gp in this thread must be wrong, and then researched the UK and we are similar - around 20 to 25 percent. Blows my mind - it appears the levels haven't changed much since the 40s in the UK - which shocked me.

thu2111 6y ago

Are there many people who think 1% fatality rate is no big deal? I haven't seen many. But of course the illiterate would not be commenting much online. There are many who don't think COVID is a big deal, because it doesn't have anywhere close to a 1% fatality rate. But that's not quite the same thing.

JoelMcCracken 6y ago
Yes, I was referring to covid, but just an example. Initially experts thought thought 1% was correct for covid, AND people thought it was not a big deal. Thankfully there have been reports that make us think the fatality rate is much less than 1%, but that doesn't change the fact that people though 1% was a tiny number.
- silveraxe93 6y ago
  I mean, 0.01 is objectively a tiny number. The problem is when you multiply by 328 million ;)
  - JoelMcCracken 6y ago
    Hence the need for numeracy. You need to be able to do a little bit of thinking for any given number, the context, etc. For example, think about all the people you know, and also how that 0.01 might not be a random sampling of the entire population, but "cluster" in certain cohorts like the elderly, and consider that 0.01 is the worst-case outcome, but in many situations more will still have really bad consequences.