5 ms·

What kind of point is widely accepted and false?

johnnybgoode 17y ago
Rather than provide you with specific examples, which by definition many people would disagree with, I'll just ask you this: Isn't there something you believe to be true which most people don't? Edit: I can also suggest historical examples. How many things were once widely accepted to be true, but are today widely accepted to be false? Assuming today's view is correct, these things were at one time widely accepted and false.
eru 17y ago
For example (but that's kind of a meta-point): If you select any skill (say driving) and ask a sample of people in which quantile they place themself, you are very unlikely to get a uniform distribution. (Like: "90% of people think themself above median drivers.")
- nostrademons 17y ago
  But they're often right. Most people don't think themselves above-median drivers, they think themselves above-average (mean) drivers, i.e. if you take all the car accidents and divide by the number of drivers, they've been involved in fewer than that number. And they'd probably be right: the median number of car accidents is significantly lower than the mean, because a small number of bad drivers account for a large number of car accidents. Not everything is uniformly distributed - in fact, most things aren't.
  - eru 17y ago
    I know that most things are strangely distributed. Even the normal distribution is far from uniform. So I was carefully phrasing my comments in terms of quantiles. Quantiles are evenly distributed by definition. People think themself "better than the typical guy" i.e. above median.
axod 17y ago
Pretty much the basis of the excellent show "QI" which Stephen Fry presents. Check it out.
ilitirit 17y ago
"People only use 10% of their brains"
jokermatt999 17y ago
The existence or lack thereof of God. No matter which way you believe on that, there's a large portion of society that feels the complete opposite way.

Rather than provide you with specific examples, which by definition many people would disagree with, I'll just ask you this: Isn't there something you believe to be true which most people don't? Edit: I can also suggest historical examples. How many things were once widely accepted to be true, but are today widely accepted to be false? Assuming today's view is correct, these things were at one time widely accepted and false.

eru 17y ago

For example (but that's kind of a meta-point): If you select any skill (say driving) and ask a sample of people in which quantile they place themself, you are very unlikely to get a uniform distribution. (Like: "90% of people think themself above median drivers.")

nostrademons 17y ago
But they're often right. Most people don't think themselves above-median drivers, they think themselves above-average (mean) drivers, i.e. if you take all the car accidents and divide by the number of drivers, they've been involved in fewer than that number. And they'd probably be right: the median number of car accidents is significantly lower than the mean, because a small number of bad drivers account for a large number of car accidents. Not everything is uniformly distributed - in fact, most things aren't.
- eru 17y ago
  I know that most things are strangely distributed. Even the normal distribution is far from uniform. So I was carefully phrasing my comments in terms of quantiles. Quantiles are evenly distributed by definition. People think themself "better than the typical guy" i.e. above median.

axod 17y ago

Pretty much the basis of the excellent show "QI" which Stephen Fry presents. Check it out.

ilitirit 17y ago

"People only use 10% of their brains"

jokermatt999 17y ago

The existence or lack thereof of God. No matter which way you believe on that, there's a large portion of society that feels the complete opposite way.