On Sun, Mar 21, 2004 at 10:25:25PM +0000, Richard Baker wrote: > The Fool asserted that if you don't believe in God then you are > automatically above average. To disprove this, you'd have to find an > atheist who was below average in intelligence and education.
That would be one way, but Why would you "have to" do it that way? Why can't it be disproved by showing that the group that believes in god is NOT below average? > The Fool's position could only be true if that tail of the atheist > distribution didn't extend beyond the average for the whole > population. If taken literally, yes. But generally when thoughtful people make those sort of statements, I read them as "it is likely that you have these characteristics since you are part of a group that on average has these characteristics". Whether Fool's comments deserve that sort of consideration is another story... > Debbi saying that she was smart and educated and not an atheist > certainly didn't disprove the Fool's position. Even if, on average, > non-atheists are less smart than the average member of the population, > there will still be tail of the distribution who are smarter than > average, and Debbi could well be in that part of the non-atheist > distribution. Agreed, but again, if taken literally. I filled in the lines of her argument and assumed she meant that there were many others in the group like her and so the group was NOT below average. Am I being to charitable in my interpretation of her meaning? > All of which I hope is clear, but would be clearer if I could sketch a > diagram. Clear enough. I take it you are talking about the assertion that the fool's group is completely above average (literal interpretation of his statement), which means that the remainder group must cross the average so you could have some be above average but the group below average. > > Or are you playing at something Garrison Keillor'ish? > > I've never even heard of Garrison Keillor. Should I have? According to the Prairie Home Companion, in Lake Wobegone, all the children are above average. -- Erik Reuter http://www.erikreuter.net/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
