The Force is speaking through you

From Why a Woman Can't Be More Like a Man by Megan McArdle. I enjoy McArdle's research and insights and she has among the better commenters out there. Usually, not always, on topic and many of them making worthwhile conversational contributions whether in terms of wit or knowledge.

The above column deals with emerging evidence regarding the innate differences between men and women. It includes this always critical caveat that is too often missing from other pundits.

Even if group averages are different, you can't infer anything about individual ability by looking at their group memberships.

Regardless of her column, I enjoyed this exchange in the comments.

walruss10 • 2 days ago
You know, this is what really concerns me about hyper-politically correct culture. It's opposed to knowledge.

Feynman once gave a lecture in which he talked about the continual use of the incorrect number to represent an electrical charge in various physics experiments. Experimenters would re-test if their readings didn't come out close to that number, but would not re-test if they did. As a result, they ended up using a number that was too small for years.

Now imagine that this error is politicized. It's not just that being wrong will mean you're contradicting established scientific cannon. Being wrong will mean you're being deeply offensive towards someone. How long would it take to discover our error?

Jay walruss10 • 2 days ago
I think it was the weight of an election.

It took years to converge to the true value.

...Max... Jay • 2 days ago
the weight of an election

Do not fix this typo because it transcends the Freud!

Texan99 ...Max... • 2 days ago
Oh, man, I gave him credit for meaning the joke, which was a good one.

Jay ...Max... • 2 days ago
Hah. Fine.

You have no idea how much it hurts me to leave a spelling error though. ;)

...Max... Jay • 2 days ago
Do not think of it as a spelling error because it isn't. The Force is speaking through you.