Population

2 Comments

1. Thoughts, yes
   Arguments, maybe
   Hate mail, never

   From WikiAnswers: in 2007 there were 134 000 000 babies born/yr divided by 525 600 minutes/yr = 255 babies born/minute

   For the sake of argument, let’s say that for the past 100 years roughly the same numbers of babies have been born each year. Also, let’s take other factors such as environment and genetics out of the equation. That gives us a sample of 255 people. Would that mean that about 0.39% of the population is idiotic? Somehow that seems low.

   Then again, if we’re talking about pure idiots and excluding idiotic behavior and tendencies, maybe it’s right.

   And where does that leave the village idiot? What about the sucker born every minute?

   (Just so you know, in college, I gotta a C- in statistics, so my math is probably all wrong.)

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2. “So, I’m thinking an idiot is indeed born every minute, but that some continents are more densely populated with them than others.”

   Not the idiot-theory per se, but I’ve always pondered over statistics such as (this obviously made up example) “one in four people have a bent left pinky.” Now I live in a family of four and I can safely say that none of us have bent, or otherwise non-straight, left pinkies. When gathered in a room of friends numbering a multiple of four, still none of us have bent left pinkies. Therefore the only conclusion I can come to (and this is probably some sort of philosophical fallacy) is that, somewhere else in the world, there is a whole population of people with bent left pinkies where the statistic will actually be “one in one persons has a bent left pinky.”

   Surely this will apply to the Idiot Theory as well? But, then again, some people are very good at hiding idiocy until they’re alone at home. I’ve had years of practice, you see 😉

   And a disclaimer: just in case there is an actual statistic about people with bent left pinkies – I mean no offense.

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