{"id":3838,"date":"2011-04-29T17:13:01","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T11:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indiauncut.com\/?p=3769"},"modified":"2011-04-29T17:13:01","modified_gmt":"2011-04-29T11:43:01","slug":"does-sturgeons-law-apply-to-human-beings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiauncut.com\/does-sturgeons-law-apply-to-human-beings\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Sturgeon\u2019s Law Apply To Human Beings?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sturgeon’s Law<\/a> states that “ninety percent of everything is crud”. This is certainly true in many fields, and I myself have invoked it in the context of blogging<\/a>, but today I’m wondering, is this true also of human beings? Are 90% of us stupid? Like, really<\/i> stupid? Consider this news story by Reuters<\/a> in Istanbul:<\/p>\n Turkish police donned white coats and stethoscopes to disguise themselves as doctors, then knocked on people’s doors to see how easily they would fall for a confidence scam.<\/p>\n The undercover police officers told residents of the southeastern city of Gaziantep they were screening for high blood pressure and handed out pills, according to Turkish media.<\/p>\n They were alarmed when residents at 86 out of 100 households visited on Tuesday swallowed the pills immediately.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Apparently this was the actual modus operandi of a gang that got people to pop sedatives and then robbed them. But this isn’t all.<\/p>\n Officers in Adana in southern Turkey last week called at houses, announcing through the intercom: “I am a burglar, please open the door.”<\/p>\n Police said they were stunned at the number of people who opened the door, the Radikal daily newspaper reported.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Brings a certain Godrej commercial<\/a> to mind, doesn’t it? But to get back to the question of general intelligence levels, just take a look sometime at comments left in any random Rediff article or YouTube video, and a depressing picture emerges. It’s the reverse of the Lake Wobegon Effect<\/a>: Everyone appears stupider than average—which is, of course, not possible.<\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n In case you need a bigger pen1s or a million dollars deposited in your account by a buddy of mine in Nigeria, please leave your email in the feedback section<\/a> of my site. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sturgeon’s Law<\/a> states that “ninety percent of everything is crud”. This is certainly true in many fields, and I myself have invoked it in the context of blogging<\/a>, but today I’m wondering, is this true also of human beings? Are 90% of us stupid? Like, really<\/i> stupid? Consider this news story by Reuters<\/a> in Istanbul:<\/p>\n Turkish police donned white coats and stethoscopes to disguise themselves as doctors, then knocked on people’s doors to see how easily they would fall for a confidence scam.<\/p>\n The undercover police officers told residents of the southeastern city of Gaziantep they were screening for high blood pressure and handed out pills, according to Turkish media.<\/p>\n They were alarmed when residents at 86 out of 100 households visited on Tuesday swallowed the pills immediately.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Apparently this was the actual modus operandi of a gang that got people to pop sedatives and then robbed them. But this isn’t all.<\/p>\n Officers in Adana in southern Turkey last week called at houses, announcing through the intercom: “I am a burglar, please open the door.”<\/p>\n Police said they were stunned at the number of people who opened the door, the Radikal daily newspaper reported.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Brings a certain Godrej commercial<\/a> to mind, doesn’t it? But to get back to the question of general intelligence levels, just take a look sometime at comments left in any random Rediff article or YouTube video, and a depressing picture emerges. It’s the reverse of the Lake Wobegon Effect<\/a>: Everyone appears stupider than average—which is, of course, not possible.<\/p>\n * * * *<\/p>\n In case you need a bigger pen1s or a million dollars deposited in your account by a buddy of mine in Nigeria, please leave your email in the feedback section<\/a> of my site. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,23,17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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