Book review of The Numbers Game
I'd heard the ones about cancer before, but I hadn't heard this:
Asked in an experiment to guess how many abortions occur in the US for every million live births, students gave a wide range of answers. At the middle of the range was an estimate of 5,000. That figure is so far from the correct answer - 335,000 - that, in the words of the physicist Wolfgang Pauli, it is "not even wrong."
But I used to give a quiz to one of my classes with similar questions. For example: how many battle deaths did the U.S. suffer in the Vietnam War?
I had quite a few college students--I forget the exact percentage, but I think it was 20 percent or so--answer more than 500,000.
And they each had exactly as many votes as I do.
>> And they each had exactly as many votes as I do.
Sobering indeed!
Posted by: Speedmaster | January 29, 2009 at 08:23 AM
"And they each had exactly as many votes as I do."
I haven't had my coffee yet, but ...
Who are "they"?
What "votes"?
How many "votes" do "you" have?
What are you "voting" on?
Sorry, Craig, I just don't get it. Please explain.
Posted by: TheBigHenry | January 29, 2009 at 08:45 AM
People can't think in millions . . . ask them abortions per hundred births and I suspect they'd be much closer.
Posted by: bjk | January 29, 2009 at 09:25 AM
Another way to put it would be, One in four children are aborted.
Posted by: kyle8 | January 29, 2009 at 09:50 AM
Maybe you should discuss the Vietnam number with some of your colleagues in the History department....
Posted by: david foster | January 29, 2009 at 09:53 AM
If you want to be really scared, ask the average member of Congress these questions.
And ask for instance members of Congress and activists opposed to the current level of military spending what percent of our GDP we actually spend on the military. The ignorance revealed will be mind boggling.
Posted by: TPG | January 29, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Is it really this high? For every 10 live birth there are 3.35 abortions? Can you reference this? I knew the number was high, but I never imagined it being this high.
Regards,
Ken
Posted by: Ken | January 29, 2009 at 12:17 PM
TheBigHenry,
"They" are Craig's college students. The "votes" they have are the ones in political elections. As per US elections laws "they" have as many "votes" as Craig does, i.e., one. He's lamenting the ignorance of COLLEGE STUDENTS, people who are supposed to be above averaged in intelligence and definitely be above average in knowledge, yet they don't even know some of the basic, well known facts about American society.
So I have to ask, are you just being obnoxious, posting an sarcastic post with quotations around words you should know the definition for?
And to think you have just as many votes as me.
-Ken
Posted by: Ken | January 29, 2009 at 12:21 PM
US Casualties:
Vietnam: Combat: 47,424. Other: 10,785. Total: 58,209
WWII: Combat:291,557 Other:113,842 Total: 405,399
Russian and German Casualties at Stalingrad, WWII: 1.5 million plus.
Source: Wikipedia (so what?)
Posted by: Nathanael Snow | January 29, 2009 at 03:15 PM
Few people are truly capable of critical thought, and even fewer actually practice it. It will be fun when the majority of Americans has become accustomed to living income tax free.
Posted by: AJS | January 30, 2009 at 08:25 AM
As I get older (and my income higher) I more and more appreciate the Jeffersonian notion that suffrage belongs to the landed gentry. Those with a vested interest.
Posted by: CW | January 30, 2009 at 09:24 AM