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Re: Are Mac Users smarter?
Posted By: Max EtchemendyDate: 7/15/02 12:57 a.m.

In Response To: Re: Are Mac Users smarter? (Steve Levinson)

Agreed on all points. I love Macs, especially with OS X, and I believe that everyone should come to the same conclusion.

Now, there's been some...venom...on this thread (note that the actual curses came from the PC user ;-P just kidding; I just wanted to take the obligatory jab, no harm intended). There are two problems that have arisen so far: one, confusing cause with correlation, and two, confusing statistical averages with gross generalizations.

Statistically speaking, Mac users are more educated. This is an objective fact and a statement of =statistical averages=, meaning that some PC users are, of course, more educated than some Mac users, but the alternative is more common. Furthermore, as has already been stated, the additional education (which is assumably related to effective, if not innate, intelligence, and the ability to make =educated= decisions) is not necessarily the cause of the choice.

For example, consider the (real) statistic that people who drive red cars are more likely to get into car accidents. Is this because red cars somehow cause additional road rage, or this color somehow brings forth from the cosmos a supernatural, symbolic wrath? No, it's because the type of people who go for the "hot" or "sporty" look of red cars tend to be more likely to drive dangerously. Thus, red cars and increased danger of death in a car wreck are correlated, but there is no causal relationship here.

This is a relatively harmless example, but consider a much more grave, serious example of this confusion: African-American men are much more likely to commit violent crime than their white counterparts, but that is not because of some innate racial difference. Rather, it is because of the poverty and oppression faced by members of this minority. Racists who take this statistic and therefore conclude that black people are more violent are confusing cause with correlation with explosive, even deadly, results.

Thanks for listening. :-) Or reading, rather. :-)

GURPS Marathon: Roleplaying the Marathon Universe


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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

Are Mac Users smarter?Agent Shem 7/14/02 4:24 p.m.
     Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Mark Levin 7/14/02 4:39 p.m.
           Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Johannes Gunnar 7/14/02 4:47 p.m.
                 Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Ragnar 7/14/02 4:51 p.m.
                       Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Johannes Gunnar 7/14/02 4:54 p.m.
                             Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Ragnar 7/14/02 4:59 p.m.
                 Well...Ernie 7/15/02 4:27 p.m.
                       Re: Well...Agent Shem 7/15/02 5:39 p.m.
                             Re: Well...D-M.A. 7/16/02 6:21 a.m.
           Re: Are Mac Users smarter? NO!Ragnar 7/14/02 4:47 p.m.
                 HmmmmJohannes Gunnar 7/14/02 4:49 p.m.
                       Re: HmmmmRagnar 7/14/02 4:56 p.m.
                             Re: HmmmmJohannes Gunnar 7/14/02 5:05 p.m.
                                   The right tool for the right jobSPNKR113 7/14/02 6:40 p.m.
                                   The right tool for the right jobThermopyle 7/14/02 6:41 p.m.
                                         Re: The right tool for the right jobTru7h 7/16/02 8:41 p.m.
                                               Re: The right tool for the right jobThermopyle 7/16/02 9:52 p.m.
                             Don't hate, educate! *NM*Yossarian 7/14/02 7:12 p.m.
           Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Steve Levinson 7/14/02 7:45 p.m.
                 Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Max Etchemendy 7/15/02 12:57 a.m.
                       Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Johannes Gunnar 7/15/02 4:10 a.m.
                       Applause, standing ovations *NM*Jacke 7/15/02 8:11 a.m.
                       Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Mark Levin 7/15/02 9:56 a.m.
                             Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Steve Levinson 7/15/02 12:50 p.m.
           here's a meaningless, Swedish quoteVid Boi 7/15/02 3:01 a.m.
                 heres a meningless GO proverbeTru7h 7/16/02 8:50 p.m.
                       heres a meningless GO proverbe *PS*Tru7h 7/17/02 5:27 a.m.
                       GO kicks ass *NM*Vid Boi 7/17/02 6:20 a.m.
     Re: Are Mac Users smarter?D-M.A. 7/15/02 7:12 a.m.
           Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Johannes Gunnar 7/15/02 7:15 a.m.
                 LOL, that glass part is perfectly safe :) *NM*D-M.A. 7/15/02 7:20 a.m.
           Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Agent Shem 7/15/02 5:43 p.m.
     Re: Are Mac Users smarter?:: Beer Can :: 7/16/02 1:55 a.m.
           Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Johannes Gunnar 7/16/02 3:57 a.m.
                 Re: Are Mac Users smarter?D-M.A. 7/16/02 5:50 a.m.
                       Re: Are Mac Users smarter?:: Beer Can :: 7/16/02 7:01 p.m.
                             Re: Are Mac Users smarter?D-M.A. 7/17/02 3:48 a.m.
                 Re: Are Mac Users smarter?:: Beer Can :: 7/16/02 7:00 p.m.
                       Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Johannes Gunnar 7/17/02 5:13 a.m.
                             Re: Are Mac Users smarter?:: Beer Can :: 7/17/02 10:46 a.m.
           Re: Are Mac Users smarter?Agent Shem 7/16/02 10:15 a.m.
                 I know this kid...Some guy 7/16/02 1:45 p.m.
                       Re: I know this kid...Max Etchemendy 7/16/02 6:44 p.m.
                             Re: I know this kid...:: Beer Can :: 7/16/02 7:11 p.m.
                                   Re: I know this kid...D-M.A. 7/17/02 3:54 a.m.
                                         Re: I know this kid... The answer to your questionJohannes Gunnar 7/17/02 5:20 a.m.
                                               LOL!!! =^D Great answer! *NM*Agent Shem 7/17/02 3:19 p.m.
                                                     Re: LOL!!! =^D Great answer!Johannes Gunnar 7/17/02 4:00 p.m.
                                                           Re: LOL!!! =^D Great answer!Agent Shem 7/17/02 4:10 p.m.
                                                                 Re: LOL!!! =^D Great answer!Johannes Gunnar 7/17/02 5:46 p.m.
                                                                       Re: LOL!!! =^D Great answer!Vid Boi 7/18/02 2:29 a.m.
                                                                             LOL!Johannes Gunnar 7/18/02 4:11 a.m.
                                                                       Re: LOL!!! =^D Great answer!Agent Shem 7/18/02 6:59 a.m.
                                                                             *GASP!* This thread has been hijacked! =^O *NM*Agent Shem 7/18/02 7:29 a.m.



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