Reality is a paradox 🍇
"My ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower. They met the boat."
—Will Rogers
> in my eyes | the grapes of wrath
Famous Oklahoma humorist Will Rogers once made an observation about the people from his home state who were fleeing to California during the 1930s.
They were desperately trying to escape a major economic depression and a suffocating ecological disaster known as the Dust Bowl. Declared Rogers:
>> "When the Okies left Oklahoma and moved to California, they raised the average intelligence level in both states."
The remark is just one sentence. It nonetheless became known as the Will Rogers Paradox.
At first glance, it seems to sneer at logic.
But upon closer inspection, the Will Rogers Paradox has layers.
- Will Rogers meant that those who left Oklahoma for California were not as bright as those who stayed behind.
- The Dust Bowl migrants who did leave for California, on the other hand, were smarter than the average Californian.
This would theoretically lead to a rise in the intelligence levels of both groups.
That's because moving a person of lower smarts out of a higher-smarts category and into a lower-smarts category increases the mean of both.
But you probably didn't initially "see" this. I didn’t either.
- next time "One paper challenges our understanding of dumb."
- listening Cream "SWLABR"
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