How the Idea of a ‘Normal’ Person Got Invented

Re:How the Idea of a ‘Normal’ Person Got Invented by Qantourisc on Thursday February 25, 2016 @03:06AM (#11173043)

I always say to people "Name me one normal person." (They usually can't.) And if they do name one that could qualify: "It's not normal to be normal."

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Re:How the Idea of a ‘Normal’ Person Got Invented by IsaacL on Thursday February 25, 2016 @11:22AM (#11175435)

A related point from geometry is that high-dimensional spheres are "spiky". (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3995615)

E.g. if you have a set of things which vary in many dimensions (even if each element is no more than a set "distance" from normality), very few elements will belong in the "centre" (normal on all dimensions) and most will belong on a spike (wildly extreme in 1 or 2 dimensions).

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Re:How the Idea of a ‘Normal’ Person Got Invented by ajuc on Thursday February 25, 2016 @04:30AM (#11173321)

Average person has half a penis.

It doesn't mean stats are useless. It means you have to know how to interprete them.

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Re:How the Idea of a ‘Normal’ Person Got Invented by douche on Thursday February 25, 2016 @11:51AM (#11175685)

Depends on the time and region you select your sample from. In some provinces of China at different times, the average person might have six tenths of a penis.

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