Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 815 Statistical Deceit

"...by that time, ethologists realized that they had greatly underestimated the intelligence of felines. The traditional concept of 'intelligence quotient', and the intelligence tests invented by humans, are a set of ideas based on pre-existing human concepts. biased approach."

In the late 21s, Xiang Shan stood on the podium of Seoul National University and talked freely.

One of his arms has a distinct metallic tinge.Throughout his speech, the hand was raised at head-level and clenched, as if to make a statement.

Xiang Shan said: "Cats can't understand the meaning of 'intelligence test'. Evolution has not given their brains the mission to understand all this. Compared with our primates, their brains are specialized for hunting. Only they believe 'this Behavior is conducive to hunting', they will be willing to use the computing resources of their brains."

"Let's make an inaccurate but figurative metaphor. If we endow cats with intelligence close to humans through some brain chip implants, then we may be surprised to find that those little furry guys will only When "hunting" and "killing" are involved, the resources of those chips are used. They look up at the starry sky, and they will think about whether there are huge alien creatures worth hunting. After discovering a large alien monster that can arouse their interest in hunting , These little guys will use their wisdom to delve into the theory of relativity and condensed matter, and build better spaceships to hunt aliens."

"Humans use 'IQ tests' based on human biases to test cats' cognitive abilities. But cats have no interest in the tests—until researchers figure out how to convince cats that the tests are about 'hunting'."

Speaking of this, Xiang Shan opened his hands: "Although everyone believes that science should be absolutely neutral, without position, and beyond prejudice. But unfortunately, positions and prejudices have always existed in scientists, even in For quite a long time, those prejudices were not considered 'prejudice', but were taken as part of 'naturalness'."

"This is also part of the 'new style of academia' advocated by me and my partners..."

There was a lot of discussion in the audience, and many young people couldn't suppress their desire to discuss.Seeing this, Xiang Shan paused his speech and gave Li Zheyuan a look.Li Zheyuan immediately indicated to the host that a round of questions could be opened.

Li Zheyuan is standing here as Xiang Shan's simultaneous interpreter.

The host said a few words to the people below.Then, many hands went up.

The first question was a thin young man.He first greeted Xiang Shan respectfully, and then asked: "Mr. Xiang, have you considered that what you just said may form a kind of reverse discrimination. I don't mean to disrespect any women, I respect mine Mother, I also respect all women. But judging from the current data, the academic world is still dominated by men..."

"That's a good question." Xiang Shan's face was a little weird, but he still praised the young man politely: "You have described an irrefutable fact, that is, 'at this stage, the majority of academic members are male'. However, This is just a literal meaning. It does not mean that there are biological factors that determine that women's academic achievements are not as good as men', or that 'academia is male-dominated at any time and in any field'."

"There isn't any neuroscientific research to support the idea that one sex is overwhelmingly dominant in one area of ​​cognitive ability. And that's actually what I'm trying to say to you -- I'll say it again, Prejudice is widespread in everyone."

"'Women are not good at mechanics, mathematics, physics, chemistry and other subjects' is an inherent prejudice. This prejudice will make female compatriots automatically and gradually give up at a certain stage—specifically, from the beginning of gender consciousness. This subject. For them to invest too much energy in these subjects, it becomes 'un-girly'."

"Marie Curie is the first person in human history to win two Nobel Prizes. Amy Noether is one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century. But what happened to them? Marie Curie She collapsed due to the mental pressure caused by the pornographic news and was admitted to a mental hospital. Amy Knott could only give lectures under a male lecturer who was not as good as her, and she could not even receive the same salary—because Scholars at the time could not accept 'listening to a woman teaching mathematics'. In fact, if it were not for the support provided by her teacher David Hilbert in the early years, this great woman would not have made it this far. .She would have been sent home straight through school. Physicists today would be missing out on several common tools.”

"Of course, the situation today is much better than that time. However, this does not mean that the prejudice is no longer there. If the prejudice of 'girls should look like girls' and 'good girls should stay away from machinery and mathematics' will exist one day, then this invisible The pressure will exist one day - it will definitely be reflected in the statistical results."

"The conclusion of statistics is only the conclusion of statistics. It is a summary of phenomena, not truth."

"'Statistics' and 'measurement' are equally deceiving."

"Remember the story of 'cat IQ' I just said? In fact, the misevaluation caused by this bias does not only appear in 'cats'. Many creatures have been misevaluated by biologists in this way-of course, That includes 'humans' as well."

"There are many factors that determine a person's cognitive ability and thinking ability, and a person's cognitive ability and thinking ability also have many different dimensions-we even have to admit that our cognition of our own cognition is still different. Very shallow. We know almost nothing about it. And the criteria for assessing intelligence quotients were developed by humans who knew nothing about it in an age that was even more ignorant than today."

"For example, we know today that human 'memory' is actually divided into several types, and they are independent of each other. 'Memory ability for text', 'memory ability for graphics' and 'memory ability for sound' There are differences. 'Emotional memory' and 'knowledge memory' are stored separately in the brain."

"Let's say, there are two groups A and B in this world. The A group is better at 'memorizing words' on average, and has a statistically significant advantage in 'fast and short-term memory'. The B group is In turn, better at 'memorizing graphics' and 'slower long-term memory forgetting'..."

Xiang Shan sighed softly: "In the IQ test formulated by the A group, 'word memory' accounts for 80.00% of the weight, then statistics will give a conclusion, that is, 'In the so-and-so intelligence test, the A group has an overwhelming advantage. ' is."

(End of this chapter)