Can we quantify stupidity?
I once had a pet project of trying to quantify stupidity on a state-by-state basis. The metric was each state's overall house take across all lottery games divided by the mean distance of that state's citizens to a race track, OTB, or casino. If the house take is 60% and the average distance is 20 miles, that state is only 3 stupid. If the take is 50% and people are an average of 4 miles from such a venue, that state is 12.5 stupid. The reasoning is that casinos and race tracks only have takes in the 5% to 17% range.
The original purpose of the project was to demonstrate that many states were being inefficient in how they run their lottery programs, typically resulting in too much money coming FROM the less well off and TO a lot of consulants and political hacks.
I'm thinking of reviving it now to see how it tracks against a state's propinquity to have prayer/creationism/etc movements and how well those movements fare.
Any thoughts on measuring the stupidity of a state?
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17 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Please define "Stupidity?" At what level do we determine what is or is not stupid. Is this question stupid of an exercise in stupidity? Are the respondents stupid to waste our time over this subject or are we exercising our intellect?
SageDave
Level 7
Apr 5, 2018
0
In my example, I defined stupidity reflexively as choosing to spend more for a given potential return. The house take difference between race tracks and state lotteries is the clearest quantifiable example I could think of.
Ugh. Too many numbers and metrics. I just like to go with my gut feeling. I know stupid when I see it.
Palindromeman
Level 7
Mar 30, 2018
0
What sort of units would you use? Dolts, microDolts, MegaDolts?
GeorgeRocheleau
Level 8
Mar 29, 2018
1
This is akin to using the unit "Helen" to measure beauty. One Helen can launch a thousand ships, a millihelen can launch one ship and a microHelen can only launch a row boat.
I thought voting did this??
farmboy2017
Level 7
Mar 28, 2018
2
Right. Is it a red, or blue state? There's an instant measure.
Yes, one by the food they buy/eat, two by the shows they watch, three by the levels of education in the schools where people live. That should give ya a good start mate.
DrewShourd
Level 7
Mar 28, 2018
1
SAT scores maybe. I think they are normalized across the US
CallMeDave
Level 8
Mar 27, 2018
3
I think you'd have to start with me because I understood, like, ten percent of that.
memorylikeasieve
Level 7
Mar 27, 2018
3
Tagging in @silverotter11 as well. When you give a dollar to a state lottery, you expect to get back about 43 cents. When you give a dollar to a casino, you expect to get back about 93 cents, and you get free drinks. If you give a dollar to a race track, and you've learned how to read the Racing Form, you'll likely get back $1.15. Even if you just bet on horses whose names you like, you'll get about 82 cents back. So my proposition is that if you have a choice between getting 43 cents back from your dollar or getting 93 cents plus a Jameson's and soda, and you opt for the 43 cents, you're stupid. The distance factor accounts for how much you have to put yourself out to get the better deal.
Clueless but I really like the concept and can totally appreciate the math involved to get from point A to point B.
We do have some examples, trump voters and foxSTUPID viewers.
silverotter11
Level 9
Mar 27, 2018
4
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