London Mayor: 16% of the population are idiots

[green73]

George Osborne has moved to distance himself from Boris Johnson after the London Mayor suggested society is unequal because many people have low IQs.

The Chancellor said he did not agree with everything Mr Johnson said and stressed the importance of education to spread opportunity.

Delivering the Margaret Thatcher lecture last week, the Tory mayor appeared to mock the 16% of "our species" with an IQ below 85 and urged more action to help the 2% with an IQ above 130.

Hailing greed as a spur to economic activity, he asserted that inequality was essential to foster the spirit of envy.

The intervention drew a sharp response from many quarters, with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg attacking Mr Johnson's "unpleasant, careless elitism".

Asked about the speech on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show this morning, Mr Osborne said: "I would not have put it like that. I don't agree with everything he said.

"I think there is actually increasingly common agreement across the political spectrum you can't achieve equality of outcome, but you should be able to achieve equality of opportunity.

"You should give everyone, wherever they come from, the best chance, and, actually, education is the key to this."

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/give-everyone-the-best-chance-george-osbornes-reply-to-boris-johnsons-iq-elite-speech-8975742.html

[tod evans]

They've got the USA bested then.

[Origanalist]

They've got the USA bested then.

Dammit Tod, you beat me to it. Heck, if it's only 16% they have us beat by a long shot.

[Varin]

He is right of course. Why to much resources are wasted on trying to educate the slowest learners. It would bee much more efficient to spend the resources on the ones who learns the fastest.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Uh--I think that--ummm--what?

[FSU63]

Here, it appears to be in the 90-95 range.

[oyarde]

If only 16 percent of a population were idiots , there would be no socialism anywhere .

[green73]

If only 16 percent of a population were idiots , there would be no socialism anywhere .

Oh come on now, Oyarde. Being an economic ignoramus does not make one an idiot. :)

[Zippyjuan]

That number is low. Half the population has below average intelligence.

[KingNothing]

That number is low. Half the population has below average intelligence.

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” ― George Carlin

[Keith and stuff]

Nice USA Today article about this. It shows the London mayor praising the rich and talented and the NYC mayor shaming the rich and talented.

Wolff: London, NYC mayors show stark contrast
Michael Wolff, USA TODAY 9:19 a.m. EST December 2, 2013
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/wolff/2013/12/01/wolff-boris-johnson-bill-de-blasio/3799131/

Here is a part of it.

Great cities have become the most obvious economic symbols of our time. They reward success. They have less and less room for failure. Johnson, in the most explicit terms possible, put himself on the side of success and the successful, going so far as to praise hedge-funders and to recall the 1980s Gordon Gekko credo that "greed is good," that success ultimately raises all boats.

De Blasio, as he takes over the world's richest city, is perhaps the clearest representative of the new ethos that success is problematic, that its rewards ought to be substantially scaled back, that it is fundamentally unfair in principle and that, however you cut it, profit to one person means loss to another.

The contrast here is even more stark, given that, in many ways, London and New York are the same city, or at least part of the same economic zone of international wealth and finance and of the monetization of brain power and market cunning.
boris johnson

London Mayor Boris Johnson Johnson offers praise for hedge-funders and has recalled the 1980s Gordon Gekko credo that "greed is good," that success ultimately raises all boats.(Photo: Leon Neal, AFP/Getty Images)

Johnson went so far as to specifically single out the gulf that separates the smarts, with their commercial acumen, from the stupids, who don't have the brain power and creativity to compete.

De Blasio, for his part, has tried to make outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg — prototype of the savviest businessmen of the age and an admirer of Johnson's — a symbol of market aggression and heartlessness.

In Johnson's view, the market meritocracy has created not just vast wealth but exponentially greater opportunities. The rich get richer, but, to a greater extent than ever before, so does a larger segment of everyone else.

In de Blasio's view, we have lost our way, and ought to reset at some better place in the past.

For Johnson, the terrible days of the 1970s, in a Britain beset by stagnation and union demands, are the enemy. The measure of the accomplishments of the new economic order is how far we have come from that.

For de Blasio, the 1970s seem to exist in a nostalgic haze; those days, even with the crime and near bankruptcy of the city, were more egalitarian and open.

[Pericles]

If only 16 percent of a population were idiots , there would be no socialism anywhere .

Even if only 16% of the population are idiots, 50% are below average.

[Ronin Truth]

Under the 80/20 rule, 20% of the population has 80% of the brains. ;) :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy

[Acala]

That number is low. Half the population has below average intelligence.

I'm no statistician, but I believe that half the population has below the MEDIAN intelligence.

[Zippyjuan]

I'm no statistician, but I believe that half the population has below the MEDIAN intelligence.

Yes, that would be technically more accurate. Median is the mid-point where half lie above it and half below it while average could also be the mid- point, but a large grouping at either end could raise or lower the average above the median. Consider the following list of numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10. The middle one (median) is 4 (three are higher and three are lower) but when we average them (add them all up and divide by the total entries) and you get 31 divided by seven or an average of 4.4. The larger the sample (like the 330 million US Population) though, the closer the average will be to the mean.

[Czolgosz]

IQ isn't a problem which plagues Humanity.

[FloralScent]

One only has to look at their form of government to confirm the veracity of this statement.

[Acala]

Yes, that would be technically more accurate. Median is the mid-point where half lie above it and half below it while average could also be the mid- point, but a large grouping at either end could raise or lower the average above the median. Consider the following list of numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10. The middle one (median) is 4 (three are higher and three are lower) but when we average them (add them all up and divide by the total entries) and you get 31 divided by seven or an average of 4.4. The larger the sample (like the 330 million US Population) though, the closer the average will be to the mean.

I think you meant to say that the larger the sample, the closer the average is the the MEDIAN. But that is only true if the distribution is approximately symetrical and that may not be the case with intelligence. I don't know, but it would not surprise me if there were many more very stupid people than there are super geniuses.

[Ronin Truth]

I think you meant to say that the larger the sample, the closer the average is the the MEDIAN. But that is only true if the distribution is approximately symetrical and that may not be the case with intelligence. I don't know, but it would not surprise me if there were many more very stupid people than there are super geniuses. How many standard deviations from the mean constitute the beginning of "stupid people"?

[gwax23]

Hes giving a low percentage.

[DamianTV]

I propose that a measley 99.999% of the population that hold high positions in office are Corrupt.

[JK/SEA]

idiots electing idiots.

[Ronin Truth]

"The best argument against democracy is a 5 minute conversation with the average voter." -- Winston Churchill

[muzzled dogg]

An awfully conservative estimate

[erowe1]

I haven't clicked the link yet.

But the first thing I notice in the OP is that not a single one of the claims it makes about what this guy supposedly said is an actual quote.

[brushfire]

Not everyone can be a genius.

[KingNothing]

I think you meant to say that the larger the sample, the closer the average is the the MEDIAN. But that is only true if the distribution is approximately symetrical and that may not be the case with intelligence. I don't know, but it would not surprise me if there were many more very stupid people than there are super geniuses.

Typically in nature a large population will fit a normal distribution. I think it's usually safe to make that assumption.

[Acala]

Typically in nature a large population will fit a normal distribution. I think it's usually safe to make that assumption.

Often. But it depends on what you are measuring. Say, for example, you are measuring running speed. On the downside it goes essentially to zero for the lame. The upside is much more limited. It is not likely to be gaussian. The same may also be true with IQ where the low side goes essentially to zero while the upside is probably much more limited (the microcephalic deviates more from the median on the downside than Richard Feynman does on the up side).

[tod evans]

Not everyone can be a genius.

I was put here to counterbalance one genius...:o

[DamianTV]

If one is of average intelligence, then half of the people they meet are dumber than they are. Not sure how the dumbest of the dumb get into office...

[LibForestPaul]

I'm no statistician, but I believe that half the population has below the MEDIAN intelligence.
Is it postively or negatively skewed.

[Origanalist]

Is it postively or negatively skewed.


Lies, damned lies, and statistics :(

[Dianne]

We have the same problem in the United States, only all our idiots are in the Congress and the White House. Does he have a solution for them?

[DamianTV]

We have the same problem in the United States, only all our idiots are in the Congress and the White House. Does he have a solution for them?

Oooh! Got it! Fourth Trimester Abortion!