Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 815 - 60: The Deception of Statistics

Chapter 815: Chapter 60: The Deception of Statistics

"...It was only then that behaviorists realized they had greatly underestimated the intelligence of feline species. The traditional ’intelligence quotient’ concept, as well as human-invented intelligence tests, are a set of biased methods based on existing human notions."

In the late 2040s, Xiang Shan stood on the podium at the National Seoul University, speaking eloquently.

One of his arms showed a distinct metallic sheen. Throughout the lecture, this hand was raised to head level, with a clenched fist, seemingly declaring something.

Xiang Shan said, "Felines cannot comprehend the meaning of ’intelligence tests.’ Evolution did not endow their brains with the mission to understand all of this. Compared to our primate brains, theirs are specialized for hunting. Only when they believe ’this behavior is beneficial for hunting’ are they willing to engage their brain’s computational resources."

"To use an imprecise but vivid analogy, suppose we endowed cats with intelligence close to humans through certain brain chip implants. We might be surprised to find that those furry little creatures would only use those chip resources when it involves ’hunting’ and ’killing.’ They gaze at the stars and wonder if there are enormous extraterrestrial creatures worth hunting. Upon discovering extraterrestrial monsters that trigger their hunting interest, these little guys would start using their intelligence, exploring relativity and condensed matter, building better spaceships to hunt in space."

"Humans use human-biased ’IQ tests’ to assess cat’s cognitive abilities. But cats have no interest in such tests—until some researcher finds a way to make the cats believe that these tests are related to ’hunting.’

At this point, Xiang Shan spread his hands, "Although everyone believes that science should be absolutely neutral, without stance, and beyond prejudice, unfortunately, biases and stances have always existed in scientists, and for a long time, these biases weren’t regarded as ’biases,’ but as an ’inevitable part.’"

"This is also part of the ’new academic perspective’ that my partners and I advocate for..."

The audience murmured with many young people unable to suppress their desire to discuss. Seeing this, Xiang Shan paused his lecture, giving Li Zheyuan a look, who immediately signaled the host to open a round of questioning.

Li Zheyuan stood there as Xiang Shan’s simultaneous interpreter.

The host said a few words to the audience. Then, many hands were raised.

The first to ask a question was a thin young man. He respectfully greeted Xiang Shan before asking, "Mr. Xiang, have you considered that your remarks might constitute a form of reverse discrimination? I mean no disrespect to women, I respect my mother and all women. But according to current data, academia is still predominantly male..."

"That’s a good question." Xiang Shan’s expression was a bit odd, but he politely praised the young man, "You stated an undeniable fact, that ’currently, male members occupy the majority of the academic community.’ However, this merely represents the literal meaning. It does not imply ’any physiological factors determine that women’s academic achievements are less than men’s,’ or that ’men have occupied the majority in academia at any time or in any field.’"

"Currently, no neuroscientific research supports the notion that ’one gender possesses an overwhelming advantage in a particular domain of cognitive ability.’ In fact, this is what I want to emphasize to everyone—let me reiterate, prejudice is widely present in every individual."

"The notion that ’women are not good at subjects like mechanics, mathematics, physics, and chemistry’ is an inherent prejudice. This bias would cause women to automatically give up on these subjects at a certain stage, as investing too much effort into these fields would make them ’unlike girls.’

"Marie Curie was the first person in human history to win two Nobel Prizes. Amy Knott was one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century. But what did they encounter? Marie Curie broke down due to the mental stress from a scandal and ended up in a mental institution. Amy Knott had to lecture under the name of a male lecturer who wasn’t even as competent as she was, not receiving equal pay—because back then, scholars couldn’t accept the idea of ’listening to a woman teach math.’ In fact, if not for her teacher David Hilbert offering early support, this great woman wouldn’t have progressed to that point. She would have been sent back home during her studies, and today’s physicists would miss several commonly used tools."

"Of course, today’s situation is much better than it was back then. However, this doesn’t mean prejudice has disappeared. As long as the prejudices that ’girls should be like girls’ and ’good girls should stay away from mechanics and mathematics’ exist, this invisible pressure will exist—it will inevitably reflect in statistical results."

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

"’Statistics’ and ’measurements’ can also be deceptive."

"Remember the ’cat IQ’ story I just told? In reality, the erroneous assessments caused by such biases don’t just occur with ’cats.’ Quite a few species have been misjudged by biologists in this way—of course, this includes ’humans.’"

"The factors determining a person’s cognitive and thinking abilities are diverse, and an individual’s cognitive and thinking abilities have many different dimensions—we even have to admit that our understanding of our cognition is still very superficial. We know almost nothing. Yet the standards for evaluating intelligence quotients were developed in an even more ignorant era by humans who knew nothing about it."

"For instance, today we know that human ’memory’ is actually divided into several types, and they are independent of each other. ’Memory capacity for words,’ ’memory capacity for images,’ and ’memory capacity for sounds’ each differ. ’Emotional memory’ and ’knowledge memory’ are stored separately in the brain."

"Suppose there are two groups in this world, A and B. Group A is generally better at ’remembering words,’ and has a statistically significant advantage in ’quick and short-term memory.’ Meanwhile, Group B, conversely, is better at ’remembering images,’ with ’long-term memory that fades more slowly’..."

Xiang Shan sighed gently, "And if the intelligence test developed by Group A places 80 percent weight on ’word memory,’ then statistics will yield a conclusion that ’Group A has an overwhelming advantage in certain intelligence tests.’