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I know it’s merely a trend, but if the amount one drank was a sign of intelligence, I would be the dumbest person on this site since my total lifetime alcohol consumption to this date is still less than what any one of you guys drink in a week.
As far as hypotheses that explain the trend go, my bet is on frat parties in the university.Report
I’m not mych of a drinker either, really a beer or two once in qReport
… a while.Report
Says the guy too drunk to type “while.”Report
I can’t type drunk or sober.Report
I’m in the same boat as Murali.Report
I’m a freaking genius 😉Report
As if we didn’t already know!Report
I agree. I’m drunk right now, of course, but I don’t think that should be a determining factor in my judgment. Er, judgment.Report
I’m Double Einstein.Report
I am smart! S-M-R-T smart!Report
I’m extremely not smart.
But I do have a lot of fun watching all the smart folk act stupid.Report
Beautiful.Report
Why do I have a feeling this is one of those cases where a scientific study is being reported by the press in a way that completely misunderstands the point and the findings of said study?Report
Have a drink and re-read it; not only will it start to make more sense, but we will all become better-looking*.
Win-win!
* Perhaps this is the reason – good-looking doofi (plural of doofus) don’t need alcohol to reproduce; but average-looking nerds still need to get laid somehow – hence, alcohol.**
** on a more serious note, I believe I have seen similar study results before, linking not only increased alcohol use, but also increased incidence of drug experimentation, to intelligence. Both can possibly be at least partially explained as novelty-seeking behavior – a curious mind may be more likely to engage in those activities which alter consciousness and lower inhibitions, so as to increase novel experiences.
This novelty-seeking propensity may also partially explain how smart people can sometimes be so spectacularly stupid.Report
Being intelligent leads to alcoholism, kids. Ignorance is bliss. It’s what’s hot in parenting today.Report
I am going a different route.Report
Why do I have a feeling this is one of those cases where a scientific study is being reported by the press in a way that completely misunderstands the point and the findings of said study?
Because you don’t drink enough, obviously.
Seriously though, I haven’t read the study, but since the press misrepresents findings in the social sciences 99.999999999999% of the time (how’s that for significant digits, George?), I think it’s a safe assumption that they are doing so here. If I were a betting man, I’d say that the study showed a small but, across a large sample, statistically significant difference between broadly defined groups, and that small difference has led to a report saying that smart people drink more. I’d bet that if you plotted the distributions for the groups, though, they’d overlap almost completely.Report
” but since the press misrepresents findings in the social sciences 99.999999999999% of the time (how’s that for significant digits, George?)”
That damn media war against social science!Report
I do wonder if there might be a real relationship here, even if the arrow of causation is off. I can’t really articulate my theory well, but it is based on the anecdotal observation that more of the folks whom I know that don’t drink are of a lower SES. Given what we know about the relationship between SES and education (and I believe the arrow of causation goes in both direction), it seems like there might be something there.Report
Mensa member level drinker here!Report
Well, this study was conducted in the UK. The smarter folks in that study are likely drinking to cope with life in the UK.Report
I’m basically expecting my MacArthur Grant any year now.Report
Drinking: Ankle-weights for the brain.Report
I’m at the point now where I’m more like a Venice Beach powerlifter than a mom with a jogging stroller and ankle weights.Report