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Biology Experiment

Ask the below question and put the response into one of two categories.
  (+1)
(+1)
  [vote for,
against]

Do this with people you know. I've tried it on 4 people so far and the results are exciting.

Here's the question to ask and how to ask it:

QUESTION: What’s the first thing you want answered after you read this headline:

“Teen caught driving 191 mph in his father's car — more than triple the speed limit.”

Don’t think about it too much, it’s not a riddle or a test.

Just first question that comes into your mind. This is for science.

================================

DON'T READ ANY FURTHER UNTIL YOU'VE ANSWERED THE QUESTION!

================================

OK, Now mark your answer in one of the two columns. Did you ask about the car or the person? My first thought was "What kind of car was it?" My wife said "Where was he going?" (like was it an emergency or something) My daughter said "Was he nuts?". I then asked a buddy and he said "Must have been a nice car.".

Get where we're going here? Do men ask about the car and women ask about the situation with the person driving it?

You can be part of this and I'd love to hear the breakdown of men asking about the car vs women asking about the person. Will this trend continue? Is there anything to this?

If I get anybody to try this I'll put the tally at the top annotation line.

Now if you're anything like me, you're deeply offended by somebody on the internet asking you to do ANYTHING, and I completely understand that. But I'm not asking you to cut and paste something stupid like "Please send this to everybody you know if you love puppies." It's completely fine to ignore this, throw a bone if you wish, I will completely understand.

But aren't you a little curious?

doctorremulac3, May 12 2020

OK, Fine. https://en.m.wikipe...Delusions_of_Gender
[pertinax, May 14 2020]

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       RESULTS:   

       M - C = 6   

       W - P = 2   

       M - P = 4   

       W - C =   

       O = 5
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       First thought "What was he doing without a laser/radar detector and countermeasures system operational ?"
8th of 7, May 12 2020
  

       So question about the car. Check.   

       And by the way, the cop needs to have his radar gun calibrated but that's beside the point.   

       Hmm, on second thought, is that a question about the car or the state of the person driving it?   

       Might have to put an "OTHER" category in there.   

       OK, I'll put up an O category as my dreams of getting a Nobel prize in psychology slowly collapse.   

       By the way, the M stands for men, W for women, C for (question about the) car and P for (question about the) person obviously.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       Actually, I think 8ths question is about the person.   

       Shite.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       My question was "where did this happen?" when I first heard the story, which was not here. I mean I first heard it not here, not that it happened not here, which it did.   

       // aren't you a little curious?   

       Considerably uncurious, in fact, however I am glad for you to have stumbled across something so seemingly profound, [doctor3].
tatterdemalion, May 12 2020
  

       YEEEEOW!   

       OK, uhh, thanks?
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       I thought, "who let a teenager in a car that quick?" followed by: "Where is straight/quiet enough to do that?"
bs0u0155, May 12 2020
  

       Ok, so it's the first one that counts, I'm putting that in the P, or person category.   

       By the way, obviously no right or wrong on these. Greately appreciate the input.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       There was a teenager in the UK who was obnoxiously rich and generally obnoxious. He was learning to drive, and to demonstrate his general obnoxiousness, chose to take his test in a Ferrari F40 (191 mph capable). He immediately and wonderfully failed because the car was left hand drive.
bs0u0155, May 12 2020
  

       Whoa, hold on a second, I have no idea who's a guy and who's a gal here.   

       Tatt, I assumed you were a guy. BsO, I know you're a guy. From Australia too so you get double guy points. 8th: guy.   

       Not sure about everybody else. Blissy and Xen are wonderful women but I think that's it.   

       If I'm wrong about any of these I apologize of course.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       And by the way as nobody has aske what kind of car it was so far, guess that theory is dust.   

       For whoever cares, which is apparantly nobody so far, it was a Mercedes C63 AMG.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       No, because the number of "production" road-legal vehicles capable of that speed is a fairly small set.   

       There are of course various one-offs and adapted/customised versions of standard models, but they tend to be the province of experienced drivers who are far too smart to get nabbed by some flatfooted cop.
8th of 7, May 12 2020
  

       Now I'm trying to work out, that of all the 191+mph capable cars, what is the most likely?   

       Could be one of the supercars, but, they're not common, very conspicuous, and likely Dad would keep it locked, in a locked building - what with teenagers being teenagers.   

       Much more common, would be one of the German Uber- barges. Most come factory limited to 150mph or so, but some don't (Alpina BMWs for example) and it's a common enough mod to remove the limit. Then there's a couple of Jags and Bentley's that will do it, not even that expensive.
bs0u0155, May 12 2020
  

       Like I said, I think the cop's radar gun needs calibration.   

       I don't think the thing was modified. Frankly I think it didn't happen at all as reported. Technical glitch.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       I wanted to confirm what the speed limit was - a quick calculation yielded approximately 60mph, which makes it a b-road, I guess?
zen_tom, May 12 2020
  

       I'm putting that in O, other.   

       Thank you sir.   

       Your name is Tom so I'm assuming.   

       I don't have enough data to make the O category worth having male and female O categories yet but we'll see.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       My response was, Why are you asking me this question? Why are you showing me this uninteresting headline?   

       i.e my response was not about the person, or the car, it was about you, [doctorremulac3]. That doesn't fit into either category.
pocmloc, May 12 2020
  

       Other.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       Another friend asked "Where?". O gets another one.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       LOL, ok, another firmly in the "Other" category from another friend.   

       "Hell yea! That's awesome!".   

       By far, my favorite answer of the day.   

       Wait, hold on, that wasn't a question!   

       Let me go back and give him another chance.   

       OK, his question was "What was he driving." Another vote to bolster my quickly dying theory.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       By the way, thanks again to all who put their anger aside and answered.   

       Might add, I was thinking of putting in a "Fuck You For Asking" category but was pretty sure that would be far and away the one that got the most votes so I stuck with the other 5.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       Got a woman: "Where?". That's "Other".   

       She actually said "Where? What kind of car?' but it's the first one that counts.
doctorremulac3, May 12 2020
  

       What kind of idiot lends a teenager a car that can do 191mph ? was the only question that came to mind.   

       (I read the original article... last week ? but I don't recall any questions coming to mind)   

       I mean, if I thought about it, it could end up as "What kind of dumbass world do we live in where somebody who has enough money to buy a car that can do 191mph is stupid enough to lend it to his kid ?"
FlyingToaster, May 12 2020
  

       I think my first question was
"what the sort of car was that?"
  

       So car, I guess. M-C++   

       Are you not breaking down the O category by gender?
It's probably best to collect everyones question rather than categorise it directly. Because you might decide that a different set of catagories would be edifying. For example, a lot of the 'other' questions are essentially technical, and I imagine a technical/psychological split might be appropriate.
  

       There's a test you can do online (perhaps one of many) which tells you whether your brain is masculine or feminine, both ("androgenous") or neither ("undifferentiated"). It's just a series of questions about stuff you like. Turns out I'm both (which is apparently considered quite healthy). Mainly because I go up stairs two at a time, sometimes set stuff on fire for fun, but also like to make stuff.
But anyway, I think that your evaluation here falls along those lines.
  

       It would be interesting to know what the largest multiple of the (specific) road speed limit ever observed is. Obviously long straight low-traffic roads have the advantage of potential high speeds, but my money is on some town-centre road with a low limit.
Actually strike that - it's probably the car which was clocked going at surprising speed due to a jet-fighter fly-over.
At least, until it's rigged by the thrust-SSC team for publicity purposes.
Loris, May 12 2020
  

       //What kind of idiot lends a teenager a car that can do 191mph ?//   

       Like I said, there are no wrong or right answers, but that's probably my new favorite.   

       //Are you not breaking down the O category by gender?//   

       I was thinking of that until I realized I'd have no idea what to do with that data.   

       The theory is that women are more about the human side of this and men are more interested the part that goes "Vvrrrooom!!!" or "Vrooooom BOOM!".   

       So this is what I got from the "Other" category. If I'm going to get any useful comparison between men and women (which in this political climate is sort of verboten, making it all that much more interesting and fun) I'm going to need to get rid of information that doesn't prove my point. (Hey, I know how scientific research really works.)   

       So anything that's a question that's not a about car or human needs to be gotten rid of by being given in the question. "Where was it?", "Who gave it to him?" needs to be in the story.   

       In the future, I'll put those details in so the only info missing is details about the driver's motivation or other human factor and details about the car.   

       This is how science works:   

       1- Decide what you want the research to indicate.   

       2- Get funding.   

       3- Do only experiments that bear out your thesis, throw away results that show you're wrong.   

       4- Stand on stage pointing to graphs and charts while waving your hands around.   

       5- Blame the crappy results on funding cuts.
doctorremulac3, May 13 2020
  

       I thought, "where is the trick part of the trick question?", and something kind of like "is this a meme where I do not get the funny part" at the same time. M, 53
beanangel, May 13 2020
  

       It's a funny trick question.   

       The trick part is it's not funny.   

       Or tricky.
doctorremulac3, May 13 2020
  

       First I started to figure out what 191 mph is in km's but then took a tangent to what car did this kids dad have anyway that goes faster than I can work out before being distracted?   

       So I need to address that too.   

       ... 191 MPH (307 KPH).   

       Just list all the outlyer questions and put them in the story.   

       Here's what I realized, at some point, everybody asks about the car once it gets far enough beyond the standard deviation. (that's me trying to sound sciency)   

       "A kid was caught driving a car 750 miles per hour..." is going to get 100% "What kind of car was it?". 191 can be achieved by a production car, which we CAN assume because if it was a modified race car that would have probably been mentioned in the story.   

       So,   

       "A teen from Atlanta Georgia was pulled over after being caught driving his father's car 191 MPH (307 KPH) on a joy ride."   

       The joy ride gets rid of the "Where was he going?" question. The city and state gets covered.   

       That should limit all questions to "What kind of car was it?" and "What the hell's wrong with the kid/ dad/world we live in/society etc."   

       Hmm. Unfortunately, the "joy ride" part speaks to motivation so scratch that. How about this?   

       "A teen driving between Houston and Dallas Texas was pulled over after being caught driving his father's car 191 MPH (307 KPH)   

       OK, that's it.
doctorremulac3, May 13 2020
  

       OK where do I fall into your equations here?   

       The very first question that sprang to mind was .. nothing.   

       I tried again .. still nothing.   

       I gave it another go & took my time about it .. yep, nothing.   

       The headline evinced not a smidge of curiosity in me about, well, anything really.   

       Sorry about that.
Skewed, May 13 2020
  

       //not a smidge//   

       [Looks a touch worried]   

       Does this mean I'm an asexual eunuch?   

       [Checks equipment]   

       Nope, all there.
Skewed, May 13 2020
  

       //OK where do I fall into your equations here?//   

       You didn't have any questions? Did you drink your coffee yet? It's important to drink a lot of coffee. It makes you yell at the news.
doctorremulac3, May 13 2020
  

       FWIW, My response was like what [pocmloc] said, which, in turn, is comparable to what [skewed] said. More specifically, I was imagining that I had seen the headline on a news site, and was thinking "Why has this site decided to show me this story (instead of other stories which I might consider more newsworthy)? What does this tell me about the algorithm which selects the stories, and how much (if anything) it knows about me?"   

       [dr3], you might like to consider a third category of response, in which the first question is neither about the driver nor about the car but about the headline itself. That category would include at least three people and, I suspect, rather more than that. The category would be particularly popular, I suspect, among people who had studies Humanities subjects to tertiary level.
pertinax, May 13 2020
  

       Bu how do I eliminate that 3rd area? I can't comment on the headline on the headline to answer questions about the headline itself.   

       Maybe I could, but I'm not sure what that would look like.
doctorremulac3, May 13 2020
  

       Four categories perhaps then.   

       Q. about the car   

       Q. about the driver   

       Q. about the headline or news service   

       Q. none / zip / nada   

       I really did have nothing.   

       //Did you drink your coffee yet?//   

       Yep, the regulation pre-dump three unit cups, worked a treat.
Skewed, May 13 2020
  

       //I'm not sure what that would look like//   

       Post-modernism, I'm afraid.
pertinax, May 13 2020
  

       "What car was it?" Straight away. No hesitation.
wagster, May 13 2020
  

       Excellent!   

       M - C = 5   

       W - P = 2   

       M - P = 3   

       W - C =   

       O = 5
doctorremulac3, May 13 2020
  

       Which one am I ?   

       Also, Mercedes AMG something.
FlyingToaster, May 13 2020
  

       You're O, "other". "What kind of idiot lets his kid drive a car like that."   

       Hey, wait a second, that's not other, that's asking about the human element.   

       Let me change that.
doctorremulac3, May 13 2020
  

       Well, OK, I think these results are pretty conclusive:   

       Men overwhelmingly ask about the car first unless:
  

       a) they don't, or
  

       b) they fail to not ask other questions besides those not pertaining to questions other than those not pertaining to the car.   

       But I'm going to need a pretty big government grant to continue this research.
doctorremulac3, May 13 2020
  

       First thought: <calculates speed limit>
My son's response was "What kind of car was it?"
lurch, May 13 2020
  

       Excellent! Buy him something nice. Put you down for "other" for the speed limit thing. It's calculating, cold and inhumane, but it's not the car. Maybe I should change it to "Human" or "Not Human" based questions.   

       Only have 4 or 5 woman votes so far though. Need some more of those to test the "human" vs "machine" interest factor. Here's what I'm hoping to hear to back my theory, stuff like:   

       Woman: "Oh my god, the poor boy, why was their not enough love and caring in his life to drive him to such recklessness!   

       Man: "Damn! That's gotta be one sweet ride! To be controllable at that speed by a stupid kid there has to be some badass engineering in that suspension alone."   

       I think women are more nurturing than men while we're more about making things then blowing them up.   

       That's my theory anyway.
doctorremulac3, May 13 2020
  

       Clever; you've made a theory, and any man who tries to blow it up is just confirming it.   

       Hypothetically, though, it would be very vulnerable to women blowing it up. What woman would do such a thing? Well, isn't there a specific MFD category for stereotyping? And wasn't that category established by [jutta]? And isn't [jutta] a woman?   

       Please don't take this as an attack, though; I'm only saying it out of concern for your feelings ... bro. ;-)
pertinax, May 14 2020
  

       Aww, that's sweet.   

       But thanks for reminding me that un-sanctioned questions and thought crimes will not be tolerated.   

       There are general differences between men and women. And that's a good thing.   

       I've mentioned before that It's theorized that cro- magnon won the evolutionary game because males and females split into different jobs while neanderthal males and females shared the same hunter gatherer tasks. Certainly specialization is the core tenet behind a complicated civilization. Can't have surgeons, engineers and scientists if everybody had to do the same thing.   

       Would it help if I told you that a very brilliant woman came up with that theory?   

       But here's the thing about this experiment. Maybe women ask about the car the exact amount of time as the men. If that's the truth, the truth is beautiful. Now if that's not the truth, well, same thing applies.   

       Truth is a beautiful thing, no matter what it is.
doctorremulac3, May 14 2020
  

       I'm not saying your theory isn't true, but it may be harder to test than you think. I'm sure you're aware of the general methodological difficulties of separating nature from nurture, but you might like to read Cordelia Fine on this subject. Although, in my opinion, some of her conclusions are mistaken, she's very reasonable and well informed.
pertinax, May 14 2020
  

       Sounds interesting, I’ll check her out.   

       And of course I might be wrong about this, that’s what experiments are for.   

       And this is hardly a scientific experiment obviously.
doctorremulac3, May 14 2020
  

       Kudos for the kid; everyone needs a hobby. Needs must when the devil drives or something. M, 58.
whatrock, May 14 2020
  

       I started driving at 13 (16 is the legal age) so I'm not one to be pointing fingers. What were they going to do, take my license away? I also remember being a kid and "testing" what a car could do. It's actually come in handy, I learned to turn into a skid to regain traction. They don't teach that in driver's ed. At least not in actual practice.   

       I'd tell the kid to try to be careful but I'm guessing he probably wouldn't listen to me.   

       You know, it's not discussed a lot but kids are actually quite stupid.
doctorremulac3, May 14 2020
  

       // kids are actually quite stupid //   

       "Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement." -- Will Rogers
whatrock, May 14 2020
  

       "Experience is the harshest teacher, because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards"
8th of 7, May 14 2020
  

       Where'd you that that on 8th? It's friggin' brilliant! Don't make me compliment you.
doctorremulac3, May 14 2020
  

       Phew! Thank god. Thanks K.
doctorremulac3, May 14 2020
  

       Went for the calculation first to get a handle on the type of road, then the state of the driver. So neutral-feminine in this scene fragment, conveyed by written word.
wjt, May 18 2020
  

       //Blissy and Xen are wonderful women//Ha - just noticed that. Wonderful yes, but the French female story was just a joke Max and I shared. Keep it up if you want, but now that Max is gone, it no longer makes much sense.
xenzag, May 18 2020
  

       I was thinking similarly.   

       // Tatt, I assumed you were a guy.   

       Sufficient for your purposes, [doc3].
tatterdemalion, May 18 2020
  

       There's pigeonholing and there's trends. It's ok to look at trends if you keep in mind the very good rule that we all should be viewed the exact same under the laws and rules of society, but other than that, it's OK and natural to be different.   

       I've known enough women and men to conclusively say, they're GENERALLY different and in a very good way. And not just physically.   

       By the way, a world without women would be a horrible place. Nature knew what it was doing when it designed us the way it did. My examination of it is a celebration of its beauty and I'm willing to accept the way it is as the way it should be. I'm also suspicious of concepts of eliminating gender that the fascists try from time to time. Call everybody "comrade" or "they" rather than sir, ma'm, he, she etc. Telling people what words they have to use is a test the totalitarians like to use, "Who's following orders and who's not? Are they using the state approved pronouns?".   

       As far as me being open minded, let me put it this way, if this test came back saying women had a question about the car 90 percent of the time, and men had a question about the person 90 percent of the time, I'd love that because I'd learn something. I was kidding when I said I fall in love with the idea first then try to prove it. I'm not a government funded scientist, that's what they do. This is just a fun Sunday afternoon project. And again, without a much bigger test group and a re-worded question to get rid of all the "other" questions this is about as un- scientific as you can get.   

       That being said, it's a mildly interesting query to make.
doctorremulac3, May 19 2020
  

       Ultimately a mind is a mind. Unless you need more.
wjt, May 23 2020
  


 

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