Niels Hoven

We need more foreign graduate students February 21, 2008

Posted by Niels in : Life, the universe, and everything , 3 comments

I had an interesting discussion a little while ago with a ex-coworker. Since 9/11, it has become harder and harder to get an American visa. Student visas in particular are far less attainable. We haven’t seen any signficant effects now, but my coworker is convinced it is a ticking timebomb.

We’re losing other countries’ intellectual elite. Not just their presence, but their hearts and minds. In the old days, if you were brilliant, you attended an American university, and that was that. Perhaps you didn’t agree with the American way of life, but after spending a number of years here, at least you could understand it.

And more importantly, once you returned to your home country and America did something stupid, you would understand our motivations.

We have now taken the position of denying the world’s intellectual elite the opportunity for an educational and cultural experience in our country. These are the people who will one day be wielding powerful influence in their own countries. These are the people whom we would really like to understand our lifestyle, whether or not they agree with it. These are the people who will control the countries of the world and now their only impression of America is what they are fed by the people around them.

It is a timebomb that is going to explode in our children’s faces.

Your thoughts?

Why evolution favors the foolhardy (but only if you’re a guy) January 21, 2008

Posted by Niels in : Life, the universe, and everything , 2 comments

The recent talk about pairbonding at the Pacific Science Center made me reread an even better article, Is There Anything Good About Men? by Prof. Roy Baumeister of Florida State University.

Though DNA analysis (for example, comparing the genetic variability in the Y chromosome - inherited from the father, vs. mitochondrial DNA - inherited from the mother), scientists have found that we’re descended from about twice as many women as men.

In other words, historically, the reproductive situation was vastly different for women and men. While the average women will have the opportunity to have children, men had to do much more to differentiate themselves to end up in the select group of “reproducers”.

For men, the outlook was radically different. If you go along with the crowd and play it safe, the odds are you won’t have children. Most men who ever lived did not have descendants who are alive today. Their lines were dead ends. Hence it was necessary to take chances, try new things, be creative, explore other possibilities. Sailing off into the unknown may be risky, and you might drown or be killed or whatever, but then again if you stay home you won’t reproduce anyway. We’re most descended from the type of men who made the risky voyage and managed to come back rich. In that case he would finally get a good chance to pass on his genes. We’re descended from men who took chances (and were lucky).

So high variance in male traits and behaviors is much more highly rewarded than high variance in female traits and behaviors. And this is where statistics makes things interesting:

A pattern of more men at both extremes can create all sorts of misleading conclusions and other statistical mischief. To illustrate, let’s assume that men and women are on average exactly equal in every relevant respect, but more men at both extremes. If you then measure things that are bounded at one end, it screws up the data to make men and women seem significantly different.

Consider grade point average in college. Thanks to grade inflation, most students now get A’s and B’s, but a few range all the way down to F. With that kind of low ceiling, the high-achieving males cannot pull up the male average, but the loser males will pull it down. The result will be that women will get higher average grades than men — again despite no difference in average quality of work.

The opposite result comes with salaries. There is a minimum wage but no maximum. Hence the high-achieving men can pull the male average up while the low-achieving ones can’t pull it down. The result? Men will get higher average salaries than women, even if there is no average difference on any relevant input.

Thanks to my friend Eric at ApproachAnxiety.com for tipping me off to this article.

Your thoughts?

It’s not yellow fever! December 26, 2007

Posted by Niels in : Life, the universe, and everything , 1 comment so far

I promised this follow-up to a much, much earlier post on cognitive dissonance.

Despite being half-Chinese, I made it through college with ever really being attracted to an Asian girl. It was nothing personal, it just never happened. My friends used to joke about it, especially because I don’t feel any ties to my Chinese heritage either. (To be fair, I also feel no ties to my European heritage.)

Then, one day in grad school, I hooked up with an Asian girl. She was cute, it had been a while, and it was fun. I figured that was that. But no. Cognitive dissonance sets in, and all of a sudden I start noticing attractive Asian girls everywhere! (Not disporportionately, mind you, just seeing what I had missed before.) It was like a switch had gone off and my brain decided, “Oh, I guess I am the sort of person who likes Asian girls, after all.”

Cognitive dissonance is a funny mistress.

Your thoughts?

Ask Niels: How do I set up a second date? October 8, 2007

Posted by Niels in : Ask Niels, Dating coach, How to , 1 comment so far

I just wanted to let you know I think you are a stand up guy. I just read your blog and I too dididn’t have my first date until 20. It was the same for me just a few phone calls before and after the date, then the calls stopped. Since then I have been single and it’s been hard to find a descent guy. If you have any advice that would be great.

-Susan

Hey Susan! You’re not giving me much to go on - I’m not sure whether you mean it’s hard to meet a guy, to get a first date, or to get a second date. But one thing I can offer you is this: arrange the second date when you’re still on the first date. If you can’t set up the second date when you’re with him and having fun together, how are you possibly going to do it over the phone? And if he doesn’t want to meet you again, at least you know then and you save yourself all those painful phone calls.

Your thoughts?