How many bad people are there really?
I've done some math!
Okay, quick sketch:
36% of adults cheat in sexual relationships
how many bullies are there in the population? These are people who actively seek to cause grief, knowing their actions are grievous.
How many idiots are causing grief? These are those folks good enough at self denial and thoughtless enough and self centered enough to do grievous acts without intending harm.
So, let's assume they're that 36% of people who also think it's okay to deceive their most intimate partner. That means that you can cut it in half to get the number of bullies in our population. Less than 20% of humans actively seek to harm you.
Of those 20%, there will be a large portion who lack the courage to act openly. So of people in any group of strangers who will actively take harmful action, from petty theft to murder, is some very minor fraction of 20%.
We are geared to watch for these people not because they are common, but because they are uncommon. When we hide from common folks, we forget that, and forget the visual markers we use to spot that minority group of grievous people.
I really wanted to find that study I got the 36% from but sadly it's too much digging. The numbers being reported for the subject online are skewed by sampling it by various divisions so as to create the number the story writer has in mind. Do they want to make someone look bad? draw a line between them and whomever is supposed to look good, and then slice up the study numbers by that line. Didn't work? Slice those up. Rather like I did, only use race, gender, sexuality, location, culture, age, whatever you need to get the numbers you want.
I wanted a simple math to help me feel less afraid in public. I got it with very little slicing.
Okay, quick sketch:
36% of adults cheat in sexual relationships
how many bullies are there in the population? These are people who actively seek to cause grief, knowing their actions are grievous.
How many idiots are causing grief? These are those folks good enough at self denial and thoughtless enough and self centered enough to do grievous acts without intending harm.
So, let's assume they're that 36% of people who also think it's okay to deceive their most intimate partner. That means that you can cut it in half to get the number of bullies in our population. Less than 20% of humans actively seek to harm you.
Of those 20%, there will be a large portion who lack the courage to act openly. So of people in any group of strangers who will actively take harmful action, from petty theft to murder, is some very minor fraction of 20%.
We are geared to watch for these people not because they are common, but because they are uncommon. When we hide from common folks, we forget that, and forget the visual markers we use to spot that minority group of grievous people.
I really wanted to find that study I got the 36% from but sadly it's too much digging. The numbers being reported for the subject online are skewed by sampling it by various divisions so as to create the number the story writer has in mind. Do they want to make someone look bad? draw a line between them and whomever is supposed to look good, and then slice up the study numbers by that line. Didn't work? Slice those up. Rather like I did, only use race, gender, sexuality, location, culture, age, whatever you need to get the numbers you want.
I wanted a simple math to help me feel less afraid in public. I got it with very little slicing.