Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Kremer's Theorem on Committee IQ

Take a look at the equation on the right.

It is the result of years and years of observations, empirical study and statistical analysis, conducted by my brother, who has a Ph.D. in physics from Cal Tech.

We continue to get illustration after illustration as to the truth of the theorem. In fact, the political science community is ready to say that it is no longer a theorem - it has been proved sufficiently for it now to be known as

"Kremer's Axiom."

Here's the axiom, in layperson's terms: If you want to estimate the intelligence of a committee (IQc), take the average intelligence of the members of the committee (IQ with the bar over it) and divide it by the number of members on the committee squared (N2).

So, how does it play out? Let's say we have a school board, say, Portland, seven members. Generously estimating their average intelligence at 100 (100 is the average intelligence of an adult), then the IQ of the school board is:

100/(7*7) = 2.04

It has been shown that your average vegetable, say, spinach, has an IQ of about 2. After all, it knows to turn toward the sun to get nourishment. So, school boards in Oregon are about as intelligent as spinach.

Now, some school boards are made up of five members. This, according to Kremer's Axiom, actually doubles the committee IQ:

100/(5*5) = 4

It is easy to see that a committee of ten or more people has a committee IQ of 1 or below. That would explain the output of legislatively created committees such as the Quality Education Commission.

It would certainly explain our state legislature. With sixty members in the house, Kremer's Axiom estimates a "Committee IQ of:

100/(60*60) = .028

The Oregon Senate is far, far smarter than the House. Its Committee IQ comes to:

100/(30*30) = .111

So, whenever you are puzzled by the decisions made by city councils, county commissions, school boards, state legislatures, just remember Kremer's Axiom.

And don't even bother estimating the U.S. House of Representatives. The Committee IQ is not significantly higher than zero. As if you needed Kremer's Axiom to know that!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Then how do you explain the president?

There is just 1 of him, but he is even more incompetent than all of these legislative bodies that you have mentioned.

If you are trying to be funny/satire our state government, sure that was kind of funny… kind of.

If you are serious, then you are ignorantly refuting one of the most fundamental of principles our founding fathers used in creating our country's constitution, a document that has outlasted that of any other country in existence today.

Also just for fun let’s apply your formula to America:

So according to the census the estimated population in 2004 is; 293,655,404 people.

And I’ll assume the population is of average IQ given that the population is so vast the distribution of IQ’s are probably relatively normal.

So;

(100^2)/293,655,404

is

1,000/293,655,404

is

3.41x10-6

So maybe our country just shouldn’t do anything as a whole, especially when concerning international issues. I mean even the UN will have a better IQ rating than that.

Anonymous said...

hey buddy, America isn't a commitee It's a nation. And because our Nation's intelligence is higher than that of any country in the UN it means that take us out of the UN would make them stupider. The concept is that the contribution we'd be taking away when we left would have more of an affect on than the one less country squared.

Anonymous said...

I can simplify the axoim: Dumb + Dumb = Dumber!

Anonymous said...

I have never seen anything more truthful then your logis. I worked for AT&T for 14 years so I have witnessed this in action more times then I can count

Anonymous said...

Very good. Dilbert would be proud.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, friend. That's only off by nine orders of magnitude. . .

Actually, almost ten today, considering I'm replying eight and a half years late

Nick said...

My own corollary to this is "The human species is also a committee for the purposes of this axiom."

Anonymous said...

I am sorry I have to respectfully disagree. I think you have mistaken a mob for a committee. I feel that in order to maintain a logical progression a committee's level of intelligence the formula should be, the Average IQ divided by the Number of Members. If you are talking about the a Government Committee it should be, Lowest IQ Divided by the Number of Members. I mean you have to give the Government a little credit. Your Mob Rule can be, the Average IQ Divided by the Number of Members Squared. However if it is a particularly ugly mob you can change it to, the  Average of the Lowest IQ Divided by the Number of Members Squared, not that it makes a significant difference. As has been said Dumb + Dumber = Dumber or is it Dumb * Dumber = Dumbest.

Obviously learning to tell Mob from a Committee is important to using the correct formula. Using a overly simplified approach the signifying difference is that a Committee usually resides indoors and can be found gathered around a table. They also tend to have at least one member who has a wooden hammer to pound on the table to get his point across. Males of the Committee species normally have a noose already strung around their neck. The reason for is if they begin to experience terminal boredom they have a ready method of slipping from this veil of tears without unduly disturbing the other members. The Mob saves the noose for target of their angst.