The Enlightened Despot

Picking a ringtone just for the sound is so 20th century. You should really consider one the provides a tangible benefit, like increasing the size of your breasts:

Kevin Drum reports on a study that blows my mind:

Via Overcoming Bias, three French researchers surveyed 1,540 people and offered them the opportunity to play a game in which a coin is tossed ten times and they’ll win ten euros each time it comes up heads. “The participant is then asked for his/her own estimation, according to his/her experience and his/her luck, of the number of times heads will occur, i.e. how many times (out of ten) he/she thinks he/she is going to win (and get 10 euros).” What do you think is the most terrifying aspect of this survey?

1. The mean answer was 3.9.
2. About ten people thought they would win every single toss.
3. The authors managed to produce a 21-page paper out of this.

It’s hard to know where to start on this, so I won’t. As for the title of this post, enjoy: