Sklansky's Christian/Math Challenge

[Cornell Fiji]

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Challenge still stands. You have to believe that you have NO chance of going to heaven unless you are sure that Jesus is the son of God but are almost certain to go to heaven if you do believe that. (This eliminates all Catholics and most Christians and Ken Jennings as well.)

50K bet on the math SAT taken in half the allotted time.

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You withdrew this a long time ago. Do you honestly not remember?

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I remember. But I withdrew it only because it was stirring up cans of worms about polygraphs and my motive for it was misunderstood. Not because there was an actual taker I was trying to avoid.

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David,

I have a friend who meets this criteria. He goes to church every Sunday and he believes that nonbelievers are going to hell. While he is nice to people of all faiths he honestly believes that those who do not accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior are going to hell. He could easily pass the polygraph about his religious convictions.

He graduated with honors from Cornell Engineering. I am sure that he could score perfectly on the math SAT or any other math standardized test.

Just to clarify: You will pay for a polygraph test to be issued and then you will both take the math SAT in half the allotted time and if he scores higher than you then you will pay him $50,000? I have to assume that this is going to be a tie at 800 a piece 99.99% of the time because it is so simple to score an 800 on this test but if this is truly a freeroll I am sure that he will take it.

If you would like to change the test to a more difficult one where it is not guaranteed that both parties score perfectly then he would probably outscore you in that one too.

If this is the case please PM me so that I can put you in contact with him to set up a date for the tests.

It is ok if you want to back out of your offer again. I don't expect you to take the side of a bet where you can only lose.

-Steve

[phdude]

Agreed. I know that a good majority) of my friends in both physics and electrical engineering departments at my school got an 800 on the math SAT. And I'm sure it's probably the case at any other top engineering/science school. And there are at least a dozen people here I know personally satisfying DS's criteria that not only would be effectively flipping coins to a draw in this "challenge" , but could also beat him by a standard deviation in a real test of intelligence.


And just as a note to the other poster, the Verbal SAT was dumbed down (recentered 50 points) in the mid 90's in order to make both means 500. The math test hasn't changed in difficulty.
As far as the math GRE, it really seemed basically identical in difficulty to the SAT, as I was helping my brother study for the SAT around the same time I took the GRE's. It's really amazing they don't add any topics for the four years of study we are supposed to be having.

[Abbaddabba]

I can easily see someone being a math genius and a devoutly insane man of god.

It's a [censored] bet no matter what you think of the subject matter.

[Squareview]

ken jennings for mod

[David Sklansky]

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Challenge still stands. You have to believe that you have NO chance of going to heaven unless you are sure that Jesus is the son of God but are almost certain to go to heaven if you do believe that. (This eliminates all Catholics and most Christians and Ken Jennings as well.)

50K bet on the math SAT taken in half the allotted time.

[/ QUOTE ]

You withdrew this a long time ago. Do you honestly not remember?

[/ QUOTE ]

I remember. But I withdrew it only because it was stirring up cans of worms about polygraphs and my motive for it was misunderstood. Not because there was an actual taker I was trying to avoid.

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David,

I have a friend who meets this criteria. He goes to church every Sunday and he believes that nonbelievers are going to hell. While he is nice to people of all faiths he honestly believes that those who do not accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior are going to hell. He could easily pass the polygraph about his religious convictions.

He graduated with honors from Cornell Engineering. I am sure that he could score perfectly on the math SAT or any other math standardized test.

Just to clarify: You will pay for a polygraph test to be issued and then you will both take the math SAT in half the allotted time and if he scores higher than you then you will pay him $50,000? I have to assume that this is going to be a tie at 800 a piece 99.99% of the time because it is so simple to score an 800 on this test but if this is truly a freeroll I am sure that he will take it.

If you would like to change the test to a more difficult one where it is not guaranteed that both parties score perfectly then he would probably outscore you in that one too.

If this is the case please PM me so that I can put you in contact with him to set up a date for the tests.

It is ok if you want to back out of your offer again. I don't expect you to take the side of a bet where you can only lose.

-Steve

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He has to also believe that believers go to heaven automatically. Works mean nothing. (So Mormons are disqualified.) Plus you can't allow for belief occurring after you die, as Daniel Negreanu does.

The idea behind all of this of course is that any God who would send to hell pious, good people simply because they honestly believe that the Jesus story is a myth contradicts the idea of a just God. Doubly so if he will reward believing scoundrels. Thus very smart people are extrmely unlikely to believe such drivel.

I wouldn't be surprised if your friend actually doesn't meet the criteria. And if he does, the fact remains that even the best engineering students aren't likely to be in the top 10,000 smartest. And in my younger days I would have made the challenge one quarter of the allotted time and eaten him for lunch. But now I am old and senile so I have to stick to the original plan. But it was never designed to be a private affair.

[buddypup]

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Rather than start a new thread ala Sklansky style..

I offer a 50K challenge of my own. I will gladly pay 50K to anyone who can beat me in Guitar Hero*


*challenge only applies to those individuals whose birthdate, (in MMDDYYYY) when multiplied by number of letters in their middle name equals an odd number equally divisible by 7. The song will be of my choosing and we will play left handed and blindfolded and in a room full of non-venemous snakes....

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How many points are you getting with this scenario? There are plenty of bars around that rock the Guitar Hero these days.....I would serioulsty play almost anyone for $1000...50k is outta my league. I live in Los Angeles, hit me up if you are nearby or ever come to town. I am serious about the $1000.

[fraac]

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Thus very smart people are extrmely unlikely to believe such drivel.

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In almost every subject you post about, from girls to God, you confuse cleverness with rationality.

[Butcho22]

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David...there are no athiests in palatative care...I'll let others elaborate

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awesome

[7n7]

I love Sklansky's line on all this. Someone please take him up on it.

Fyi, you could probably give me the answer key and I'd still have no chance. Yup, I'm a dummy.

[tommyrotten]

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David...there are no athiests in palatative care...I'll let others elaborate

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awesome

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and also quite untrue