Beauty AND brains!

[lighthorseman]

am not a fan of beauty pageants, especially after hearing about the preliminary questions in the Miss USA contest. The women were asked if evolution should be taught in US schools. Only two of the 51 contestants could bring themselves to answer yes.


But here's the good news: one of those two was the ultimate winner.

The newly crowned Miss USA, Alyssa Campanella, 21, of Los Angeles, who calls herself "a huge science geek," says evolution should be taught in public schools.

…

Before her victory night, Miss California earned her way into the semi-finals in preliminary judging including interviews in which she was one of only two among 51 contestants to unequivocally support teaching evolution.

I suppose the photo is redundant. I already like her for her brain. How about if we judge all future Miss Americas by their performance on a test of general knowledge?

You really don't want to know how the other 49 answered the question.

scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/06/a_beautiful_mind.php

[VirtualStranger]

1. I prefer real women, not plastic dolls. The women in beauty pageants have never held any appeal for me.

2. "Beauty and brains?" Real life genetics isn't a point build system, It's an honest rolls. Having one positive trait does not necessitate a lack of another one. I don't know why this case should be surprising.

[Shano]

Jun 20, 2011 21:25:00 GMT -5 VirtualStranger said:

1. I prefer real women, not plastic dolls. The women in beauty pageants have never held any appeal for me.

2. "Beauty and brains?" Real life genetics isn't a point build system, It's an honest rolls. Having one positive trait does not necessitate a lack of another one. I don't know why this case should be surprising.

Um exactly because it's honest roll system having both "positive" traits is significantly less frequent than not having both (exactly 3:1 ratio if we consider 2 independent equal probability two-valued traits). One would (inserting separation to prevent moderators' shortsightedness in automatic grammar corrections) of course think that in a beauty pageant pool we should have about 50% of the entrants to have IQ (as one possible way to measure intelligence) above 100.
However, that is not quite the case for at least one reason - self selection bias. I would venture say that the higher the IQ is the lower the probability for entering such a competition. In addition to that IQ of 100 is the mean of the intelligence trait but not the perceived positive value. Most people would perceive as intellignet only people way above the mean (and similarly most people would not call a person who is just a bit above the average in looks a beauty...)

[lighthorseman]

I just liked the fact that the one person with the guts and common sense to say "um, yes, of course evolution should be taught in schools" won.

[ltfred]

Jun 21, 2011 6:14:24 GMT -5 lighthorseman said:

I just liked the fact that the one person with the guts and common sense to say "um, yes, of course evolution should be taught in schools" won.

I think that courage is her most laudatory characteristic.

[Amaranth]

Jun 20, 2011 21:25:00 GMT -5 VirtualStranger said:

1. I prefer real women, not plastic dolls. The women in beauty pageants have never held any appeal for me.

2. "Beauty and brains?" Real life genetics isn't a point build system, It's an honest rolls. Having one positive trait does not necessitate a lack of another one. I don't know why this case should be surprising.

1. I don't know, she's pretty attractive.

2. Because it's still not common. Just because it can happen (facilitated by not being point buy) does not make it a frequent occurrence. I mean, you could draw three royal flushes in a row in a game of poker, but the odds against even one are already long.

Though I think we may be setting the bar on brains a little low here. Simply not thinking the dirt stupid response doesn't really make you smart, it just makes you not a total moron. However, it was a fairly gutsy move, given the climate. I'll give her that.

[Smurfette Principle]

What I find disturbing are the 49 other contestants who did not support evolution. Just... wtf.

[dakotabob]

So 49 morons lost that night? fine by me.

[Amaranth]

Jun 21, 2011 8:10:29 GMT -5 Smurfette Principle said:

What I find disturbing are the 49 other contestants who did not support evolution. Just... wtf.

This is why I'm not impressed, BTW. Sure, she looks like a genius compared to them, but that's like being the kid to eat the fewest paint chips. Unless the number's zero, that's still not good. And if it's zero, that still isn't smart...It's kinda baseline.

So it does come off as "she's smarter than 49 utter morons." Not automatically impressive on her part, and fundamentally disturbing on theirs.

[ltfred]

I think the burden of proof on idiocy (or intelligence) lays on the claimant. Nobody needs to prove that they're average, it should just be assumed until proven otherwise.

She hasn't proven herself a fool. That's probably a first in any beauty pageant anywhere, ever.

[jackmann]

From the sound of it, it seems more like the other girls were trying to give the more "non-controversial" answer. So, some of them may not have been idiots. They were just cowards. Props to the judges for not rewarding them, and hopefully next year's crop of hopefuls will be less afraid to speak unpopular truths.

[John E]

Jun 21, 2011 6:30:11 GMT -5 ltfred said:

Jun 21, 2011 6:14:24 GMT -5 lighthorseman said:

I just liked the fact that the one person with the guts and common sense to say "um, yes, of course evolution should be taught in schools" won.

I think that courage is her most laudatory characteristic.

Beauty AND balls!