{"id":27887,"date":"2011-11-07T23:43:30","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T04:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fryeblog.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca\/?p=27887"},"modified":"2011-11-07T23:43:30","modified_gmt":"2011-11-08T04:43:30","slug":"quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/","title":{"rendered":"Quote of the Day: &#8220;No better than a chimp flipping a coin&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-27890\" src=\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"263\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg 438w, https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo-238x300.jpg 238w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 263px) 100vw, 263px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/commentisfree\/2011\/nov\/07\/one-per-cent-wealth-destroyers\" target=\"_blank\">George Monbiot<\/a> in the Guardian dispels the illusion of merit. The thing the richest in our society are best at is destroying wealth on an historical scale. An excerpt:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The\u00a0<a title=\"Guardian: We are the 99 per cent\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/commentisfree\/cifamerica\/2011\/oct\/02\/occupy-wall-street-99-per-cent\">claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for themselves<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 that they are possessed of unique intelligence or creativity or drive \u2013 are examples of the self-attribution fallacy. This means crediting yourself with outcomes for which you weren&#8217;t responsible. Many of those who are rich today got there because they were able to capture certain jobs. This capture owes less to talent and intelligence than to a combination of the ruthless exploitation of others and accidents of birth, as such jobs are taken disproportionately by people born in certain places and into certain classes.<\/p>\n<p>The findings of\u00a0<a title=\"Wikipedia: Daniel Kahneman\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Daniel_Kahneman\">the psychologist Daniel Kahneman, winner of a Nobel economics prize<\/a>, are devastating to the beliefs that financial high-fliers entertain about themselves. He discovered that their apparent success is a cognitive illusion. For example, he studied the results achieved by 25 wealth advisers across eight years. He found that the consistency of their performance was zero. &#8220;The results resembled what you would expect from a dice-rolling contest, not a game of skill.&#8221; Those who received the biggest bonuses had simply got lucky.<\/p>\n<p>Such results have been widely replicated. They show that traders and fund managers throughout Wall Street receive their massive remuneration for doing no better than would a chimpanzee flipping a coin. When Kahneman tried to point this out, they blanked him. &#8220;The illusion of skill \u2026 is deeply ingrained in their culture.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Monbiot in the Guardian dispels the illusion of merit. The thing the richest in our society are best at is destroying wealth on an historical scale. An excerpt: If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The\u00a0claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Quote of the Day: &quot;No better than a chimp flipping a coin&quot; - The Educated Imagination<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quote of the Day: &quot;No better than a chimp flipping a coin&quot; - The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"George Monbiot in the Guardian dispels the illusion of merit. The thing the richest in our society are best at is destroying wealth on an historical scale. An excerpt: If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The\u00a0claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-08T04:43:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"438\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Happy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Happy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Happy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95\"},\"headline\":\"Quote of the Day: &#8220;No better than a chimp flipping a coin&#8221;\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-08T04:43:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/\"},\"wordCount\":286,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Current Events\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/\",\"name\":\"Quote of the Day: \\\"No better than a chimp flipping a coin\\\" - The Educated Imagination\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-08T04:43:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg\",\"width\":438,\"height\":550},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Quote of the Day: &#8220;No better than a chimp flipping a coin&#8221;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\",\"name\":\"The Educated Imagination\",\"description\":\"A Website Dedicated to Northrop Frye\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95\",\"name\":\"Michael Happy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Happy\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/michaelhappy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Quote of the Day: \"No better than a chimp flipping a coin\" - The Educated Imagination","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Quote of the Day: \"No better than a chimp flipping a coin\" - The Educated Imagination","og_description":"George Monbiot in the Guardian dispels the illusion of merit. The thing the richest in our society are best at is destroying wealth on an historical scale. An excerpt: If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The\u00a0claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/","og_site_name":"The Educated Imagination","article_published_time":"2011-11-08T04:43:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":438,"height":550,"url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Happy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Happy","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael Happy","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95"},"headline":"Quote of the Day: &#8220;No better than a chimp flipping a coin&#8221;","datePublished":"2011-11-08T04:43:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/"},"wordCount":286,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg","articleSection":["Current Events"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/","name":"Quote of the Day: \"No better than a chimp flipping a coin\" - The Educated Imagination","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg","datePublished":"2011-11-08T04:43:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2011\/11\/bonzo.jpg","width":438,"height":550},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/11\/07\/quote-of-the-day-no-better-than-a-chimp-flipping-a-coin\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Quote of the Day: &#8220;No better than a chimp flipping a coin&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/","name":"The Educated Imagination","description":"A Website Dedicated to Northrop Frye","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95","name":"Michael Happy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Happy"},"url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/michaelhappy\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27887\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}