[chadcmulligan]

yeah, like I said I read it somewhere and haven't been able to find it again - as you say probably nonsense and a reflection of social mores at the time - it was probably in the 80's I read it.

Edit: found it - its called the variability hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variability_hypothesis

[throw999666]

Cool. Seeing how my comment went from three upwards to four downwards I admit I was a little scared to look at the comments cuz I expected them to be a dumpster fire but the comments were actually really good here... Except for the person asking if i think I'm insane, haha. Just kidding, that was also a really good comment, but others didn't like it, haha :) ;p xx c.

I think this indicates this idea is polarizing and that the people who found the statement outrageous downfloated while those who were able to engage with it in a critical manner posted some interesting content. I think that's a very interesting signal about this kind of idea that it's so polarizing. At least in this small sample size of hacker news readers. who knows how that compares to the general or larger or different population tho?

[watwut]

The actual findings dont support what you said. The difference in variance is not that large, it was found only in some small areas. Both person who brought it up severely overstate it basically.

Had the difference been caused by variance, you would find slightly more men at some places. You would not find "only men" nor "almost all men" as your comment claims.

And also, the world was build by plenty of completely sane people of both genders. Majority of it, actually.