Causation & Correlation
We were talking about sex.
He said, “Pulling out is not natural.”
I said, “It takes discipline to pull out. You can’t get too caught up in the moment. You can’t get too caught up in the physical and emotional stuff so that you forget to pull out. You can’t lose your mind in the moment of ecstasy.”
“It’s hard,” he said. “Not getting that caught up.”
I said, “IQ seems to explain a lot about outcomes. Maybe pulling out – or not – explains as much.”
“How?” he asked.
“Maybe there’s a correlation. Maybe pulling out takes will. Takes the ability to control the mind under the intense pressure of losing it. And the ability to pull out, when necessary and appropriate, leads to better outcomes too.”
“The same could be said of military and combat training,” he said. “The conditioning to fight overcoming the instinct for flight. Combat instead of hysteria. But soldiers aren’t necessarily that smart.”
“That’s blasphemy,” I said.
“Well, they send the dumber ones out to the front to die. Often to die like sitting ducks instead of getting the fuck out, while the smarter ones are officers or just push papers.”
He had a good point. But still, I wondered if there could be a correlation between intelligence and pulling out. It made me wonder if I should have pursued a career in academic research.
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