12 Nov

In Celebration of Eccentrics

Bell Curve

Normal is made by mixing a little bit of each color. It results in a dull gray. Eccentrics, on the other hand, is all of few shades and none of the rest. Eccentrics are like a riot of colors.

If you take the human population and plot any of its characteristics (height, IQ, etc.), you will find that the curve takes the shape of a bell.  Most of the people fall near the center.  As you move away from the center, the population falls off rapidly.  Farther you go from the center, the drop off flattens out.

For some reason that we don’t understand, bell curves are there everywhere.  It is so common that it is often called the “Normal Distribution”! Distribution of Human Height

The curve above shows the actual distribution of height of Americans.  The normal height for women is about 162cm and the normal height for men is about 178cm.  There are very few women who are taller than 188cm and there are very few men who are taller than 203cm.  Women tend to stick closer to the normal than men (sharper bump) and men seem to have much wider variety than women (flatter bump).  There is similar variation between men and women when it comes to IQ distribution as well. You can say that the people who are farther away from the normal have eccentrics.  For example, men who are shorter than 160cm or taller than 195cm have eccentric heights.  Similarly, women who are shorter than 145cm or taller than 177cm have eccentric heights.

To summarize it, people whose traits are clumped around the center are normal.  People who are farthest from the center are eccentric.  It is easy to understand the simple concept when it comes to measurable quantity like height or IQ.  What is interesting is that this distribution is applicable for other traits qualities as well.

Put it in other words,

  • Normal are the people whose traits are most common in a population.
  • Eccentrics are the people whose have rare traits.

A trait becomes more common in a population usually if it had an evolutionary advantage in the past.  But it is not always true.  For example, we could have lived just as happily with four or six fingers.  There is no special evolutionary advantage of having five fingers.  

Also, just because an evolutionary adaptation had been helpful in the past (and hence, it is normal in the population today) doesn’t mean that we can’t live without it today.  An example is the hair on the head.  Except that it is usually thought of as an indicator of youth, that too a weak indicator, hair on the head has no survival or mate selection advantage.  If the entire human population becomes bald overnight, no one other than the hair dressers will find their life threatened!

Interestingly, there are traits that were disadvantageous in the evolutionary past, but are considered an advantage today.  For example, Thom Hartman suggested that people with ADHD behave as if they are hunters in a farming society (this hypothesis is turning out to be more true than he imagined).  He argues that farmers produce such strong societies that every time in the past when a farming society confronted a hunting society, the farmers was completely vanquished the hunters.  However, within a farming society, people with hunter traits ‘can’ perform much better than typical farmers.

Normal is not always superior.  Normal is just that: Normal.  The most common.  Eccentrics are not always inferior.  Eccentrics are just rare.

Normal is made by mixing a little bit of each color.  It results in a dull gray. Eccentrics, on the other hand, is all of few shades and none of the rest.  Eccentrics are like a riot of colors.  A celebration of colours, if you will.  Very rarely does an eccentric come across another eccentric of matching or complimentary color.

But then again, we are all eccentric.  Some of us show it on the surface and the rest of us manage to bury our colors deep down inside in order to match colors with rest of the colorless people who have learnt to bury their own colors just as deep.  We have standardized ourselves to the least common denominator!

That is sad.

This blog will be an exercise for you to discover your true colors so that you can flaunt them proudly.  This blog will also be an exercise in learning to appreciate the colors that others display.  More importantly, this blog will an exercise to learn to live your life without muting your real self or without demanding similar harsh sacrifice from others.

From your side, you just need to make sure that you bring two things to the table: An open mind and eccentric level of IQ that falls on the right side of the normal.

Riot of Colors

Happy festival of lights!

5 thoughts on “In Celebration of Eccentrics

  1. Eccentrics add color and spice to wnat would otherwise be an ordinary world -- think Picasso, Gaudi, Dali.. Now I am concerned about the increasing use of the term "the new normal"..
  2. You are making some very liberal (mis)interpretations of evolution, adaptation and bell curves. Even if hair was just a cue of youth it would still be an important evolutionary attribute. Obviously hair serves not only as a form of protection against sunlight but as an indicator of other important attributes like hormonal balance and disease (albinism, etc).
    • Hello Anonymous, the subtlety about the human hair on the head is this: - We don't need hair to protect us all from sunshine anymore. Most of us live in climate controlled environment - Hair doesn't serve as a reliable fitness indicated as well. We have become good at manipulating its appearance radically. - Hair is not even considered as essential criteria when it comes to mate selection. Some of our sex symbols have short hair, even bristles or shaved head. The point is, while hair does serve useful function, it is not universally essential either for survival or reproduction. Most of us have lived for generations in environment where not having hair on the head was neither life threatening, nor a serious reproductive challenge. However, in the past, hair must have served an essential purpose. That's why all of us have hair on the head (people who didn't have hair on the head got weeded out of the gene pool). So, hair is a relic of the evolution. That's what the article means by saying "...just because an evolutionary adaptation had been helpful in the past (and hence, it is normal in the population today) doesn’t mean that we can’t live without it today." Also, please note that "You are making some very liberal (mis)interpretations of evolution, adaptation and bell curves" is too general to respond to.

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