The Lousy Track Record of Psychics

The Range of Human Abilities

Human abilities almost always come in a wide range of levels or degrees.  For example, the ability to lift weights in a bench press comes in a wide range of levels:

A woman with no training in lifting weights might only be able to bench press about 80 pounds, while a man who is a competitive weight-lifting athlete with several years of training and experience might be able to bench press 360 pounds or more.  

Obviously, young children are not able to lift as much weight as adults. Furthermore, some people cannot lift any weight in a bench press because their arms are missing, or severely damaged, or paralyzed.  The ability to lift weights in a bench press ranges from 0 pounds to 782 pounds (the current world record for bench press). [1]

The ability to run long distances also occurs in a wide range: 

Most people can run half a mile without stopping. With a few weeks of training, most people can run about two miles without stopping.  Trained athletes with years of training and experience in long-distance running can run for about 100 miles.  One long-distance athlete ran 450 miles in 4.5 days.

Some people cannot run any distance because their legs are missing, severely damaged, or paralyzed. Thus, the distance that people can run without stopping ranges from 0 miles to 450 miles. 

Human intellectual abilities also occur in a wide range of levels or degrees.  For example, the ability to read varies widely:

• 21% of adults in the U.S. have low literacy or are functionally illiterate. 
• 33% of adults in the U.S. are literate but read below a sixth-grade level. 
• 46% of adults in the U.S. read at or above a sixth-grade level. 

There is a significant range of ability to read and write among Americans who are literate, as can be seen by the range of scores achieved on standardized college-entrance exams.  

People who are not literate usually won't bother to take the SAT, for example, because they know they don't understand most of the questions on the SAT, so they have almost no chance of achieving even a modest score on the SAT.  Among the mostly literate students who take the SAT, there is a wide range of scores for the reading and writing portion of the exam:

 

END NOTES

1. "The raw (unequipped) bench press world record is 355 kg (782.6 lbs), set by Julius Maddox on February 21, 2021." - Google AI response to "what is the world record for bench press" viewed 4/5/26. Here is a YouTube video about this world record: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezySzMd5unE&t=30s