My priors are not what they were a week ago. Thank you for the fascinating posts.

"This leads me to assume that each organelle in every living cell had to have an intelligent designer."

but each organ within an organism didn't? What's the difference?

Eliezer,

You are aware that you are exceptional, aren't you? If I remember correctly, that question is more difficult than anything on the math SAT on which very few high schoolers get perfect scores. I agree with you about not understanding what it means to be "bad" at math. This makes it difficult to assess when one simple problem is more difficult than another. I may be wrong, but that question certainly feels like it would be difficult for most high schoolers let alone elementary schoolers.

You thought elementary school students wouldn't be completely overwhelmed by a question like this?:

"1% of women at age forty who participate in routine screening have breast cancer. 80% of women with breast cancer will get positive mammographies. 9.6% of women without breast cancer will also get positive mammographies. A woman in this age group had a positive mammography in a routine screening. What is the probability that she actually has breast cancer?

What do you think the answer is? If you haven't encountered this kind of problem before, please take a moment to come up with your own answer before continuing."

Seriously, even down to the use of big words like "mammographies".

"Seeing the world as if you were dead, as if you were not there to see it, seeing the world as it would be without your seeing it."

This is an analogy. You might as well say we couldn't attempt objectivity without "veils" (of ignorance). Without the existence of veils, such a concept is unthinkable.

Does anybody really think of objectivity as seeing the world as if you were dead?

"I for one do not see what the point would be in acquiring knowledge if I never died"

? Why do you acquire knowledge now? I do it because it's fun/interesting/useful toward accomplishing some goal.

When initially presenting the question, he doesn't mention a sample of 100,000 people. I assumed we were using the sample of all people. My gooch.

Sebastian,

I know a jazz musician who is not an accountant.

I would say, "paint a picture", but then, I'm nice.

Doug,

from the before time. from the long long ago.