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Comment by endtime | Hacker News Reader

Attractiveness should be totally uncorrelated to intelligence - or, if anything, have a very slight positive correlation. Also, he didn't say anything about 99th percentile. A girl who is even the 80th percentile for both looks and intelligence would be pretty desirable.

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Attractiveness should be totally uncorrelated to intelligence

I'm not sure that's true - attractiveness is in a large part about facial symmetry, which is a proxy for "good" DNA.

Good infant health care, nutrition and a healthy childhood environment would also contribute to both looks and intellect.

> Attractiveness should be totally uncorrelated to intelligence

Why would you think so? Isn't it the case that smarter guys make more money (or are otherwise more successful), allowing them to chose among more potential partners, some of them being physically attractive and selected for that reason? The offspring would be both smart (after the daddy) and pretty (after the mummy).

Could the offspring not be dumb (after the mummy) and ugly (after the daddy)?

Yes, but those offspring would (theoretically) be less likely to reproduce.

Taking into account my trips to Walmart, I don't think that's an accurate statement.

The rich wouldn't shop at Walmart.

Nonsense. The mega-rich likely do not, but people with $1-10 million still do. My boss's wife still does.

Yeah, that (or something like it) is why I added the second half of that sentence.

Not uncorrelated. Consider the many guys who are into girls that wear glasses. It's not because the glasses make them look better per se, but because the stereotype (which has some truth embedded in it, but probably not all that much) correlates wearing glasses with being smart.

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