This is like watching a train-wreck. - Edit 1
Before modification by fionwe1987 at 29/10/2012 03:00:50 AM
Firstly, channeling strength IS linked to genetics. It is blatantly incorrect to say that it is solely linked to the soul.
In fact, it is linked to both the soul and the body. If Lews Therin's soul was reborn into a body that does not have sufficient strength, he will be weaker in the One Power than in his previous incarnation.
So yes, a weaker channeling gene pool will serve to reduce average strength.
Can we get some evidence for this?
Secondly, great work in applying a Bell Curve to the estimated channeler strengths of known channelers. It indeed clearly shows that the curve now spikes way lower than it did in the Age of Legends.
How do you figure? His bell curve spikes at level 10. That's exactly where you'd expect it to, given that level 10 is around strength 50!
Furthermore, RJ has confirmed that 62.5% of female channelers are strong enough to pass the Aes Sedai test (meaning they are as strong as Daigian or stronger). This means that only 12.5% of channelers lie between Daigian and the average strength channeler.
Exactly. Which is why strong Aes Sedai like Moiraine don't fit in this range.
We know that Daigian is roughly one third as strong as Moiraine.
Lets revisit this. As I understand it, you're basing this on this quote from Leanne right?
If Nynaeve couldn't Heal us all the way the first time, maybe she'll only take us to two-thirds what
we were, or half. Even that would be better than now; but still most here would be as strong, and a good many stronger.
So, a "good many" Aes Sedai are stronger than half of Siuan's old strength. How does this say that Daigian is a third as strong as Siuan's old strength? Nowhere is Leanne saying that double their current strength would take them to a level where a good many Aes Sedai would be stronger, and most as strong. Nowhere is she saying that three times her current strength would see her restored as before.
And we know that Lanfear is FAR more than twice as strong as Moiraine (meaning that Moiraine has to lie below the average strength channeler).
How do we "know" this?
All of this tells us that all modern Aes Sedai come from less than 12.5% of the total female channeling population. This HAS to be the case, because if 37.5% lie below Daigian, then 12.5% lie between Daigian and the average strength, and if Moiraine lies BELOW the average strength, then all modern sisters who fall between Daigian and Moiraine come from LESS than 12.5% of the total channeling population.
Yes, but the problem is our absurd assumption that Moiraine is less than the average strength of the curve. What is your basis for that?
There it is. Irrefutable, if you believe in the Bell Curve hypothesis.
The bell curve is not a hypothesis. It is fact. Your failure to understand this is at the root of your completely outdated strength list.