Me a Celebrity? Let’s Test That with an Experiment.

I’m curious who is standing out in Times Square asking people if they know who I am. I am even more skeptical than Dubner regarding the methodology in his post below. Four out of ten? Forget about it.

Just for fun, how about we do an experiment. I will give $100 (or all the money I have in my wallet if it is less than $100) to any stranger who identifies me spontaneously in the next 30 days without some obvious clue (e.g me wearing a name tag or signing Freakonomics book plates). The U. of Chicago campus area is excluded, since people know me there just because I am a professor.

Any reader bets on the over/under for how much money will flow from me to my fans?

I have my own prediction. I told it to Dubner so he has it on record. I’ll report back in a month with my prediction and the actual figure.

One guy who really is a celebrity is Phil Gordon, host of Celebrity Poker, who I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with last week. He couldn’t take two steps without being greeted by fans. He has got some great stuff in the works, including a line of really innovative instructional videos at www.expertinsight.com, tireless fundraising efforts to help fight cancer, and plans to win his first WSOP bracelet this summer. Plus he is an extremely nice guy. Smart too.