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The Dataist Manifesto, part I

Started by The Good Reverend Roger, July 25, 2017, 01:13:20 AM

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The Johnny

Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 16, 2019, 02:50:20 AM
Quote from: The Johnny on March 16, 2019, 02:08:23 AM

Oh, its a shame, but i do believe you; what have you run into?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Troublesome_Inheritance

2014.

Wade seems to have a BA in Natural Science... does being a "Bachelor of Arts" in Natural Science mean he doesnt really have a real education in natural science? I dont know the US nomenclature, so to me thats a first warning sign, but maybe im wrong.

2nd thing is that his occupation seems to be more of a journalist/writer than a real scientist... a commentator of science, not a maker of science, catch my drift?

3rd thing related to the previous one... the science hes interpreting and commentating, he had no part of in creating.

So in a way, hes an ideologue using his certifications to appear as a scientist, which he really isnt - which is the equivalent of wrestlers, millionaires and actors playing the role of politicians.

Its kind of comforting that I can think that it seems like shitposting passing off as science by some random journalist, and that it wasnt actually made by a real hands-on geneticist.
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

chaotic neutral observer

Quote from: The Johnny on March 16, 2019, 03:33:16 AM
Within the context of all thats been discussed in this thread, what im saying is that interests, be it ideological or economic, have been the great historical distorters of science... on the ideological front one can speak of religion and racism... and well, economic is about profit.
This is true, but all science is a human activity, and is inherently biased in that it only answers questions that humans can conceive of.  I do not know if even mathematics is immune to this effect.

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Legitimate science first figures out how a process works, then it seeks to figure out how this understanding can be put into practice and THEN finally one can start to think about profit.
Science only figures out how things work.  Putting things into practice is a job for the engineers.  Thinking about profit is a job for the business side.  If the bean-counters invest in scientific research because they think it might be profitable, that does not, in itself, delegitimize that science.  It may introduce bias, but science should be judged on its own merit, not on who paid for it, or why.

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How does one think about profiting from nuclear energy, if one doesnt know how to use/make it, or even more importantly if one doesnt know it exists?
And how would you get a few billion in investment to study nuclear fusion, if there was no possibility of a practical application?  This is a chicken and egg problem.  Fundamental research has a lot of potential value, but it is not the only way to do science.  Pure research gets you semiconductors; applied research gives you smartphones.

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One could venture that the greatest patrons of science in the XXIst century have not been capitalists, but the military, because they dont care about how much it costs or the profit it will make, but that its done right and that its pragmatic.
The scientific and technological advances made as a result of WW2 and the Cold War would be consistent with that hypothesis.
Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.

Prelate Diogenes Shandor

Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on March 16, 2019, 04:15:42 AM
Quote
One could venture that the greatest patrons of science in the XXIst century have not been capitalists, but the military, because they dont care about how much it costs or the profit it will make, but that its done right and that its pragmatic.
The scientific and technological advances made as a result of WW2 and the Cold War would be consistent with that hypothesis.

I guess the Aztecs were right
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


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