mahiwaga

It continues to amuse me that people quote “information wants to be free” without giving appropriate context (namely, that “information wants to be expensive”, too.)

This is to segue into a Facebook link I followed to Boing Boing:

How I learned to stop worrying and love the duplicator machines • 2014 Nov 6 • Neil Gaiman • Boing Boing

The part that intrigued me the most was the part about the 1950s science fiction story that effectively predicted (at least in metaphor) software, music, e-book, and movie downloads/streaming, the extensive catalog of Amazon, outsourcing manufacturing to the PRC, and even Etsy:

We’re in a department store. And someone drops off two matter duplicators. They have pans. You put something in pan one, press a button, its exact duplicate appears in pan two.

We spend a day in the department store as they sell everything they have as cheaply as possible, duplicating things with the matter duplicator, making what they can on each sale, and using cheques and credit cards, not cash (you can now perfectly duplicate cash – which obviously is no longer legal tender). Towards the end they stop and take stock of the new world waiting for them and realise that all the rules have changed, but craftsmen and engineers are more necessary than ever.

That companies won’t be manufacturing millions of identical things, but they’ll need to make hundreds, perhaps thousands, of slightly different things, that their stores will be showrooms for things, that stockrooms will be history. That there will now be fundamental changes including, in 1950s-style retailing, in a phrase that turned up well after 1958, a long tail.

While 3D printing is still nascent, I think it’s only a matter of time before we’re downloading product designs and generating small household items for general use on a regular basis.

And while the Global Financial Crisis and the Great Recession gives the phrase a more sarcastic/cynical subtext, it also seems like buying “experiences not things” is the way to go.

I think it’s hilarious that the people who defend Ben Carson also tend to be the same people who don’t believe formal education makes you automatically smarter than people without formal education.

I do agree with the idea that “formal education ≠ smart” to a certain extent. But there’s also some ridiculous hypocrisy in taking a neurosurgeon’s word as Gospel truth because he’s a neurosurgeon so he must obviously be a genius.

Now, I’ve seen neurosurgeons save lots of people’s lives: a lot of my patients, and also my dad.

And, sure, the average person might not be able to hack the four years of premed, the four years of med school, the five years of neurosurgery residency, and the one year of pediatric neurosurgery fellowship. But this is mainly a gauntlet of endurance first and foremost. Like in much of the rest of medicine, a strong work ethic will get you much further than innate intelligence. (As my father who is also a physician has opined to me on numerous times, if you were really intelligent, you wouldn’t have gone into medicine in the first place.)

But there’s nothing magical about the process. You’re probably smarter than the average person[^1], but you don’t have to be an all-around supergenius to be a good surgeon. (And there are good surgeons and there are not-so-good surgeons, but typically even the not-so-good surgeons are good enough in that they won’t automatically kill you and might actually succeed in forestalling the inevitable a least for a little while.)

But Orac says it best: Most doctors are not scientists… • 2015 Sep 24 • Respectful Insolence • Science Blogs

Doctors occupy a highly privileged position in society, and because of it their opinions are often given great deference, even on topics about which they are clearly not an expert. For all their accomplishments, it’s nonetheless important to remember that physicians are human and thus prone to the same cognitive shortcomings to which all human beings are prone. All too often, they are also given a status in society as all-purpose experts about all things that can be related to human biology or medicine, including evolutionary biology.

…

Their pronouncements outside of their areas of expertise should be judged as you would judge anyone else’s. On matters of science outside of their specialty most doctors are probably no more knowledgeable than an educated lay person and all too often let their professional status delude them into having undue confidence in their conclusions.

Orac also mentions this satiric piece by Andy Borowitz:

Ben Carson Shattering Stereotypes About Surgeons Being Smart • 2015 Sep 21 • The New Yorker

In summary, there is nothing about being a neurosurgeon that automatically makes you an expert about archaeology.

Fact check: Ben Carson’s claim that the pyramids were used to store grain • We put the Republican presidential candidate’s ancient wonder-as-corn-silo theory to the test, along with similar Egypt-based insights he may have had • 2015 Nov 5 • The Guardian

(Although, hilariously, I just remembered that in Civilization 2, building the Great Pyramid of Giza World Wonder actually grants you granaries in all of your cities. I remember it being one of the earlier wonders you can build with the fewest tech prereqs. I also remember being consistently irritated by the AI always beating me in the race to build it.)

@daveweigel you don't need to understand evangelism just need to understand CIV 2 - pyramids give granaries and their is a GDP tax.

— Stephen W. Hudson (@StephenWHudson1) November 5, 2015

You know, in Civ 2 the Great Pyramid wonder put granaries in all your cities. Just saying, maybe Carson plays Civilization.

— jnfr (@jnfr) November 5, 2015

Presented without comment: https://t.co/pcoWGFaeKZ

— Leigh Anne Lieberman (@LeighsLies) November 5, 2015

…all humans suffer from similar cognitive flaws and biases. We can all be brilliant and stupid at the same time, and apparently have no difficulty compartmentalizing our beliefs in order to minimize cognitive dissonance.

The Ben Carson Contradiction • 2015 Nov 5 • Steven Novella, M.D • Neurologica Blog Steven Novella, M.D. • About the Author • Neurological Blog

What we can conclude about Carson is that he is not systematically following a valid intellectual process in forming his beliefs. He has no problem dismissing the opinion of experts and scientists, and substituting his own poorly-informed hunches. Obviously this is a disturbing trait in someone running for high office.

I could’ve sworn I’ve blogged more about the Dunning-Kruger Effect, but I guess mostly I posted things to FriendFeed.

• Why Argue On Blogs? The Dunning-Kruger Effect • 2010 Sep 5 • Gary Farber • Obsidian Wings

  • (via Why Argue On Blogs? The Dunning-Kruger Effect • 2010 Sep 5 • FriendFeed)

• The Meltdown Heard ‘Round the World • 2011 Mar 30 • John Patricelli • Big Bear Butt

  • That poor author meltdown over criticism of her bad grammar & spelling is pure Dunning-Kruger Effect. See transcript at http://bit.ly/eGRlLs

    — Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) March 30, 2011

  • The Dunning-Kruger effect • 2010 May 8 • The Science Show • ABC
  • (via The Meltdown Heard ‘Round the World • 2011 Mar 30 • FriendFeeed)

In case you were worried, bras don’t appear to cause breast cancer.

Bra Wearing Not Associated with Breast Cancer Risk: A Population-Based Case–Control Study • 2014 Oct • Lu Chen, Kathleen E. Malone, Christopher I. Li • Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention • American Association for Cancer Research

What lead me to this link was that Jennifer Gunter M.D. was apparently accused of “being a shill for big lingerie”.

The one where I stand accused of being a shill for big lingerie • 2015 Nov 5 • Jen Gunter, M.D. • Dr. Jen Gunter • Wileding the Lasso of Truth