Masters of Ignorance: effective data analysis

We should study observations separately from derivations from theories.   The deliberately ignorant takes the position that data is superior to science.   There is a valid place for the deliberately ignorant when included in teams with domain experts representing each of the relevant scientific disciplines.   In order to work, the deliberately ignorant needs to be skilled at his craft of being ignorant in the right way to propel the team towards a new solution without annoying everyone to the point of being expelled.

Persuasion scoring of populations

In this increasingly globalized world, we confront the question of how well groups may govern themselves optimally not only to survive within their local context but also keep up with the standards of the global norms.   The goal is for self government but that government should thrive at a comparable level to the global norm.  What is that measurement that will determine a group’s success at self-governing?

Intelligence Question (IQ)

If I take a month to come up with some solution, then it is hard to argue that a non-human animal could not come up with an equivalent solution over a longer period of time.   Given enough time, Darwinian evolution could come up with the solution without any IQ type intelligence at all.  A definition of intelligence that is unique to humans demands a time limit on coming up with an answer.

What makes up the self

Following up on my last post, I am also wondering about where IQ comes from.   As noted there, there seems to be a genetic component to IQ because IQ tends to be stable over an individual’s lifetime, and there seems to be an environmental component since IQ scores have been increasing in recent generations.…

Presumption of incompetence: man vs machine

Behind this messy argument is a deeper concern I have that we are doing a disservice to young people by presuming that they really do need more than a decade to learn advanced skills. We can subject young people to more intense education than we are now, and that they could have college-graduate level skills before they become 18 years old. Yet, we think that such an expectation is unwise as if it risks losing something more valuable. Perhaps we fear the young person’s loss to easy access to the presumption of innocence.

Cosmic teachers

Just like the fact that I can’t interest an advanced piano teacher doesn’t diminish the fact that such teachers exist, the fact that science can’t engage the immaterial teacher says nothing about the existence of such a teacher. The teacher is simply uninterested in engaging, and have every good reason to not engage.

The meaning of persuasion in the age of data

A data-driven economy is not a free economy. While there remains promise that algorithms acting on vast amounts of rapidly arriving data can produce a better economy, I am suspicious that such an economy will eventually languish because it robs the human actors of their ability to negotiate. The vitality of a free economy derives from individual freedom to negotiate terms of engagement. Eventually, A data-driven economy may prove to be superior but it will succeed only by suppressing natural human negotiation. Human actors negotiating in a data-driven economy must negotiate with machines. Applying approaches that work for other humans to machines instead is criminalized as cybercrime. Human negotiation involves coming to terms with weaknesses as well as strengths. Exploiting weaknesses of machines is a crime.