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> Postmodernists make for shitty programmers Honestly? I get that people are skeptical and dismissive of postmodernism, but this is just petty tribalism with n
by danharaj 10y ago
> Postmodernists make for shitty programmers
Honestly? I get that people are skeptical and dismissive of postmodernism, but this is just petty tribalism with no basis in fact. Not every programmer is a staunch right-libertarian even though that's the stereotype. Maybe it would surprise you to meet programmers well versed in the humanities that respect or even identify with postmodernism. Human ideologies are absurd, postmodernism is just the investigation of how absurd they are.
Here's how to apply postmodernism to science in order to improve science: it helps you identify and analyze the power structures and processes that regulate and sustain the actual act of doing science. If there are systemic biases or failures within those structures they will impact the quality of the science you're doing. There is "objective" knowledge in science, but there's also absolute garbage, and there's no ideological argument to tell them apart.
Ideology influences the way we observe and interpret evidence. It even shapes the kind of experiments we run, and the kind of hypotheses we propose. It won't make you misinterpret a thermometer, but science is scarcely ever as simple as aiming a sensor at a piece of spacetime and reading the output.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- 131012 10y agoNowadays postmodernism is mostly used to portray someone and then deploy a critique. It is a rhetorical offensive tool. I understand your need to defend left-leaning coders and to understand the ideological underpinnings of modern science, but I suggest you update your conceptual framework, just as you should be wary using an unsupported browser.
- jschwartzi 10y agoUpdate it to what, I wonder?
- danharaj 10y ago"Objectivity", "rationalism", "freedom", or some other totally non-ideological word, I'm sure.
- 131012 10y agoMy point is that I know no contemporary scholar claiming to be postmodernist and I am not aware of recent efforts to build on this theory. I might err, as it is impossible to read everything. What I have witnessed is that people use postmodernism as a strawman, usually in a reactionary stance. This article is no exception, even if it brings some interesting points debated in other comments. As a serious answer to a somewhat rhetorical question: Some have suggested realism and I find their endeavor interesting. This book is one good example. http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674004122&content=reviews http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674004122&co...
- danharaj 10y agoThat's probably because postmodernism isn't a theory. It's a very broad term that encompasses many, many responses to Modernism and the politics of that era. Critical theory is alive and well, especially in law. I do love me some good critical theory since it's effective application can dismantle most ideologies that refuse to acknowledge their basis in violence. I don't think anyone is a "critical theorist" but it's certainly a tool many scholars use. Postmodernism had a lot of fruits. Some of them are still perfectly juicy and nutritious and some turned out to be bitter and indigestible. Certainly, I would prefer to discuss the weirdest pomo over the vulgar scientism that's popular around here :)