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Is this sort of pseudoscientific anecdata what passes for discourse on HN now? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - where's yours?

bousaid 9y ago
Wow, I'm just as dumbfounded as you.
verroq 9y ago
The rate of males identifying as gay has been rising either because of the changing culture, and/or something in the water. Such a statement claiming western men as becoming more effeminate is obvious.
- csydas 9y ago
  Well homosexuality being more accepted I guess would be a cultural change, yes, but that doesn't mean there are more gay men now than there were before, it means there are more men who are openly gay than there were before. It's a bit hard to tell whether there was an actual increase in gay men due to the known fact that many men hid their sexuality prior to it being more acceptable. I think this is a far more sensible and defensible position and a simpler explanation than something in water, unless that was a facetious comment.
RealityNow 9y ago
Just because he's not referencing a survey or study doesn't make it useless data. Anecdotal data is not useless. There's been a noticeable increase in effeminate men in NYC over the last 6 years. Maybe it's due to the increased acceptance of LGBT, maybe it's something else...
- brian-armstrong 9y ago
  Are you sure you aren't falling victim to a frequency illusion? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequency_illusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequ...
icelancer 9y ago
This is only the most egregious comment in here, not the only one in general. Someone above is talking about gut microbiome (which we know vanishingly little about) as being a primary causer, diet is apparently 100% the issue (colinear effects in other populations throw water on this theory pretty hard), plastics are a real problem (no evidence supports this, though there is a significant lag), etc. Basically no one wants to just say "No one knows, let's keep researching." Everyone has to chime in. That'd be one thing if it was relegated to HN or forums, but it's true in the "scientific" community [1] and the media as well; perhaps moreso. [1] Of which I am sadly a part of, so don't think I am an anti-science person, just anti-parts of this ridiculous industry.
- kirrent 9y ago
  I think the thing that's worth remembering about HN is that it's far more of a forum for engineers than scientists. The user base here is very well read, very interesting, a pleasure to interact with, and a lot of the time very obviously technically skilled. They are not, as a general rule, particularly scientifically literate.
- Jedi72 9y ago
  Isn't that was research is, a bunch of people putting forward various theories which are then subjected to rigorous testing?
thesagan 9y ago
I get where you're coming from, but the increased effemination in men has been so pronounced in my own experience over the past 20 years I'm still chiming in on it.

bousaid 9y ago

Wow, I'm just as dumbfounded as you.

verroq 9y ago

The rate of males identifying as gay has been rising either because of the changing culture, and/or something in the water. Such a statement claiming western men as becoming more effeminate is obvious.

csydas 9y ago
Well homosexuality being more accepted I guess would be a cultural change, yes, but that doesn't mean there are more gay men now than there were before, it means there are more men who are openly gay than there were before. It's a bit hard to tell whether there was an actual increase in gay men due to the known fact that many men hid their sexuality prior to it being more acceptable. I think this is a far more sensible and defensible position and a simpler explanation than something in water, unless that was a facetious comment.

RealityNow 9y ago

Just because he's not referencing a survey or study doesn't make it useless data. Anecdotal data is not useless. There's been a noticeable increase in effeminate men in NYC over the last 6 years. Maybe it's due to the increased acceptance of LGBT, maybe it's something else...

brian-armstrong 9y ago
Are you sure you aren't falling victim to a frequency illusion? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequency_illusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequ...

icelancer 9y ago

This is only the most egregious comment in here, not the only one in general. Someone above is talking about gut microbiome (which we know vanishingly little about) as being a primary causer, diet is apparently 100% the issue (colinear effects in other populations throw water on this theory pretty hard), plastics are a real problem (no evidence supports this, though there is a significant lag), etc. Basically no one wants to just say "No one knows, let's keep researching." Everyone has to chime in. That'd be one thing if it was relegated to HN or forums, but it's true in the "scientific" community [1] and the media as well; perhaps moreso. [1] Of which I am sadly a part of, so don't think I am an anti-science person, just anti-parts of this ridiculous industry.

kirrent 9y ago
I think the thing that's worth remembering about HN is that it's far more of a forum for engineers than scientists. The user base here is very well read, very interesting, a pleasure to interact with, and a lot of the time very obviously technically skilled. They are not, as a general rule, particularly scientifically literate.
Jedi72 9y ago
Isn't that was research is, a bunch of people putting forward various theories which are then subjected to rigorous testing?

thesagan 9y ago

I get where you're coming from, but the increased effemination in men has been so pronounced in my own experience over the past 20 years I'm still chiming in on it.