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The latest in the progressive indoctrination into the Scientism of Technocracy, with a bit of post-nihilist Feminism.

dang 9y ago
There are at least three problems with comments like this on HN: first, name-calling; second, unsubstantiveness; third, using the site for ideological battle, which is off topic here. Critique is fine, but fulminating isn't. If you want to post here, please do better. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- briantakita 9y ago
  I was merely giving a succinct representation of my opinion re: this reading list. Apologies if you don't agree with me. If you did agree with me, I would venture to thing that you would not be complaining about the form of my comment. However, you have criticisms over the form of my comment so please allow me to address these criticisms... 1. name-calling - Please explain. These are either self-described terms by adherents of these philosophies or prominent criticisms. Scientism is a criticism often applied by Philosophers to the likes of Neil deGrasse Tyson. Within the institutions pertaining to the industries related Science & Technology, there is a notion of progressive encroachment of said institutions over traditional domains. Technocracy is a self-definition by it's adherents. Same with Feminism. Post-Nihilism is a term that I added to describe the language of the reviews re: the books whose main thesis relates to feminism. My logic is that it paints a picture of feminism beyond the Nihilism of diversity statistics not being at a place where it "ought to be" despite large amounts of investments to "improve the situation". "While the diversity statistics often show a grim image of women’s experience in technology and entrepreneurship, Geek Girl Rising paints a brighter picture of the women who are rallying to start companies, investing in each other, and pulling up those coming behind them." -- Review of "Geek Girl Rising: Inside the Sisterhood Shaking Up Tech" 2. Unsubstantiveness - One can substantiate MIT Press as advancing the Philosophical position of Technocracy from these books that advocate for the same positions as the Technocratic philosophy. The Review of "The Water Will Come" states: "It’s a call to action for coastal cities and states to undertake smart, dedicated, and sustained efforts to reinforce their shores. But it’s also an honest appraisal making clear that for many places, whether it’s ever an active policy decision or not, the only realistic option will be retreat." All of these political solutions based on the predictive models of a few Scientists, or Experts in Technocratic terminology. There has been criticism over these models & of the politics of the creators of these models. 3. The reading list itself has an ideological position. The criticism against ideological positions is itself based on ideology & creates an ideological conflict, which makes it a contradiction. Perhaps you mean "please don't address any issues about my ideologies"? > If you want to post here, please do better. One would think that is a bit snarky & not befit of a HN moderator, but thank you for the practice of addressing your criticisms anyways :-)
jack9 9y ago
That's what it looks like to me. This is not a best of "Tech Books", when there's less technical than there is political in the list. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is an excellent start, but where's the other obvious ones: https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-science-technology-books-2017 https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-science-technolo... We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong etc etc

dang 9y ago

There are at least three problems with comments like this on HN: first, name-calling; second, unsubstantiveness; third, using the site for ideological battle, which is off topic here. Critique is fine, but fulminating isn't. If you want to post here, please do better. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

briantakita 9y ago
I was merely giving a succinct representation of my opinion re: this reading list. Apologies if you don't agree with me. If you did agree with me, I would venture to thing that you would not be complaining about the form of my comment. However, you have criticisms over the form of my comment so please allow me to address these criticisms... 1. name-calling - Please explain. These are either self-described terms by adherents of these philosophies or prominent criticisms. Scientism is a criticism often applied by Philosophers to the likes of Neil deGrasse Tyson. Within the institutions pertaining to the industries related Science & Technology, there is a notion of progressive encroachment of said institutions over traditional domains. Technocracy is a self-definition by it's adherents. Same with Feminism. Post-Nihilism is a term that I added to describe the language of the reviews re: the books whose main thesis relates to feminism. My logic is that it paints a picture of feminism beyond the Nihilism of diversity statistics not being at a place where it "ought to be" despite large amounts of investments to "improve the situation". "While the diversity statistics often show a grim image of women’s experience in technology and entrepreneurship, Geek Girl Rising paints a brighter picture of the women who are rallying to start companies, investing in each other, and pulling up those coming behind them." -- Review of "Geek Girl Rising: Inside the Sisterhood Shaking Up Tech" 2. Unsubstantiveness - One can substantiate MIT Press as advancing the Philosophical position of Technocracy from these books that advocate for the same positions as the Technocratic philosophy. The Review of "The Water Will Come" states: "It’s a call to action for coastal cities and states to undertake smart, dedicated, and sustained efforts to reinforce their shores. But it’s also an honest appraisal making clear that for many places, whether it’s ever an active policy decision or not, the only realistic option will be retreat." All of these political solutions based on the predictive models of a few Scientists, or Experts in Technocratic terminology. There has been criticism over these models & of the politics of the creators of these models. 3. The reading list itself has an ideological position. The criticism against ideological positions is itself based on ideology & creates an ideological conflict, which makes it a contradiction. Perhaps you mean "please don't address any issues about my ideologies"? > If you want to post here, please do better. One would think that is a bit snarky & not befit of a HN moderator, but thank you for the practice of addressing your criticisms anyways :-)

jack9 9y ago

That's what it looks like to me. This is not a best of "Tech Books", when there's less technical than there is political in the list. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is an excellent start, but where's the other obvious ones: https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-science-technology-books-2017 https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-science-technolo... We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong etc etc