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Again, I don't understand the hostility. I wasn't in fact trolling, I was trying to get into a discussion about why economics gets people so riled up and then y

by weeksie 16y ago

Again, I don't understand the hostility. I wasn't in fact trolling, I was trying to get into a discussion about why economics gets people so riled up and then you came along and reinforced the point I was making without actually adding to the discussion. The thing is that I find myself charged up over the topic as well, which makes me wonder why exactly it's such a hotpoint issue, and why it makes people (myself included) feel like they are qualified in a field in which they are clearly not. I mean that in the sense that I (nor, likely you) have any formal economics education beyond reading columns, articles, and perhaps attending econ 101 many years ago.

lzw 16y ago
Think about this- you define "qualified" as having "formal economics education" and yet you feel that you are qualified to say who is not qualified, without knowing whether they have the qualifications you just specified. You presume that I, and others, are not qualified. How would you know? Edit to ad: This is not meant as a characterization of you, or an attack, etc. It is food for thought. You think that I was not "adding to the discussion" so, I've attempted to construct as neutral of a point as possible.
- weeksie 16y ago
  Well, are you qualified? How does your economics education differ from my guess? Was my assumption correct? Again, back to my original point, it's often people who explicitly aren't qualified who most vehemently argue the topic, particularly by dismissing out of hand various experts as stooges or imbeciles. I think there's something about the seeming simplicity of the topic that appeals to programmers especially. We tend to be smarter than average and have mastered a field that involves a large amount of self-study. The inner narrative is then "I'm an expert" and somehow that really kicks in when we start talking about economics.

by weeksie 16y ago

lzw 16y ago

Think about this- you define "qualified" as having "formal economics education" and yet you feel that you are qualified to say who is not qualified, without knowing whether they have the qualifications you just specified. You presume that I, and others, are not qualified. How would you know? Edit to ad: This is not meant as a characterization of you, or an attack, etc. It is food for thought. You think that I was not "adding to the discussion" so, I've attempted to construct as neutral of a point as possible.

weeksie 16y ago
Well, are you qualified? How does your economics education differ from my guess? Was my assumption correct? Again, back to my original point, it's often people who explicitly aren't qualified who most vehemently argue the topic, particularly by dismissing out of hand various experts as stooges or imbeciles. I think there's something about the seeming simplicity of the topic that appeals to programmers especially. We tend to be smarter than average and have mastered a field that involves a large amount of self-study. The inner narrative is then "I'm an expert" and somehow that really kicks in when we start talking about economics.