4 ms·

> Why should politics get in the way of our accumulation of data? Great question. Unrelatedly, mind if I correlate your medical history and a genetic profile o

> Why should politics get in the way of our accumulation of data? Great question. Unrelatedly, mind if I correlate your medical history and a genetic profile of you with your purchase history at three major retail chains and the contents of your inbox? I'm not intending to do anything special with it; I'm just accumulating data. (... everything has a political dimension, including data accumulation. Because ultimately, humans use the data, and what humans do is politics).

stcredzero 8y ago
Great question. Unrelatedly, mind if I correlate your medical history and a genetic profile of you with your purchase history at three major retail chains and the contents of your inbox? Bad point. Violating the privacy of individuals is worlds different from studying gender differences on average. (... everything has a political dimension, including data accumulation. Because ultimately, humans use the data, and what humans do is politics). But from that, it can't follow that we should alter the results to avoid hurt feelings. That would render the "data" no better than mythical just-so stories. Politics should be subservient to empirical data and science. We've seen what doing it the other way results in historically. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism
- pmarreck 8y ago
  TIL of Lysenkoism. Wow. That's a powerful example right there.
  - stcredzero 8y ago
    One of the first times I mentioned it on HN, the reaction was basically, "Thank you for showing me this right-wing talking point, now I can counteract it." No curiosity about the history. No valuing of knowledge and truth. This says a lot about our world today.
    - pmarreck 8y ago
      How is it a right-wing talking point? It's basically pro-science (and to be fair, the right has their anti-global-warmacists and the left has their antivax and antinuclear baseless beliefs)
      - stcredzero 8y ago
        How is it a right-wing talking point? Because that's how wacko some of the Far Left have become. Because some of the Far Left would like for there to be something like Lysenkoism forwarding a version of science which explicitly fits their narratives, and for this to be taught to young people. (If you look into it, they basically have a "good start.")
        fixermark 8y ago
        Can you clarify what model some on the Far Left are forwarding that fits their narrative and how it relates to Lysenkoism?
- Daniel3 8y ago
  Wow how interesting. Seems to drive out of a mindset of despair and blind hope. This seems like a pretty appropriate category for Modern Monetary Theory as well.
mancerayder 8y ago
You're loosely defining 'data' here in a totally different context. My context (and the thread) is scientific data. Your context for the same word with the same sound and spelling in English that means a different thing is, personal data. No, I wasn't referring to collecting your social security number or address for science. We were talking about uncomfortable conclusions in neurology research.

stcredzero 8y ago

Great question. Unrelatedly, mind if I correlate your medical history and a genetic profile of you with your purchase history at three major retail chains and the contents of your inbox? Bad point. Violating the privacy of individuals is worlds different from studying gender differences on average. (... everything has a political dimension, including data accumulation. Because ultimately, humans use the data, and what humans do is politics). But from that, it can't follow that we should alter the results to avoid hurt feelings. That would render the "data" no better than mythical just-so stories. Politics should be subservient to empirical data and science. We've seen what doing it the other way results in historically. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism

pmarreck 8y ago
TIL of Lysenkoism. Wow. That's a powerful example right there.
- stcredzero 8y ago
  One of the first times I mentioned it on HN, the reaction was basically, "Thank you for showing me this right-wing talking point, now I can counteract it." No curiosity about the history. No valuing of knowledge and truth. This says a lot about our world today.
  - pmarreck 8y ago
    How is it a right-wing talking point? It's basically pro-science (and to be fair, the right has their anti-global-warmacists and the left has their antivax and antinuclear baseless beliefs)
    - stcredzero 8y ago
      How is it a right-wing talking point? Because that's how wacko some of the Far Left have become. Because some of the Far Left would like for there to be something like Lysenkoism forwarding a version of science which explicitly fits their narratives, and for this to be taught to young people. (If you look into it, they basically have a "good start.")
      - fixermark 8y ago
        Can you clarify what model some on the Far Left are forwarding that fits their narrative and how it relates to Lysenkoism?
Daniel3 8y ago
Wow how interesting. Seems to drive out of a mindset of despair and blind hope. This seems like a pretty appropriate category for Modern Monetary Theory as well.

mancerayder 8y ago

You're loosely defining 'data' here in a totally different context. My context (and the thread) is scientific data. Your context for the same word with the same sound and spelling in English that means a different thing is, personal data. No, I wasn't referring to collecting your social security number or address for science. We were talking about uncomfortable conclusions in neurology research.