4 ms·

I agree that it's a hard problem, but economists figured out most of it 60+ years ago! I don't mean to pick on you personally, but I don't know any other field

I agree that it's a hard problem, but economists figured out most of it 60+ years ago! I don't mean to pick on you personally, but I don't know any other field where educated people are so happy to believe their hunches over the established science...

kqr 5y ago
"Economists" disagree today, though, regardless of how strong their agreement was 60+ years ago. It seems unfair to the scholarly argument to pretend it's not there. Saying that economists figured it out is a bit like saying "doctors figured blood-letting out 200 years ago". As true as that may be, we know today whatever it was they figured out is complete garbage. What am I missing?
- BurningFrog 5y ago
  If economists disagree about this particular thing, I've missed it. Which scholars are you referring to? Putting "Economists" in quotes and comparing them to blood letting doctors doesn't really shake my impression that you don't really respect this field of science :)
  - kqr 5y ago
    Thank you for holding me accountable. The ideas I refer to (as much sense as they make to me) do not, indeed, seem to have much support of mainstream economics. (Contrary to what I thought before you had me look it up.) I'm still not ready to write them off, in part because of the bias against professional economists you've already caught me exhibiting. But I can admit at this point that it's completely based on personal whim and not much actual substance, as long as the substance is determined by mainstream economics.
    - BurningFrog 5y ago
      Well, if you're going to be reasonable we'll have to stop arguing :) I'm a "hard science" guy. My degree is in physics and I work writing software. But last 1-2 decades I've found economics to be the most interesting science there is, since it makes me understand society much better than I used to.

4 ms·

I agree that it's a hard problem, but economists figured out most of it 60+ years ago! I don't mean to pick on you personally, but I don't know any other field

by BurningFrog 5y ago

kqr 5y ago
"Economists" disagree today, though, regardless of how strong their agreement was 60+ years ago. It seems unfair to the scholarly argument to pretend it's not there. Saying that economists figured it out is a bit like saying "doctors figured blood-letting out 200 years ago". As true as that may be, we know today whatever it was they figured out is complete garbage. What am I missing?
- BurningFrog 5y ago
  If economists disagree about this particular thing, I've missed it. Which scholars are you referring to? Putting "Economists" in quotes and comparing them to blood letting doctors doesn't really shake my impression that you don't really respect this field of science :)
  - kqr 5y ago
    Thank you for holding me accountable. The ideas I refer to (as much sense as they make to me) do not, indeed, seem to have much support of mainstream economics. (Contrary to what I thought before you had me look it up.) I'm still not ready to write them off, in part because of the bias against professional economists you've already caught me exhibiting. But I can admit at this point that it's completely based on personal whim and not much actual substance, as long as the substance is determined by mainstream economics.
    - BurningFrog 5y ago
      Well, if you're going to be reasonable we'll have to stop arguing :) I'm a "hard science" guy. My degree is in physics and I work writing software. But last 1-2 decades I've found economics to be the most interesting science there is, since it makes me understand society much better than I used to.