3 ms·

Ignore an idea/essay/whatever because the author doesn't have a college degree in the area?

by bestes 15y ago

knowtheory 15y ago
Actually i think HN has just taken down the article on its merits, i.e. that it has none. What remains a mystery is why this was upvoted in the first place.
- rphlx 15y ago
  It's upvoted because, after people post a comment utterly destroying it, they want their comment's unique wisdom and intelligence to be visible to others. Even (maybe, especially) when the original article is garbage. It's a perverse incentive problem in social news.
  - knowtheory 15y ago
    Well, i will add that the major determinant for whether an article stays on the front page is whether there is an active discussion. So the more chatter there is, the longer it stays on the homepage. The longer it stays on the home page, the more people upboat it without reading the post or the comments. But that's me retreating to the study of aggregate behavior. sigh
- csomar 15y ago
  Because it's interesting. I usually read the comments and not the article.
  - throwawayday 15y ago
    I've almost gotten to the point where I don't read the comments. Quality has (subjectively) been declining over the last couple of years.
tansey 15y ago
That's obviously not what I was saying. I was saying you need to demonstrate some level of competency in the field. A college degree is one way. Working at an economics-related organization is another. Having some sort of mathematical rigor or scientific evidence which demonstrates that you understand the field, but merely disagree, is yet another. This is the reason why academic publications have background and/or related work sections. You must demonstrate that you know about all the related efforts in the field, and be able to explain how yours is better or at least unique. You don't get to just write: "Hi, I wrote a program to evolve a brain. Here is why I like it. It's cool cause it's like a neuron [link to wikipedia article on neurons]. If more programs were like neurons really are, everything would be easy and we'd have thinking machines. Okay, now that I've demonstrated that I'm right, please publish this." All of that may be true, but I am not going to pay any attention to you because: A) I have no idea who you are, so you do not get the benefit of the doubt. B) You have provided no credentials, so there is no proxy institution to vouch for your competency. C) There is no indication that you are aware of any other research in evolutionary neural networks. You cited no papers, formulated no theorems, presented no comparative evidence. This kind of writing is intellectually lazy. You will not solve real, challenging problems by sitting around in a big mental masturbation circle jerk with other uninformed people. The odds are infinitesimally small that you will randomly be born into the world and just through your day-to-day life come up with a solution to a problem that generations of geniuses have yet to properly solve. If you want to actually make progress, then first understand the work that's been done in the field and find a way to improve upon it.

Ignore an idea/essay/whatever because the author doesn't have a college degree in the area?

by bestes 15y ago

Ignore an idea/essay/whatever because the author doesn't have a college degree in the area?

Actually i think HN has just taken down the article on its merits, i.e. that it has none. What remains a mystery is why this was upvoted in the first place.

rphlx 15y ago
It's upvoted because, after people post a comment utterly destroying it, they want their comment's unique wisdom and intelligence to be visible to others. Even (maybe, especially) when the original article is garbage. It's a perverse incentive problem in social news.
- knowtheory 15y ago
  Well, i will add that the major determinant for whether an article stays on the front page is whether there is an active discussion. So the more chatter there is, the longer it stays on the homepage. The longer it stays on the home page, the more people upboat it without reading the post or the comments. But that's me retreating to the study of aggregate behavior. sigh
csomar 15y ago
Because it's interesting. I usually read the comments and not the article.
- throwawayday 15y ago
  I've almost gotten to the point where I don't read the comments. Quality has (subjectively) been declining over the last couple of years.

tansey 15y ago

That's obviously not what I was saying. I was saying you need to demonstrate some level of competency in the field. A college degree is one way. Working at an economics-related organization is another. Having some sort of mathematical rigor or scientific evidence which demonstrates that you understand the field, but merely disagree, is yet another. This is the reason why academic publications have background and/or related work sections. You must demonstrate that you know about all the related efforts in the field, and be able to explain how yours is better or at least unique. You don't get to just write: "Hi, I wrote a program to evolve a brain. Here is why I like it. It's cool cause it's like a neuron [link to wikipedia article on neurons]. If more programs were like neurons really are, everything would be easy and we'd have thinking machines. Okay, now that I've demonstrated that I'm right, please publish this." All of that may be true, but I am not going to pay any attention to you because: A) I have no idea who you are, so you do not get the benefit of the doubt. B) You have provided no credentials, so there is no proxy institution to vouch for your competency. C) There is no indication that you are aware of any other research in evolutionary neural networks. You cited no papers, formulated no theorems, presented no comparative evidence. This kind of writing is intellectually lazy. You will not solve real, challenging problems by sitting around in a big mental masturbation circle jerk with other uninformed people. The odds are infinitesimally small that you will randomly be born into the world and just through your day-to-day life come up with a solution to a problem that generations of geniuses have yet to properly solve. If you want to actually make progress, then first understand the work that's been done in the field and find a way to improve upon it.