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There's a social science experiment where some folks are asked a question along the lines of "could you land a jumbo jet airplane while an experienced pilot tal
by CraigJPerry 3y ago
There's a social science experiment where some folks are asked a question along the lines of "could you land a jumbo jet airplane while an experienced pilot talks you through the process via the radio?"
If they ask 100 folks, they'll get something like 101 responses of "HELL YEAH!" but then when they pop people in a simulator to try it, no-one makes it out alive.
I've often wondered if i could make it out alive if i had to start over from scratch. Keeping the life skills and knowledge i have today, but with one exception - NOT being allowed to rely solely on my programming or sysadmin skills because that feels like cheating by making it too easy to succeed.
So a job or entrepreneurial venture, in a different field, starting from nothing and build up. Could i make it out alive?
My answer is always yes. Like i have zero doubt. The only ways i can doubt myself in this thought experiment are if i do something really extreme like start off in a remote African village or imagine starting with a disability of some sort. In those cases, i can see a possibility of failure but in just about any other starting scenario, i jump straight to seeing how i would deal with the obvious problems that would happen along the way like having my stuff repeatedly stolen / trashed, being dragged into fights etc. etc.
Can't shake this niggling feeling that it's hubris. Am i Mr 102 full of smiles who high 5's everyone as he triumphantly strides out of that simulator? Or am i just on the wrong side of Dunning Kruger?
- Jensson 3y ago> Could i make it out alive? If you mean literally, absolutely yes. Even Palestine has a life expectancy of 73 years, unless you start doing heavy crime or are very unlucky you will survive until you get old.
- CraigJPerry 3y agoI think it has to be your own interpretation of alive. If you're starting today surrounded by a loving family, in good health, enjoying relative comfort but you end the thought experiment as a comfortably solvent 80 year old in an apartment but with no friends or family, does that count as making it out alive? That has to be for you to decide.
- thfuran 3y agoComfortably solvent and not dead? That's unambiguously alive. Whether it's successful or not is another matter.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- CraigJPerry 3y agoIs that alive or just existing? That specific scenario most probably isn’t one, for most people, but are there fates worse than death?
- thfuran 3y ago>Is that alive Yes, obviously. >but are there fates worse than death? If you're not sure about that, you can at least be sure that "not getting out alive" isn't one of them. Because that means death.
- CraigJPerry 3y agoThere’s nuance here but you’re missing it
- jl6 3y agoIt’s an almost impossible experiment to run because of this bit: “Keeping the life skills and knowledge i have today” I know you’ve specified an exception for computer skills, but you have so much more in-built human capital, much of it the result of your education and upbringing. You likely have extensive subconscious training in the mannerisms and norms of upper-middle-class culture. You probably know exactly what behaviors constitute fitting in well and being a valued employee. You know where to go for help, and how to get good credit. The fact you can speak English is, on its own, the foundation of a good career in many parts of the world. If you start to strip out all of that built-in experience and upbringing in order to level the playing field, is it really still you?
- CraigJPerry 3y agoIf I couldn’t repeat my success (to some reasonable approximation of that success) what does that mean for what I understand about how the world works and my life skills within it?
- acuozzo 3y agoBarbara Ehrenreich did that: https://a.co/d/esYwAgq https://a.co/d/esYwAgq
- CraigJPerry 3y agoThis looks like a great lead, thanks for this