4 ms·
Go one step further. Why does that happen?
by smgit 2y ago
Go one step further. Why does that happen?
- laidoffamazon 2y agoIvy Leaguers are trained, often from birth, that they are better than the rest of us plebs because of their “merit” and represent a superhuman caste. This guy was most likely the same way. If you’re told that you’re a superhuman, then why not think you can get away with it?
- hnbad 2y agoOh, it's not just Ivy League although of course that usually comes with a background of privilege and prestige that further compounds on this tendency. STEM people in general heavily demonstrate this tendency. MBA types too, although they tend to think the solution always comes down to treating everything as a business or privatization.
- robertlagrant 2y agoThis is a good overview of some of your biases, but I don't think it generalises to reality.
- hnbad 2y agoYou're aware that zingy one-liners only make for good conversation on the screen, not real life, right?
- quonn 2y ago> MBA types too, although they tend to think the solution always comes down to treating everything as a market or something to be solved with a market mechanism
- nickserv 2y agoIntelligent people are not any less likely to be delusional than anyone. They are however, much better at convincing themselves and others of their delusions. People that have logic training such as lawyers and engineers even more so.
- goatlover 2y agoMichael Shermer's book Why Smart People Believe Weird Things.
- hennell 2y agoProbably because people on the internet like to hear opinions on things like psychological and sociological factors from people who have simply stated an expertise in semiconductors...
- bmitc 2y agoInstitutionalization of engineers and physicists thinking they are smarter than others.
- rkachowski 2y agooverconfidence leads to participation which results in measurable statements and artefacts, under confidence does not. people are loud and (mostly) incorrect or silent.
- bumby 2y agoBut why would those "measurable statements and artefacts" lead one to believe they are competent? Presumably, wouldn't they also provide evidence of one's ignorance if they were evaluated objectively? (If it wasn't clear, I'm poking at the idea that we have numerous biases that prevent objective evaluation)
- lores 2y agoPeople on HN skew young, smart (in one domain), and tend to live in a bubble of similar people. If you know you're smart, the smart people you talk to validate your smartness (in one domain), society validates it some more by paying you massive amounts, and you're not experienced enough to know better, you're bound to overestimate your abilities and knowledge. It needn't be most, or even many on HN, and people of all kinds vastly overestimate their abilities. It's just that on HN it's overestimating with great ambition. (I say this very confidently, don't I?)
- ethbr1 2y agoYou sound like an expert in psychology.
- lores 2y agoEh, I'm nothing of the sort, I'm only advancing in years and have made it a point to exist in as many segments of society as I could. I was that cocky engineer once, my words are only anecdote from first-hand experience and observation. I never expect to be right, only hopefully more right than wrong.
- gosub100 2y agoHow would discourse change to eliminate this problem? Should we only speak about topics we are employed in? Lead each comment with a summary of our qualifications, or a proclamation of humility where we signal how little we know?
- ethbr1 2y agoI mean, hypothetically MS or Meta could already automatically do this...
- lores 2y agoI know you jest, but I think it wouldn't be a bad idea at all. There are languages whose grammar forces the speaker to explicitly clarify the source of information; Eastern Pomo, for example, has different verb forms for whether it's something you know first hand, saw, are repeating, or deducing. I imagine it's not only useful for the listener, it also helps the speaker realise if maybe they are building a shaky argument to make a point. I, for one, would be interested to see that system in English, it could lead to interesting developments.
- artistic_regard 2y ago[flagged]
- nyarlathotep_ 2y agoMy (unpopular) take--programmers have been 'gassed up' by a decade of overcompensation + title inflation. People think the high pay and the fancy titles* they're (often) given reflects their value or intellect*, even subconsciously, and they behave in such a manner. *Sorry, I don't consider web programming (which comprises a majority of modern software development) "engineering" *Many are some of the most intelligent people quite literally on Earth, or are otherwise exceptional.
- chasd00 2y agoheh yeah i think we're coming up now on two generations of our brightest minds being spent on making us more isolated from each other and clicking on ads.