3 ms·
Bertrand Russell had his own take on the "Igon Value Problem": A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate because he unconsciously trans
by defen 17y ago
Bertrand Russell had his own take on the "Igon Value Problem":
A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.
- neilc 17y agoA binary distinction between "stupid" (Gladwell?) and "clever" (domain expert) isn't very helpful here. Gladwell's ability to take obscure scientific results and present them in a relevant, insightful way is very powerful. If anything, I think the lesson is about being careful when drawing conclusions outside your domain of expertise, and that it is always helpful to get outside reviewers for your work (astonishing that a mistake of this magnitude slipped into a published book!).
- Confusion 17y agoWhen you fill gaps in your understanding with imagination, the result is that these 'relevant, insightful' ways are in fact made up. They are powerful in the way of teaching the public even more crap. One cannot possibly understand what eigenvalues are about if one doesn't know how to write the word. One may however think he understands what they are about, because one has filled in the gaps with imagination, and get it published, because reviewers think the author understands his stuff. In exactly the same way, all kinds of people, from complete crackpots to usually reasonable journalists, publish all kinds of crap because they think they understand quantum mechanics. QM, interestingly, relies heavily on those eigenvalues.
- delackner 17y agoHadn't heard this quote before but I do so love it now. I can just see a flow diagram of some complex concept inside a talk bubble next to one person, and a homer-simpson-esque caveman picture in a thought bubble next to the other.