Things I don't like (TIDL) thread

Caporegime
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58,912
pseudo-science/"woo"

not just talking about the obvious religious loons, climate change deniers and anti vax people but the more general "woo"/BS that seems to be acceptable

Some examples:

Alternative medicine - have noticed in say local Facebook groups that someone asking for a recommendation for say a Physio will also get recommendations for osteopaths and chiropractors as though they offer the same sort of thing and aren't basically quacks (Chiros being the worst - some of these ****s even call themselves "Dr"). Likewise some pharmacies supply homeopathic "medicine" or "detox" nonsense...

Various BS in business - "NLP" trainers/practitioners - this whole field is mostly bunk. Likewise people still seem to believe in "Myers Briggs" nonsense too and will claim to be an INT-whatever etc...

Hi-fi - this industry is full of BS, it is pretty simple to dismiss most of the myths and most have been dismissed for decades yet the BS still carries on. There is a reason that reviewers don't tend to conduct proper double blind testing and it isn't anything to do with the testing being flawed. Some people will be selective with the BS - like "obviously" the digital cable is bunk and speaker cables but this Amp is definitely worth 10 times more than another one... even though plenty of amps will be indistinguishable if level matched in a blind test. Ditto to the various idiots shelling out $$$ on expensive DACs - often just needless nonsense made by some cottage industry firm.

Trading - "technical analysis", not that there is necessarily anything inherently wrong in using time series data in order to attempt to make forecasts/predictions in general (though this is something that isn't easy and that would make you incredibly rich if you really were good at it) - but stuff that tends to falls under "TA" seems to take the form of arbitrary rules and lots of subjective nonsense... "but but the price should drop to this level because Fibonacci", or just drawing lots of lines on a chart subjectively - it is very much pseudo science in most cases, dressed up to sound somehow scientific. It has been promoted by brokers for decades as it gives anyone easy framework to get them making decisions and placing trades it also seems to have been adopted by the crypto crowd. The sad thing is that there are of course plenty of approaches to looking at time series data from statistics, econometrics and Engineering (control theory, signal processing) etc.. however these approaches do require some basic undergrad mathematics that you'd acquire in the first year or two of a STEM degree so aren't really of interest to the average punter at a spread betting firm etc...
 

RxR

RxR

Soldato
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Dowie, the research and engineering efforts to develop augmented human intelligence devices and services (human-brain interface, near real-time technical-telepathy) etc.
 
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Caporegime
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Human intelligence tech developers who dont know what it is (eg. its two word definition).

What is a human intelligence tech developer out of interest?

Dowie, the research and engineering efforts to develop augmented human intelligence devices and services (human-brain interface, near real-time technical-telepathy) etc.

You couldn't make this stuff up. Hates people that don't know the 2 word definition, asked what it is and posts a 25 word response.
 

RxR

RxR

Soldato
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My ap, I wasn't asked for the 2 word definition, I was asked what the occupational role was.

2 word dfn.: adaptive speed. As Shakespeare put it, "Time makes fools of all". Hence, all intelligence tests are timed, etc.
 
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Caporegime
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Cornwall
Dowie, the research and engineering efforts to develop augmented human intelligence devices and services (human-brain interface, near real-time technical-telepathy) etc.
Yeah.... good luck with that ;)

Not something any of us will see in our lifetimes. Thankfully.
 

RxR

RxR

Soldato
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Australia
Foxeye, as there are no triple geniusses on the job (it requires original generative and integrative solving for at least 3 very complex domains) - ignoring the data structures and relatively straightforward devices, you're probably right. Such is life.
 

RxR

RxR

Soldato
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Australia
This fallacy: ad potens (to blame power, the powerful, etc), since all other fallacies, except one, are only its derivatives.

Strictly speaking, the so-called "logjam" of the millennium strategic futurists refer to (economic, environmental, political, etc) only lies in the gap between the first and second fallacy.

Thus, Im simultaneously realistically optomistic about the future and bullish on defense spending, and investment.
 
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Soldato
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27 Jun 2006
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Not here
Inane job titles. Just call it what it is!

And stupid job requirements such as "must be educated to a degree level" When you can see you do not need a degree to do the job.

The police force I used to work for wanted a degree to work in their call centre. Then wondered why they couldn't get the staff or left after a few months.

Grammar Nazis is another one, I know what they mean, you know what they mean, everybody else knows what they mean, its a simple mistake, so stop being a penis head!
 
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Soldato
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Social media - I absolutely detest social media and firmly believe it's the biggest contributor to the decline in a healthy society and I can't fathom how it has been so poorly regulated.

It's so unhealthy, especially for younger people. These platforms have turned people into such egomaniacs, selling their lives because they feel they have to be perceived as being wealthy, well travelled, healthy/fit and with a large social circle. It's madness!

These were my favourite social media gems from my recent holiday:
  • Posed 'Candid' photos - Where girls get their other halves or friends to follow them around, taking pictures of them from behind as they stare into the distance whilst running their fingers through their hair.
  • The stupid bent leg pose - Why is this unnatural pose being used by majority of girls in photos? You know the one, straight leg whilst the other is bent 90 degrees so that their toe is touching the floor whilst the heel if lifted.
  • The insistence of being in every photo of everything - Oh isn't Saint Basil's Cathedral just beautiful? But you know what? I really need to be in the photo of it to prove that I was actually here, because otherwise people on my Instagram/Facebook feed might think I'm randomly posting a stock picture of Saint Basil's to my feed.
  • Everyone has to wait for you - I kid you not, someone was actually getting irate because people kept walking through their frame whilst trying to take of a photo of their friend. The problem? They were trying to take a photo just outside the exit to the Kremlin, with 100s of people walking through a corridor of metal fences every minute.
 
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