Comments on: How To Tell What’s Bullshit And What’s True – Part 2 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/ Experiments in tech entrepreneurship Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:07:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brian Armstrong http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1164 Brian Armstrong Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:58:29 +0000 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/?p=512#comment-1164 That's been my experience too. I remember seeing the George Bush page defaced one time where people had posted a bunch of junk, but I hit refresh about 5 seconds later and it was back to what it should be. Their community is great about patrolling stuff like that which I think is the real power of wikipedia. Supposedly, the founder of wikipedia used to give talks where he would deface a page at the beginning of the talk and by the end it had always been fixed by the community. That’s been my experience too. I remember seeing the George Bush page defaced one time where people had posted a bunch of junk, but I hit refresh about 5 seconds later and it was back to what it should be. Their community is great about patrolling stuff like that which I think is the real power of wikipedia. Supposedly, the founder of wikipedia used to give talks where he would deface a page at the beginning of the talk and by the end it had always been fixed by the community.

]]> By: MadScientist http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1163 MadScientist Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:57:59 +0000 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/?p=512#comment-1163 Hmm ... maybe it's not so easy as I imagined to find BS articles these days. I was looking for a number of articles which were obvious BS (like the one on Marco Polo when I checked before) but they seem to have been replaced with something sensible since then. Hmm … maybe it’s not so easy as I imagined to find BS articles these days. I was looking for a number of articles which were obvious BS (like the one on Marco Polo when I checked before) but they seem to have been replaced with something sensible since then.

]]> By: Brian Armstrong http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1162 Brian Armstrong Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:52:31 +0000 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/?p=512#comment-1162 Interesting...that may be true, although I can't say I've seen one yet. If you have any examples would love to take a look. My guess is that the BS ones get edited really quickly, but that is just a guess. Thanks for stopping by! Interesting…that may be true, although I can’t say I’ve seen one yet. If you have any examples would love to take a look. My guess is that the BS ones get edited really quickly, but that is just a guess. Thanks for stopping by!

]]> By: MadScientist http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1161 MadScientist Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:48:39 +0000 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/?p=512#comment-1161 "The best resource I’ve found for quick, unbiased fact finding is honestly Wikipedia." I can't agree there. Although some pages are definitely excellent (obviously prepared by people who definitely know what they're talking about - and I can say that because I work in the same field), it doesn't take much work to find pages that are 100% BS. Now on Wikipedia, how do we separate the truth from the BS? Unfortunately at this stage in time I would not consider Wikipedia as a reliable source. Then again I don't consider publications like the Encyclopedia Britannica as terribly reliable either, but in most cases I think it is better than the Wikipedia. “The best resource I’ve found for quick, unbiased fact finding is honestly Wikipedia.”

I can’t agree there. Although some pages are definitely excellent (obviously prepared by people who definitely know what they’re talking about – and I can say that because I work in the same field), it doesn’t take much work to find pages that are 100% BS.

Now on Wikipedia, how do we separate the truth from the BS? Unfortunately at this stage in time I would not consider Wikipedia as a reliable source. Then again I don’t consider publications like the Encyclopedia Britannica as terribly reliable either, but in most cases I think it is better than the Wikipedia.

]]> By: How To Tell What’s Bullshit And What’s True - Part 1 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1160 How To Tell What’s Bullshit And What’s True - Part 1 Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:28:10 +0000 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/?p=512#comment-1160 [...] UPDATE: Here is a link to part 2. [...] [...] UPDATE: Here is a link to part 2. [...]

]]> By: Brian Armstrong http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1153 Brian Armstrong Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:07:12 +0000 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/?p=512#comment-1153 Definitely. Have you read The Psychology of Influence? It's a classic on marketing, how people make decisions, etc. Highly recommended! Definitely. Have you read The Psychology of Influence? It’s a classic on marketing, how people make decisions, etc. Highly recommended!

]]> By: Brian Armstrong http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1152 Brian Armstrong Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:06:30 +0000 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/?p=512#comment-1152 That's a good Point Glenn. Some things just feel good/bad right/wrong etc and the scientific method isn't a good fit there. That’s a good Point Glenn. Some things just feel good/bad right/wrong etc and the scientific method isn’t a good fit there.

]]> By: Glenn Nicholas http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1159 Glenn Nicholas Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:21:31 +0000 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/?p=512#comment-1159 Recently I've read Dan Ariely's book Predictably Irrational. It is a very well researched book that tackles why people make decisions - as the title says, we very often make decisions on irrational grounds, but in predictable ways. As a marketer, I am very interested in what influences people - in many cases, people don't let the facts get in the way of a good story :) Recently I’ve read Dan Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational. It is a very well researched book that tackles why people make decisions – as the title says, we very often make decisions on irrational grounds, but in predictable ways.
As a marketer, I am very interested in what influences people – in many cases, people don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story :)

]]> By: Glenn http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1150 Glenn Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:09:59 +0000 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/?p=512#comment-1150 Brian, I agree with the general point of your article. I have an entire section in a research report on cholesterol I wrote that addresses the lack of critical reasoning skills among average people today. However, I always make the distinction when discussing the scientific method that it is a good tool for examining things that are measurable. Many things in the world are demonstrably "true" but are not measurable and therefore the scientific method is not a good tool for understanding them (love, pain,creativity, many others). Regards, Glenn Brian,
I agree with the general point of your article. I have an entire section in a research report on cholesterol I wrote that addresses the lack of critical reasoning skills among average people today.

However, I always make the distinction when discussing the scientific method that it is a good tool for examining things that are measurable. Many things in the world are demonstrably “true” but are not measurable and therefore the scientific method is not a good tool for understanding them (love, pain,creativity, many others).

Regards,
Glenn

]]> By: Brian Armstrong http://www.startbreakingfree.com/512/how-to-tell-what%e2%80%99s-bullshit-and-what%e2%80%99s-true-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1158 Brian Armstrong Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:33:43 +0000 http://www.startbreakingfree.com/?p=512#comment-1158 Got it fixed, thanks! Of course, using the word "bullshit" about 5 times in one article probably wasn't very grammatically correct either, haha. Got it fixed, thanks! Of course, using the word “bullshit” about 5 times in one article probably wasn’t very grammatically correct either, haha.

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