It makes me smile to see programmers having the same arguments about language that philosophers have been having about stories for three thousand years.
@Mainebot I suspect that many programmers would consider philosophy the least relevant branch of the humanities.
Kind of a real shame.
The humanities in general get endless amounts of shit from other disciplines, but then you see shockingly immoral silicon valley 'disruption' and then suddenly "oh no how could we ever have foreseen this no one could have predicted this," but seriously, a philosophy student, an English major, or even just a rhetorician could have fixed your problem before it started.
@Mainebot @starbreaker Yeah, but humanity majors have basically run the world for the past hundred years. Don't most politicians have backgrounds in Poli sci and law?
From my experience, Poli sci and law are pretty well-removed from what traditionally passes for the humanities.
When I was in school, the only time we had anyone from either discipline in a class was because it was a firm requirement to graduate. Non-participatory, simple classes, in it for the grade. In the same way I had science prerequisites, so I took weather science and statistics.
I am not a meteorologist, nor am I a statistician.
@Mainebot @starbreaker My frustration when I took most history classes was there was no way to prove if you are right, so what is the point? If I disagree with another scientist, I can go into the lab and figure out which one of us is right. Whereas when I took Science, Technology And the World, a history class, it basically felt like every essay was an opinion piece.
@starbreaker @Mainebot @Canageek
So it's not about seeking truth but convincing everyone around you that you've found it.
@drequivalent @Canageek @Mainebot Once you leave physical reality behind truth becomes amorphous.
@starbreaker @drequivalent @Mainebot Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. One of the things we discussed was a model of how scientific thought develops. The idea was there is a padiagram that is developed that fits current thinking. Then most people will defend it, as more holes are poked in it, eventually it will tear and a new one developed.
@Mainebot @drequivalent @starbreaker But how do we know that is correct? It appears to match historical conclusions, but that could just be modelling to fit past trends, and the examples could be cherry picked. If I were setting it up, I would also look for present examples then watch them for a few years to test its predictive power. Also look for counter examples.
@Canageek @drequivalent @starbreaker
Doesn't this sort of assume, a sociological context, that the cultural and social forces that dictate actions are static, homogeneous, and unknown? If the underpinning rules that guide only semi-rational actions are themselves subject to change in unknowable ways, doesn't that mean that a rigorous scientific understanding is out-of-reach?
@Mainebot @drequivalent @starbreaker Right, so how do you use humanities to set policy then if they can't provide a firm answer?
@Canageek @drequivalent @starbreaker
it isn't easy, and it's a matter of constant give and take and reexamination and requires the collaboration of so, so many people in so many fields.
Lately, this is all fucked up and you aren't getting the right people in the right jobs. Just people versed in law and politics.
ideally, science and sociology work together. Philosophy and technology.
In reality, away from metrics, there is no right answer. there's just the best we can do right now.
@starbreaker @drequivalent @Mainebot (Of course, two people dropped out of my year of chemistry to do pure math, and I also took CPU design as an easy elective compared to chemistry, so it might just be Chem is a really hard degree)
@Mainebot @drequivalent @starbreaker I think if humanities wants respect they need to start talking in language and methods people in STEM can understand, and start providing provable evidence. Also scientists shouldn't be able to jump over and take your classes, do half the work of our easiest classes and get A+s. It makes it real hard to respect it when humanities majors claim it is just as hard.