A few days ago I sent my computer in to the witch doctor to get the evil spirits exorcised from it. It's not back yet; I'm using one of the excess number of computers my family owns to make this post. Hopefully though, I will get it back soon with fully balanced chi.
I'm joking of course. The computer's at a computer shop getting some spyware and adware problems fixed. But for all I know about computers, those programs may as well be evil spirits. When I get a message saying I'm low on free memory, it may as well be telling me it has bad chi. And, with their knowledge of a complex field that I barely know the jargon for, I can't help but look upon computer people as if they're the keepers of a secret, magical lore.
Computers scare me not only because I don't understand them, but I'm not sure how many people really do. If I wanted an explanation of what happens when I make a bloc post, I'd likely have to go through several people who understand how the programs involved were written, another who understands how the programming language works in terms of assembly language, another who understands how the assembly language works in terms of machine language and hardware. That may understate the problem, if any hacker comes across this, fill me in on the details. The worst part is, while a similar picture could be drawn of biological systems (breaking down the biology, chemistry, particle physics, etc.) computers are our creation.
The multi-layered nature of computer science epitomizes how specialized our society has become, one of the great challenges of modern society. Some discussion of the increase in newspapers with astrology columns and such treats the issue as a matter of history cycling between periods of enlightenment and superstition. The reality is more subtle. Society is hyperspecialized, with various specialists isolated from each other. Pseudoscience is rarely about stupidity or generalized ignorance. Irrationality plays a role, but it's not the main ingredient. The key issue is ignorance of knowledge needed to evaluate an claim. Great examples are Sir William Crookes, a respected physicist who became convinced a stage magician was the real thing, and William D. Rubinstein, a historian who wrote a stunningly ill-informed attack on evolution. Both men presumably knew their field and had the brains to sucked in it. What they lacked was knowledge of stage magic and biology, respectively.
I don't know if there's any solution. There's always education, but this has its limit by the nature of the problem, that is, the vast number of things there are to be educated about. I myself feel I know quite a bit about some brands of pseudoscience, like parapsychology, but I feel less confident in my ability to tell legitimate psychiatric practice from quackery. Perhaps someday we will genetically engineer things like groupthink and dishonesty out of existence. Until then the problem will only get worse as knowledge, and therefore specialization, increases.
4 comments:
"If I wanted an explanation of what happens when I make a bloc post, I'd likely have to go through several people who understand how the programs involved were written, another who understands how the programming language works in terms of assembly language, another who understands how the assembly language works in terms of machine language and hardware. That may understate the problem, if any hacker comes across this, fill me in on the details."
Well, you've got the idea generally correct (thinking of things as different levels of complexity, one built on top of the other), but you're missing a few stages. Here's the steps I'd go about explaining the process of posting a blog message:
- explain how web applications are written using web development languages (see: PHP)
- explain how web development languages are written using standard development tools (see: C++)
- explain how standard development tools are built using both themselves, and lower level assembler tools
- explain how computer assembler tools turn instructions into actual binary code
- explain how computer interprets and executes binary code
- explain how binary code and other binary data is shuffled around inside the computer, to devices, including out to the internet through your network devices
- explain how computer "bootstraps", ie. starts from a state with no information loaded or running
- explain how computer processors and other components actually process information using electrical logic gates
- explain how logic gates are constructed in current silicon manufacturing processes
That's about all you'd need to get the a general view of the whole picture, I think. I sounds like a *lot* of information, but I think a realisticaly we could go over the basics of every point in an afternoon.
Of course, I'm not an expert in many of those levels (mostly hardware), but someone more familiar with them could give you enough information so that you'd be prepared to have a useful discussion with someone who *is* an expert.
This is, of course, what makes me so frustrated about people who use their ignorance as an excuse for crazy viewpoints. Given any topic, there are people who can give you a general overview of what there is to know. Once you have that, the internet, and experts in the specific field, can provide you with more in depth information on any specific subject you could want. If you truly want to learn about something, the information is there, just waiting for you. :)
"I don't know if there's any solution."
Isn't critical thinking a solution?
Two comments:
First for Hallq himself. The definition of an expert is someone who knows this much more than you (imagine my thumb and forefinger held about a half inch apart), because once a person knows that much more than you, you can no longer tell how smart they really are. And jargon makes that little bit more knowledge easier to attain.
We are now a society of experts in narrow fields. We need more generalists to fuse it together. In the long run, I'm sure it will probably even out, but I doubt there is short term solution.
And to unit3: That list of stuff about posting was cool. But, I'll tell you what a told my college roommate about physics. "I don't care. Physics can describe the arc of a pen flying through the air when I throw it, predicting where it will land and with how much force. And I just don't care as long as my pen keeps flying through the air and landing. When it stops, I'll start caring."
Glintir,
Proud Generalist
and exaggerator
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