That "slope" is a lot longer and steeper than shown
Why do people strongly opine about topics they know nothing about?
- Thread starter PWMDMD
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What I do is stay out of the passenger car oil section. I have never posted there and never will.
"All my life" I've used an expression of my own crafting. I call it, "The 6 o'clock news syndrome".
What's involved is people repeating two sentences, fragments will do, from the news and thinking they know what they're talking about.
Often, I can ask a bloviator for a directly associated point of clarification and the answer is, "I don't know anything about that".
I grew up hearing single sentence explanations for WWII or The Great Depression or social situations.....absolutely galling
Regarding people "strongly opining": It's easier to speak as a perceived team member or sycophant than to ask a question.
It's emasculating for some to ask a question and many just want to be on the side that's winning.
What's involved is people repeating two sentences, fragments will do, from the news and thinking they know what they're talking about.
Often, I can ask a bloviator for a directly associated point of clarification and the answer is, "I don't know anything about that".
I grew up hearing single sentence explanations for WWII or The Great Depression or social situations.....absolutely galling
Regarding people "strongly opining": It's easier to speak as a perceived team member or sycophant than to ask a question.
It's emasculating for some to ask a question and many just want to be on the side that's winning.
Some of that is just made up meme comedy material. Joke stuff. I mean seriously, and I am not searching, how many humans in 1st world countries don't believe the world is roundish-ovate-ish???
Never did understand chemtrail reasoning, didn't research.
We have an old saying in my industry. Tell me how I am paid and I will tell you how I work.
Sometimes I post in confidence just to see if the "experts" can teach me anything. Trolling for experts. Forums are a pretty great place for this.
You can certainly challenge them for more explanation, as the results of their work are often plainly "less than ideal" at times.
The bridge example, obviously lots of them are built incorrectly, if they are falling apart at much faster rate than the design contract called for. Probably Joe the concrete guy, could've told them it wasn't going to hold up, or the design could work but can't be built with the budget they allocated, and corners will be cut, but no one asked him... No string of letters behind his name, just 40 years of fixing expert engineers bad designs... Probably he shouldn't be doing the structural analysis on a new bridge design, but consulting someone like him on how to protect the structure and make it easier to repair, might be a good idea?
Also something as simple as handwashing. In 1847, a Dr. Semmelweis noticed that mothers cared for by medical students (who regularly performed autopsies) had much higher mortality rates than those cared for by midwives. He hypothesized that "cadaverous particles" were being transferred to patients via doctors' hands.
This was before germ theory was accepted and many doctors in the mid 1800's still resisted handwashing even though it was evident it helped reduce infections.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
This brings up another good topic on the use of AI. I use it all the time for two things:
1. To summarize a bunch information I already understand. Example - List the experimentally confirmed parts of the Standard Model. The important part is I have read at least 10 books on this subject and I know a lot about it. I just don't want to waste time reinventing the wheel so to speak.
2. Make the post read clearly without having to go into editor mode - I list MY ideas and tell AI to organize them into a clear post.
The goals is to get MY ideas out as quickly and clearly as possible. In both these examples (all examples), I have still have to read the output and know whether or not what it's producing is accurate and whether or not I agree with it. It has third positive effect of toning down my more confrontational side.
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The passenger car section is Dunning-Kruger defined. I rarely post there anymore.
I think people are also simply afraid of being wrong, don't like being told their way is wrong, and don't like change - So they will vehemently defend the way they do something/have always done something rather than using it as a learning opportunity.
Is knowledge Management a thing anymore? I was taught it years ago by a really, really smart engineer.
There are 4 quadrants.
Things you know you know.
Things you don't know you know
Things you know you don't know
Things you don't know you don't know.
Only the last one can hurt you. I guess were talking about that one here?
There are 4 quadrants.
Things you know you know.
Things you don't know you know
Things you know you don't know
Things you don't know you don't know.
Only the last one can hurt you. I guess were talking about that one here?
This is why, if I lived in MA, I would seek you as a dentist. You have a curious mind and the humility to realize the you don’t “know it all”. As a flight instructor, I have worked with all kinds of professionals and I find that folks that have intellectual curiosity to be the most fun to work with.
Lots of folks on BITOG seem to have curiosity that make things interesting.
Ignorance. If I don't understant that I am ignorant, then I am really ignorant.
Kinda funny... I've been in Board Room meetings with Silicon Valley executives running a multi billion dollars business. My boss advised me, "It's OK to say you don't know..."
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My pet theory, which is just a theory, is we are hardwired to remember solutions to survival problems: eat this, not that; avoid that animal; watch for these weather signs; etc. But the modern world presents us with many problems that are not able to be solved on our own without research, analysis, measurement, etc. Yet, we yearn for a memorable solution. You can't look at a motor oil and know if it is good or bad for a particular purpose, so instead our brain latches onto a brand name or a spec. Brand A good, brand B bad. This works well enough for many things, and it doesn't require a lot of thought and effort. That's another thing we are hardwired for--avoiding effort. Doing actual research is hard work. So we also default to listening to experts who have done the research, and many have found out they can declare themselves an expert on the Internet and nobody really knows. In reality, we have to be skeptical of almost everything we encounter in the world. I've had doctors make mistakes on prescriptions. I've had car professionals at a dealer make mistakes on my cars. Same at boatyards. Same with home repairs. Plumbing. Electricians. So-called experts make mistakes too.
To me, the real skill is knowing when ordinary judgment is enough and when the subject requires deeper knowledge. Skepticism is necessary, but it has to be disciplined skepticism and not just reflexive distrust. Otherwise, we replace blind trust in experts with blind mistrust in experts and trust in whoever sounds most confident.
Kestas
Staff member
As a metallurgist, my pet peeve is when people argue with me about metallurgical facts, especially those who talk about how they soften copper crush washers.
No accountability on the internet. It's like people answer questions or leave reviews on products they don't have on Amazon.
1) They are strongly encouraged to do this. This is the central crux of the Attention Economy where engagement rules. People engage most strongly with their sense of self, and opinions are expressions of that.
2) People feel better about themselves when they put others down. Most opinions expressed are detailing exactly and precisely how stupid and wrong everyone ELSE is.
2) People feel better about themselves when they put others down. Most opinions expressed are detailing exactly and precisely how stupid and wrong everyone ELSE is.
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