wemay
Site Donor 2023
I'm married so if i don't say "I was wrong", i'm constantly reminded.
Why do people strongly opine about topics they know nothing about?
- Thread starter PWMDMD
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The wife and I have been married for quite a while and I find myself less inclined these days to let her win with false admissions of fault. 
I blame alternate dogsThe wife and I have been married for quite a while and I find myself less inclined these days to let her win with false admissions of fault.
"Juno drank the last can of Waterloo"
"Piper went to vote again"
Hows that working out for you?
A common saying for me, usually after I just admitted I don't know something, is "The responsibility of knowing everything sounds exhausting."
It really does and I don't want that responsibility!
So your points you make are AI based.......... So it might be, sir, that YOU dont understand what you are saying, just regurgitating what a robot is telling you. As witness from above.
It would seem as though as faith might just play a role, as you clearly have faith in a robot to present info, and somehow you agreeing with said information, somehow makes you an authority?
Gotcha.
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I say it at work every day, if I'm not learning, I'm dead. Life would be incredibly boring if you knew everything. Can I draw educated guesses on complex ideas or problems based on other areas of expertise and have it be reasonably useful in working through that problem? Sometimes. But I'll never consider it as gospel. Just a guess based on what data and knowledge I have to work with.
Even though my subject matter expertise is hazmat, potable drinking water, engineering and chemistry, I'll never claim to be the smartest man in the room or state I know everything on any of those. I will however state what I know or what I've been told to be true, we'll discuss and move on from there.
As others have said, I listen and read a lot and only speak when someone needs to hear that either: "thats dumb and worong/may kill you or us" or when asked for input. Otherwise I want to know what you know for this because it can be useful for me in the future. I don't need to know all of it, but you're going to get across what's important based on your own knowledge...
That's all I have on that. And I do work with a lot of people who need to follow that advice as well.
Even though my subject matter expertise is hazmat, potable drinking water, engineering and chemistry, I'll never claim to be the smartest man in the room or state I know everything on any of those. I will however state what I know or what I've been told to be true, we'll discuss and move on from there.
As others have said, I listen and read a lot and only speak when someone needs to hear that either: "thats dumb and worong/may kill you or us" or when asked for input. Otherwise I want to know what you know for this because it can be useful for me in the future. I don't need to know all of it, but you're going to get across what's important based on your own knowledge...
That's all I have on that. And I do work with a lot of people who need to follow that advice as well.
What I hate to see are people doing something stupid, and often if you try to inform them, no matter how politely, they get angry. I have found it is very difficult to help people avoid problems because of this. Example 1 is a likely looking parking spot near our house that is a poorly marked No parking zone. I could stand out there all day and warm people, but after getting snarled at numerous times I have given up. I now mostly let them get the ticket because I have found it is not worth it to try to help. Many will actually argue with me about it as if I have something to do with it being No parking!
I've read 17 books on cosmology and physics over the past 15 years. I was a straight-A student in physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. I regularly listen to lectures and podcasts on these topics because I find them genuinely interesting.
That said, do you want to hear something crazy? I don't have a single original thought on cosmology or physics that I haven't shamelessly stolen from someone far more educated on the subject than I am.
Neither do you. Neither does anyone else in this thread.
That's how knowledge works.
I didn't derive General Relativity. I didn't discover the cosmic microwave background. I didn't formulate quantum mechanics. I wasn't present for the experiments that confirmed the Higgs boson. What I have done is spend years reading books, listening to lectures, studying the arguments, and trying to understand what the people who dedicated their lives to these subjects have concluded and why they concluded it.
The irony is that this isn't a weakness. It's intellectual humility. I know enough to know that I am not the smartest person in the room when it comes to cosmology. So I defer to the people who have spent decades studying it, while still trying to understand the evidence for myself. The alternative would be for me to assume that my intuition is superior to the collective work of thousands of physicists, mathematicians, astronomers, and engineers spanning more than a century. That strikes me as a much greater act of faith.
So yes, I freely admit that most of what I know about cosmology was learned from experts. That's not a confession. That's called education.
I've also been completely transparent about my use of AI. I use it as a tool to help organize thoughts, check my understanding, and challenge my own assumptions. That's not fundamentally different from using textbooks, search engines, encyclopedias, or discussion forums. The value of an argument depends on whether it's correct, not on whether it came from a book, a professor, a journal article, or an AI. The critical point here is because of my background and understanding of the material, I know when AI is being factually accurate and when it's not. I can compare what it writes to my knowledge on the topic.
What's interesting is that instead of addressing the substance of the points being made, you've shifted to attacking the source. That's not a rebuttal. If the information is wrong, explain why it's wrong. Point out the error in the reasoning, the physics, the mathematics, or the evidence. We both know you can't and that's why you don't.
Whether an idea came from me, a physicist, or an AI is ultimately irrelevant. The question is whether the argument stands on its own merits.
So at this point, you're attacking where the information came from and but offer very little discussion on why the information itself is supposedly incorrect.
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AI search engines are just basically a Google search harvester (it uses BITOG a lot for oil and filter search info), no different than someone spending half a day doing manual Google searches and making a summary of their search findings. AI/ChatGPT, etc type search results will show the sources of the info summarized. Even if someone does manual searching for info, one has to filter and consider the sources for accuracy.
MolaKule
Staff member
An excellent approach.
The SEMI C-Level execs depend on your word and your execution. It's OK to be wrong as long as you are being honest and keep them in the loop.An excellent approach.
Q: "How are you gonna do that?"
I used to tell them, "That's my problem and I will let you know if I get in trouble."
"OK; this meeting is over." And so was my shaking...
Sounds like you’ve met my brother in law.
Exactly.
There is really no substitute for understanding the underlying material. AI is a tool, not a replacement for knowledge. In fact, the better your understanding of a subject, the more useful AI becomes because you can ask better questions, recognize weak answers, and quickly identify when something doesn't look right.
For me, AI is often a force multiplier. If I need a list of concepts, arguments, or topics in an area I'm already familiar with, why spend 15 minutes brainstorming when I can have AI generate a draft in seconds and then review it for completeness and accuracy? The time savings can be substantial.
The catch is that you still need enough domain knowledge to catch hallucinations, factual errors, omissions, or poor reasoning. Someone who knows nothing about a topic may not realize when the AI is wrong. Someone who understands the subject can use it to accelerate their thinking without outsourcing their judgment.
That's why I view AI much like calculators, search engines, or spreadsheets. It's incredibly useful, but it doesn't eliminate the need for expertise. If anything, expertise makes the tool more powerful.
I've used ChatGPT to fix some wild issues on my computer and cell phone, and if you focus in and keep asking the right questions it will home in on a solution. It eventually gave enough info to fix some really wild issues that I'd have zero idea even where to start if searching Google manually for the right fix. What took maybe an hour of digging with AI would have taken me days without it.
Sorta but not sorta trick question. Either way would have been OK.nana boo boo @Pablo
Reasoning:
Softening occurs in copper and copper alloys when exposed to high temperatures, allowing atomic diffusion and relieving dislocations and cooling rapidly doesn't form a structure such as martensite in steel. Your pipe got hard because it was work hardened.
Now how did all three of us know this?
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