There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore • Hacker News Board

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#111

Post by mistermann » Mon, Aug 10, 2020, 5:58 PM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #81

scrps wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Initially, the IRA created social media accounts that pretended to be the personal accounts of U.S. persons.[44] By early 2015, the IRA began to create larger social media groups or public social media pages that claimed (falsely) to be affiliated with U.S. political and grassroots organizations. In certain cases, the IRA created accounts that mimicked real U.S. organizations. For example, one IRA-controlled Twitter…

Is any of the evidence supporting these claims of IRA actions disclosed, or is that to be taken on faith? I ask because having been through the aluminum tubes, baby incubators story a few years back, I now have fairly strict epistemic standards when it comes to military related matters. I realize skepticism of one's government isn't a terribly popular stance here on HN, but to me it is important.

It appears (discussion on such topics seems taboo) that a faith based approach is in play - which is fine, I'm just suggesting that it may be worthwhile to explicitly realize and acknowledge the true nature and contents of one's belief system.

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#112

Post by acheron9383 » Tue, Aug 11, 2020, 9:24 PM UTC

almost_usual wrote: post #104

acheron9383 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The metaphor seems apt to me, if anything, we should have and do have a much greater interest in regulation of automotive products, which themselves are absurdly complex. How is a regulator to know about various emissions, chances of explosion/fire, engine longevity and warranties? Engines can kill you with fuel leaks, poor materials engineering, or unknown manufacturing bugs. I'd argue that your car engine is much m…

In reality if Congress wants an expert they need to have a team of engineers at the company performing audits and code reviews. No different than a company that does due diligence before an acquisition.

For sure, the FDA employs pharmaceutical engineers to regulate the companies. The FAA employs pilots and aviation engineers. Do we have a corollary for software? Sort of, in specific domains, but not really.

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#113

Post by jacksonpollock » Thu, Aug 13, 2020, 8:12 PM UTC

knorker wrote: post #73

That's a really long article to say what we already know: That "expert" means to know in detail a narrow thing. It hasn't been possible to be a true polymath in like 500 years. Surely this isn't news to the author? There's no such thing as "an expert on everything"? Yeah, no shit. It's almost tautology, due to the limitations on human brains and the advancement of science since the renaissance. Another way I think th…

for other reasons, i do feel like we need a more digitally literate political leadership base