Ask HN: Do you know uninteresting but useful scientific discoveries? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Do you know uninteresting but useful scientific discoveries?

#11

Post by ironmagma » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 12:38 AM UTC

kleer001 wrote: post #10

ironmagma wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big Five is just a clustering model. It’s descriptive, nothing to do with etiology or prognosis.

By "Big Five says" I mean "Lots of studies using the Big 5 model have found..." Of course, a model is inert. How could someone think otherwise? "Conscientiousness is the most potent, non-cognitive predictor of workplace performance," https://phys.org/news/2019-11-conscientious-strongest-predic... And I would go on to say "and in life in general." http://jenni.uchicago.edu/Spencer_Conference/Representative%...

It's really not clear though, are you saying that's bad? Or that the model is bad because of these studies? Or that the studies are bad because of the model?

Re: Ask HN: Do you know uninteresting but useful scientific discoveries?

#12

Post by kleer001 » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 2:52 AM UTC

ironmagma wrote: post #11

kleer001 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "Big Five says" I mean "Lots of studies using the Big 5 model have found..." Of course, a model is inert. How could someone think otherwise? "Conscientiousness is the most potent, non-cognitive predictor of workplace performance," https://phys.org/news/2019-11-conscientious-strongest-predic... And I would go on to say "and in life in general." http://jenni.uchicago.edu/Spencer_Conference/Representative%...

It's really not clear though, are you saying that's bad? Or that the model is bad because of these studies? Or that the studies are bad because of the model?

I'm saying that Meyer's Briggs is BS and the Big 5 model isn't.

One is feel good fantasy and the other is hard reality.

Investing time, money, and/or attention in a model with no basis in reality, in one that has no predictive or explanatory power is a bad idea.

Re: Ask HN: Do you know uninteresting but useful scientific discoveries?

#13

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Oct 31, 2021, 4:57 AM UTC

Evgenii1 wrote: post #4

Research is done because you are compelled to do so, it chooses you, usually something you never thought you'd be good at or interested in, you just can't stop, for me anyway. An 'uninteresting' but useful scientific discovery is modern infintesimal calculus https://youtu.be/D8_BBoolMm8

[deleted]