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Persuasion through status rather than argument

robkhenderson.com

11–20 of 251 posts

Re: Persuasion through status rather than argument

#11
post #3
post #2

Can the author provide example of dumb ideas? Or is it "dumb ideas" == "ideas I disagree with" More generally, it seems like the recipe of this breed of substack author is to take a basic object level opinion e.g. "I don’t like pronoun people" or "AI people are dumb" and turn it a whole pseudo intellectual rant without ever getting to the point.

Over unity, infinite compression algorithms, perpetual motion machines, tidal energy (unless you think subsidy is the goal in itself) and so on.

[dead]

Re: Persuasion through status rather than argument

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which smart people believed in infinite compression algorithms or true perpetual motion?

Various folks into the 21st century. Edit: point taken. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_perpetual_motion_...

Well he lived before modern laws of physics were known… I'm not sure that counts.

Re: Persuasion through status rather than argument

#13
post #5
post #2

Can the author provide example of dumb ideas? Or is it "dumb ideas" == "ideas I disagree with" More generally, it seems like the recipe of this breed of substack author is to take a basic object level opinion e.g. "I don’t like pronoun people" or "AI people are dumb" and turn it a whole pseudo intellectual rant without ever getting to the point.

Hyperloop is probably a good example in the context of the article.

I think musk knew very well. It's the investors that fell for it.

Re: Persuasion through status rather than argument

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which smart people believed in infinite compression algorithms or true perpetual motion?

Various folks into the 21st century. Edit: point taken. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_perpetual_motion_...

He lived 2 centuries before Newton, 3 centuries before Laplace, 4 centuries before Maxwell and 5 centuries before Noether, Einstein, and Shannon. That he doesn't believe the first law of thermodynamics is hardly his fault.

Re: Persuasion through status rather than argument

#15
post #2

Can the author provide example of dumb ideas? Or is it "dumb ideas" == "ideas I disagree with" More generally, it seems like the recipe of this breed of substack author is to take a basic object level opinion e.g. "I don’t like pronoun people" or "AI people are dumb" and turn it a whole pseudo intellectual rant without ever getting to the point.

Madoff, WeWork, Theranos, NFTs, …

Looking ahead… Probably these vector db company valuations, most companies doing AWS competitor DX plays.

Re: Persuasion through status rather than argument

#18
post #13
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hyperloop is probably a good example in the context of the article.

I think musk knew very well. It's the investors that fell for it.

There's nothing physically impossible about the Hyperloop (basically a maglev in vacuum tube, nothing wrong with the tech, just not particularly economical). Maglevs have been deployed successfully in some parts of Asia, they are just dreadfully expensive and nimbys have fears about radiation but they are hardly new technology.

Re: Persuasion through status rather than argument

#20
post #3
post #2

Can the author provide example of dumb ideas? Or is it "dumb ideas" == "ideas I disagree with" More generally, it seems like the recipe of this breed of substack author is to take a basic object level opinion e.g. "I don’t like pronoun people" or "AI people are dumb" and turn it a whole pseudo intellectual rant without ever getting to the point.

Over unity, infinite compression algorithms, perpetual motion machines, tidal energy (unless you think subsidy is the goal in itself) and so on.

Cold fusion is posted here every few months. Does it fall in this category?
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