Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be fair, both christians and atheists who are interested in debating each other tend to have a hard time understanding the limits of their knowledge. The criticism can be directed equally in both directions. The entire sum of scientific knowledge is based on unprovable axioms, just the same as the entire sum of religious knowledge is based on unprovable axioms. Faith is a belief in something you can’t prove, and p…
Faith is a belief in something without evidence, correct? Science is rooted in empirical evidence. It may be with imperfect models and imperfect measurement, but there is indeed fairly reasonably-measured evidence.
People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
181–190 of 267 posts
Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be fair, both christians and atheists who are interested in debating each other tend to have a hard time understanding the limits of their knowledge. The criticism can be directed equally in both directions. The entire sum of scientific knowledge is based on unprovable axioms, just the same as the entire sum of religious knowledge is based on unprovable axioms. Faith is a belief in something you can’t prove, and p…
A wise person might also be aware that words can have multiple meanings, that "faith" is one of those words, and that equivocation fallacies don't make for good reasoning.
Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
#183Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
#184A few years ago the guy I was sharing an office with at work was cleaning off his desk and found a stack of resumes. He said they were all from the batch that I was hired from and asked if I wanted to know why I was picked. Very cautiously I said yes. He told me I was the only one who when really pushed during the technical interview said "I don't know". Their initial strategy had been to start easy on some topic and…
That’s been my go-to interview technique for years. I want to see candidates say they don’t know under pressure. Unless it’s for a very senior role, I think attitude and personality are greater predictors of success than technical competency, so long as their technical competency is ‘good enough’ to begin with.
I think it doesn't matter only in cases where you were the guy who started it all or you're some crazy skilled mercenary for hire brought in only for emergencies. You can treat people like crap for as much as you want if you're in control like that. Maybe it's even necessary for those unicorn situations. And yet, even Linus Torvalds has said that he needed to change.
Finally, I'd say poor attitude and personality lends itself to arrogance, which also makes technical people hit a wall because their arrogance decreases their technical curiosity. Improving one's skill really does require a certain intellectual humility.
Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
#185A few years ago the guy I was sharing an office with at work was cleaning off his desk and found a stack of resumes. He said they were all from the batch that I was hired from and asked if I wanted to know why I was picked. Very cautiously I said yes. He told me I was the only one who when really pushed during the technical interview said "I don't know". Their initial strategy had been to start easy on some topic and…
Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
I struggle with this when everyone outside of tech asks me what I do. My answer always changes since I haven't narrowed down a way to describe "cloud engineering" to people. I've heard this saying before and every time I think, "maybe I don't know what I do".
I always respond in layers. The first layer is to say I work in computers. If they want to know more, they'll ask. If there is a follow up question that doesn't make it clear they're tech savvy, I'll explain one level deeper. I work on the website for x company, or I help secure your credit card info at such and such back. It doesn't matter if you're front end, back end, dba, network, sysadmin, help desk, etc. Just s…
Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
#187Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s been my go-to interview technique for years. I want to see candidates say they don’t know under pressure. Unless it’s for a very senior role, I think attitude and personality are greater predictors of success than technical competency, so long as their technical competency is ‘good enough’ to begin with.
I'd say attitude and personality are greater predictors of success than technical competency for very senior level people too. I can't think of many people who reach senior levels with poor attitude and personality. And those that do often hit a wall. Eventually, their attitude and personality gets in the way of their brilliance and other people's willingness to work with them. I think it doesn't matter only in cases…
Yeah I’d agree. But I think somebody with a good attitude, who can get on well with others, has a greater chance of being able to quickly fill in any competency gaps they have in non-senior positions. For senior positions, the baseline is higher. I’d hire somebody with good character, but inadequate competency (within reason) for a lower IC position, but for a senior position, I’d want both.