Stellaboz Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 This happens in political discussion constantly, everywhere. People talking like they understand how the finances of a country work (and specifically how the finances of a country not yet born would fail). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon EF Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 16 hours ago, coprolite said: It's healthy to question accepted wisdom. If people always deferred to suitably qualified professional authority then copernicus wouldn't have told everyone the Earth went round the sun and Bohr wouldn't have insisted on entanglement. I think these cases are great examples showing that "authority" and "qualified authority" are very much not the same thing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon EF Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 15 hours ago, Ralstonite said: Whilst at university I took a job as a checkout operator. It was really an eye-opening experience, playing robots for hours on end - pick up item *beep* put down item, pick up item *beep* put down item, etc. Anyway, I arrived twenty minutes early for my first shift and had some chit chat with my new colleagues. I had just read the Communist Manifesto and, being around actual working class people, I thought I would try to enlighten them about their economic situation vis-a-vis the exploitative capitalist system. I even brought a few SSP leaflets with me, as this was pre-split. I thought I might have been able to get some of them to go out on strike, even. However, all they wanted to talk about was last night's episode of Big Brother! They were stunned into silence when I explained to them how the bourgeoisie were producing this garbage to distract them from the reality of their servitude. Bread and circuses, so to speak. I like to think I opened up their minds, and that some of them may have joined the SSP, but they didn't even know who Karl Marx was! After two hours on the checkout, I had to explain to my manager that I was not able to play robots, and whether he could find me something more suited to a man of my intellect, but he said he needed checkout operators. I told him that I was easily amongst the top 5-15% of society, in terms of my intellectual capability, and suggested I'd make a good assistant manager. By lunch time I told them all in the canteen, that I actually envied them. I really did...in fact I do envy them even now. It must be nice to live a simple life, without the cogs of my mind constantly whirling around. I'd love to be capable of doing ordinary boring work, like common people. But I was cursed with this great mind. Anyway, I got an interest free loan from my uncle and set up my own business. It sounds like you didn't realise the first rule of convincing someone round to your way of thinking... 1. Don't be a c**t. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon EF Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 4 hours ago, Detournement said: There are plenty of Physics, Computing Science and Math PhDs working for big banks. Obviously not intellectuals in the traditional sense but definitely experts. There will be lots of them but I doubt they'd be the ones making the big decisions. And the kinds of decisions Chris is talking about aren't really in the field of Physics, Maths or Computer Science. You can call a Computer Science professor an intellectual and that absolutely does mean something when we're talking about Computer Science. It doesn't mean they've got any intellectual authority on any other area. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 4 minutes ago, Gordon EF said: There will be lots of them but I doubt they'd be the ones making the big decisions. And the kinds of decisions Chris is talking about aren't really in the field of Physics, Maths or Computer Science. You can call a Computer Science professor an intellectual and that absolutely does mean something when we're talking about Computer Science. It doesn't mean they've got any intellectual authority on any other area. A big part of the problem in finance was that it became so complex that only people working directly on things like derivatives and High Frequency trading actually understood how they functioned which meant that oversight and regulation wasn't possible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-frequency_trading 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellaboz Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 30 minutes ago, Detournement said: A big part of the problem in finance was that it became so complex that only people working directly on things like derivatives and High Frequency trading actually understood how they functioned which meant that oversight and regulation wasn't possible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-frequency_trading I completely disagree, there were MANY people in the derivatives game that clearly did not understand how it worked. Why do you think so many big banks collapsed? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 3 minutes ago, Stellaboz said: I completely disagree, there were MANY people in the derivatives game that clearly did not understand how it worked. Why do you think so many big banks collapsed? That's what I mean. The senior executives didn't understand what the tech guys were doing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 (edited) I bet there were plenty executives who, despite not understanding the maths of hiding junk loans in collateralized debt obligations, and credit default swaps etc, were quite well aware of the bubble they were creating and didn't give a f**k so long as the mega bonuses were flowing in. I'd be interested to know how much of their personal bank shares were sold off in the year and months leading up to the crash. Edited September 12, 2020 by welshbairn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullerene Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 5 hours ago, Detournement said: There are plenty of Physics, Computing Science and Math PhDs working for big banks. Obviously not intellectuals in the traditional sense but definitely experts. I recall reading a book by Robert Peston that seemed rather depressing. A brilliant biologist might make a decent living as a biologist but they could make more money working for a hedge fund as an advisor on all matters to do with biology. Similarly chemistry, physics and every other science you can think of. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newbornbairn Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.A.F.C Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 Wow, very professional behaviour from the tattoo artist. Looks fake as f**k anyway. They just simply need to say no mask, no tattoo. Abusing a customer, well played. -4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 19 minutes ago, D.A.F.C said: Wow, very professional behaviour from the tattoo artist. Looks fake as f**k anyway. They just simply need to say no mask, no tattoo. Abusing a customer, well played. f**k that. Anti mask scum deserve such abuse. Why do they need to be 'professional' when they know they won't be doing business with this guy? Doubt the tattoo place will suddenly lose loads (or any) business over that either. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotThePars Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 2 hours ago, Fullerene said: I recall reading a book by Robert Peston that seemed rather depressing. I can imagine! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTChris Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 It’s a tattoo shop not a Michelin starred restaurant. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.A.F.C Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 31 minutes ago, DA Baracus said: f**k that. Anti mask scum deserve such abuse. Why do they need to be 'professional' when they know they won't be doing business with this guy? Doubt the tattoo place will suddenly lose loads (or any) business over that either. I agree but if it’s not the way I’d run a business. Should keep professional. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 1 minute ago, D.A.F.C said: I agree but if it’s not the way I’d run a business. Should keep professional. Why? It's a tattoo shop. It will be judged on its quality, not by dishing out telts to morons. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.A.F.C Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 3 minutes ago, DA Baracus said: Why? It's a tattoo shop. It will be judged on its quality, not by dishing out telts to morons. Sometimes morons write reviews and have a gang of nutter mates maybe? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 4 minutes ago, D.A.F.C said: Sometimes morons write reviews and have a gang of nutter mates maybe? I think they'll be fine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanius Mullarkey Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 26 minutes ago, ICTChris said: It’s a tattoo shop not a Michelin starred restaurant. Might be a Michelin starred tattoo shop. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.A.F.C Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 27 minutes ago, ICTChris said: It’s a tattoo shop not a Michelin starred restaurant. Could be both? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.