Specifically the “social sciences are unscientific and/or useless” idea

  • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    The whole point of the social sciences is to understand how humans behave. That is the goal of the social sciences. It would be like if someone discounted meteorology because augury is bullshit. There’s obvious use in understanding how humans behave because if you can understand how humans behave, you can predict how humans behave.

    If they try to mumble about game theory, tell them that game theory is mostly about how people ought to act rather than how people actually act.

    • Poogona [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      Feeling attacked in this thread ngl

      In a just world, none of these unserious charlatans you guys are justifiably upset with would head into academia for its shelter against the miseries of a capitalist world. The only people in the sciences would be people seeking true understanding through a system of methods that are honestly pretty fucking good for gathering and vetting info as long as everyone involved does so in good faith.

      I know it sounds lib but seriously, good science is done in good conditions, as it is essentially allowing weird (sometimes autistic) people to follow their little interests and fixations to the very end of whatever thread they are pulling on for no reason other than for the unique satisfaction it provides (the eureka moment is a neurological phenomenon that is different from other types of psychological reward).