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Comment by refurb | Hacker News Reader

A great book on this is "The Halo Effect". It specifically calls out "Good to Great" as an example of really poorly done research that does nothing but call out coincidences.

The one part I loved about the book is when it provides tips on how to identify these "empty" claims. Things like "we spent 3 years putting this analysis together!", which does nothing to support their claims, but just creates the impression that "wow! this must be true!".

https://www.amazon.com/Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions-Manage...

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I wish identifying crap was a more widespread skill. I think if I ever became a millionaire (doubtless by reading business self-help books), I'd "give back" by volunteering at a High School to teach kids skepticism and bullshit detection.

No sir, you must give back today, every day, whenever you get a chance. A tree does not dream about a time when it is a certain size, at which point it will bear fruit. It simply bears whatever fruit it has, when it has it.

That is a great quote! Thanks for sharing.

I like this enough to re-use it... Are you quoting something I can cite, or did that spawn from your own gray matter?

Best as I can determine, this is original writing. I like it very much.

gray matter... and the spaces in between :)

Are you suggesting that high-school students wouldn't take an unknown lecturer seriously if they aren't a millionaire ? And that being a millionaire somehow implies you are authoritative on topics of logic and reason ?

Or are you saying that without a million dollars you can't afford to "give back" an occasional one-hour lecture on skepticism ? That seems ironic.

Edits: rant

Read that as, "When I can afford to not work..."

If you're serious about teaching I can highly recommend trying to do it even if you're busy with work. I've been actively (or as actively as possible) coaching people who wanted to go into web development and it's played a big role in making me a happier person. One of them recently got a job as a developer and knowing I played a role in that made me happy in a way that few things do. I can highly recommend it!

>I wish identifying crap was a more widespread skill. I think if I ever became a millionaire (doubtless by >>selling<< business self-help books), I'd "give back" by volunteering at a High School to teach kids skepticism and bullshit detection.

It's called a History degree.

And yet Carly Fiorina has an MA in History, and look at what she did to Hewlett Packard.

Since when do degrees imply knowledge? Most degrees are only tangentially related to actual education.

Judging by her campaign and how she ran HP, I don't see a sign she's critically open in the way you need to learn from history.

Personally, I'd say knowledge of history is a very, very thin bullshit detector. It simply allows you to see more patterns; not how to evaluate them when they compose.

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