Hacker News Reader

Comment by metadat | Hacker News Reader

What if you like sports cars not for the status but because you find them more fun to drive and we're scarred during youth when you received an incredibly frustratingly slow first vehicle?

I suppose it's only a link, not a hard and fast rule (bad pun intended).

Also, are people really so dimwitted / easily manipulated / insecure they can be reliably made to question their manhood based on a single data point, and while participating in a study, no less? This aspect seems a bit suspicious to me. For those who are concerned with such matters, extensive comparative information is abundantly available on the Internet.

View on HN

> What if you like sports cars not for the status but because you find them more fun to drive and we're scarred during youth when you received an incredibly frustratingly slow first vehicle?

Sounds fun!

But they're trying to find connections that happen in large groups, not proclaiming that every purchaser of something had the exact same reasons.

They're frauds posting a fraudulent paper on a pseudoscience website.

> They're frauds posting a fraudulent paper on a pseudoscience website.

Please explain why a) the authors are fraudulent, and b) why is the website pseudoscience?

Good scientists don't body shame, and good publication venues don't publish body shaming.

1. Isn't the result based on perception of size, with randomized groups?

2. Saying "X people feel shamed so they buy Y" is not itself body shaming.

3. By "good" do you mean "competent"? If so citation needed that scientists that body shame are incompetent or fraudulent.

Jeez, when you called them "frauds" and this a "pseudoscience website" I thought you were attacking the methodology or knew something about the scientists or site!

"Cruel" (which body shaming arguably is), while widely considered to be unethical, does not equate to "fraud" or automatically invalidates the research. While the Milgram experiment is considered to be unethical, the results do hold scrutiny and as such has been critical in understanding how humans follow authority and obedience. There are many things that we take for granted that was a result of unethical research.

>Also, are people really so dimwitted / easily manipulated / insecure they can be reliably made to question their manhood based on a single data point

Yes. Why do you think people buy expensive cars, believing it says something about them. Yes they'll rationalise it as something else, but ultimately it's just trying to project an image.

Ultimately we're all part of the tribe, trying to fit in while trying to make our way up the pecking order.

Wait what you "received" a slow vehicle? Why?

Used economy model cars are not that expensive to the Western middle class, so they’re a common coming-of-age gift from parents to a child.

At least here in the states, it's pretty common for parents to purchase their children a first car. It's usually not a new sports car.

Mine was a 1989 GTI with a quarter million miles. I loved it.

It wasn't a bad car at all, actually pretty luxurious. Except it was heavy and had a 5 cylinder "turbo" diesel engine which could do 25-60MPH in something like 30-45 seconds. This made merging onto the freeway problematic and anxiety inducing for a newer driver.

I've come around and appreciate practical vehicles, but the first car I bought in college (and still own!) was a powerful halo model of AWD sports car.

Customary in the US for a new driver to be gifted either a used car or the old family beater.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com