I wonder if a simple test for "obstinacy" would be: how much does the person write/publish?
On top of that, most of the most successful people on the planet write little or nothing. They are too busy doing.
You state this as fact without providing a dataset to back it. I think this is not true at all.
> most of the most successful people on the planet write little or nothing
It depends on how you define "success".
I would consider people like Linus and Dwayne Richard Hipp and TBL to be among the most successful people on the planet, and they write quite a lot.
Do you call people who capture then give away a billion dollars the most successful? I don't. To me the most successful are the ones who create billions in wealth and capture just a tiny fraction--enough to support their family and friends and live a good life.
Look at your own comments. My comment is effectively "people whose day job is to write, write the most". It's borderline self evident.
Your argument has devolved into: "people who write a lot are by definition successful. I wonder if there is a correlation between writing a lot and success."
You seem to have changed your position from journalists to "people whose day job is to write", which is good, as that includes scientists.
Here the dumb thing about this - almost anything worth discussing is uncertain, else it wouldn't be discussed. If the only way you can change your mind is for someone to present an absolute, water tight, backed up by data argument, you'll never change your mind. You make several assertions in this thread with zero data.
I never said that. Your new response asking for data to my comment is perfectly valid.
But this topic is not interesting to me enough at the moment to go dig up a dataset on it. Maybe someday.
> Do they think for themselves or parrot a standard position? Can they explain how they came to a conclusion? When they say "I think . . . ", did they? It doesn't matter they subject; either they think or they don't.
Obstinate people are ones who not only don't think, but aggressively don't think. They have their "dogma" (call it another term if you wish), and they Will. Not. Question. It. No matter what you say, no matter what evidence you present, they just won't.
This isn't just about obstinacy in pursuing goals. It also shows up in the confirmation bias that reinforces conspiracy theories in the minds of those who hold them.