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by lproven 955 days ago
Excellent -- this was news to me. Thanks.

There is a demonstrable reluctance in these comments to confront what the Sokal hoax demonstrated.

There are generally "common wisdom" conclusions from this, that again, does not materially affect how people live their lives.

* If a country has "democratic" in its name, it's not a democracy.

* If an academic field has "science" in its name, it's not a science.

Yes there are of course exceptions... but they are literally small ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_republic#Global_use...

There are multiple areas of academia which role-play as rigorous scientific study, but in fact, are just people trading mumbo-jumbo which varies in how convincing it looks, and if you drill down, it's not just academia.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ray-dalio-rob-copela...

100% of supplmentary, complementary, and alternative medicine is fake.

Cf.

https://www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com/

But that doesn't stop it being a multi-billion-$CURRENCY industry. It is entirely fake, but people will pay to think they feel better.

That is why I used those names in that order.

S. C. A. M.

Gambling does not make you money. It makes gambling companies money. But it's vast.

Stock markets are, largely, gambling, driven by vague feelings, instincts, and herd impulse. I have worked there. They don't really know. It's hunches and friendships and hysteria.

But the world runs on it.

2 comments

> If an academic field has "science" in its name, it's not a science.

Yeah, suck it materials scientists, your discipline ain't real.

Also turns out half of HN are not scientists either.
That's certainly true though.
You missed the

> Yes there are of course exceptions

... part then?

> There are multiple areas of academia which role-play as rigorous scientific study, but in fact, are just people trading mumbo-jumbo which varies in how convincing it looks, and if you drill down, it's not just academia.

Noam Chomsky says something related in one of his interviews [1][2]

> It’s considered very left wing, very advanced. Some of what appears in it sort of actually makes sense, but when you reproduce it in monosyllables, it turns out to be truisms. It’s perfectly true that when you look at scientists in the West, they’re mostly men, it’s perfectly true that women have had a hard time breaking into the scientific fields, and it’s perfectly true that there are institutional factors determining how science proceeds that reflect power structures. All of this can be described literally in monosyllables, and it turns out to be truisms. On the other hand, you don’t get to be a respected intellectual by presenting truisms in monosyllables.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzrHwDOlTt8

[2] http://ozscience.com/philosophy/chomsky-calls-postmodern-cri...

Still sour from being owned by Foucault, I see.
re your username, The War and Peace films are probably the most accurate films based on novels I have ever seen. Everything was recreated down to the smallest detail, the smallest microexpression written by Tolstoy