[fifteen1506]

Funniest thing I found out recently: the whole debacle of beta vs alphas was based on studies on wolfs on stressful conditions (i.e., cages).

Second funniest thing I found out not so recently: the whole debacle, which I believed and hurt me personally, in hindsight, is the whole study about "kids who wait for candies instead of eating it right away fare better in life" failed to take into account kids' social-economical status.

This, plus the no doubt institutionalization of Scientific Studies (tm) (e.g., salt causes cardio problems, as a way to steer focus away from sugar), makes me apply 50% in the doubt scale for every study less than 50 years old.

Additionally, I'm told the waterfall model was never prescribed as a good method, but it was the most prominent picture of a old study which affirmed waterfall as very flawed, and people failed to properly read the text.

PS: on topic, everyone believes that of the opposite team; I found very enlightening an article which said "Find allies in unlikely places. One of my most surprising sources of support during my trial(s) was hard-right Brexiter (...). Find threads of connection and work from there", by a Remain person.

Let's hope that may break the cycle of default (a few times undeserved) mistrust.

[mattgreenrocks]

> the whole debacle of beta vs alphas was based on studies on wolfs on stressful conditions (i.e., cages).

The whole alpha/beta meme is a perfect microcosm of what we see today: ardent denial of the complexities of reality. It is a half-truth (some people fare better in the sexual marketplace) that gets elevated to the status of belief. When it becomes a belief, then intellectual heels are dug in. Conflicting information is downplayed, and no amount of reality seems to shift opinions. Perception is twisted to confirm pre-existing beliefs.

The belief must be held. It has been made to serve some psychological purpose for the holder, even if it just a subconscious justification for their own behavior.

You need humility to transcend the local maxima that every human falls into. It's the only way to counterbalance the prone-to-flaws hardware our brains run on. But a lot of our society tries to beat it out of people.

[spacemadness]

That’s because no amount of reality can make its way into someone’s algorithmic feed. On every social media platform I’ve been on with engagement algorithms, the algorithm creates an intellectual prison where bad ideas that speak to our emotions get reinforced. I see this in my own feeds where it decides, since I like video games and fitness, that I probably should check out these alt-right grifters and the manosphere. Once you click on one of those videos, you quickly get locked in to that content. And unfortunately, I don’t think people have a clue that it’s happening as it speaks to their pain, delusions, what have you.

[fifteen1506]

It's one of those cases, "people should know better". I think targeted advertisement and social media must be regulated, if not for everything else only to dictate the amount of non-chronological events allowed per items.