Hahah, yeah, b_b totally owned me, nice and proper-like. :) Firstly, minimize drunken hubski posting. Secondly, this entire topic is one of those lifelong conundrums. You can't assume nothing, which is what the Buddhists might tell you to do. Perhaps not, but it sounds "zen"... or something. Unfortunately, not assuming things can be dangerous, in some circumstances. A date rapist won't politely inform their target "Yes, yes, I'm going to rape you"... the target can (typically) only evade the attacker via inference. That's an extreme example, but humans benefit in many instances from inferring new facts based upon context clues. Indeed, it's hardwired into our psychology, related to our survival instincts. So yeah, we're always judging. We're always categorizing. We're stuck in an era when we were such primal creatures so recently, with society now evolving at a breakneck pace. We're trying to run Windows 7 on Compaqs. Of course we're confused and fucking up all the time. I guess the real trick is to figure out when it's best to turn assumption-making on and off. I'm not going to pretend I'll ever master such a skill, so speculating on it here would be baseless. In general, though, it does like us humans are too quick to jump to a conclusion. Whenever I am wrong in an assumption, I find it refreshing. I love seeing stereotypes smashed. Even spotting a car with handicapped plates tearing ass down the highway delights me. It seems like it's always best to make explanations, not excuses, but the line between the two can be a bit hazy at times...
Owning you wasn't really the point, FWIW. I just pointed out that we here at Hubski got some learnin' too. It was off handed, and I didn't really put much thought into it. My interest was piqued however, when you said "I doubt it." For the record, I wasn't offended; I was intrigued by the psychology of it. What does it say about the experience of people on the internet when the default position of users is to assume that other anonymous users are lying when they point out something out of the ordinary about themselves? Are we used to being fed so much bullshit that we can't imagine there are honest people out there? I didn't quite understand. I've familiarized myself with internet etiquette a bit since joining Hubski, but I had never interacted with Reddit, Digg, etc beforehand, so I hadn't been scarred by their vitriolic environment, I guess. So that's why my response to you was a simple "Why?" It wasn't me being a dick; it was a sincere question.
I understand where you're coming from. My mention of "drunken Hubski-ing" directly played into that interaction. For some reason (probably the booze), I thought you were kidding, in addition to my having expected the Hubski team to consist solely of web developers/designers/programmers. Neither was I sure how many people "team Hubski" encompassed. If a large number of people were involved in a website, for 40% of them to hold PhD's in physics sounds unbelievable. Using that logic (and the relative size of the site) I deduced that the team was 5 strong, 2 of which held PhD's. I hold PhD's of physics in the highest possible regard. Some introspection reveals that I may be trying to convince myself that this is the case solely because it is the route that I've chosen for myself, and I'd like to (however foolishly) believe that I'm chasing one of the most difficult pursuits available. Obviously, that isn't necessarily the case. It depends on the choice of school, thesis, your advisor, etc., such that someone's PhD in neuroscience might have been twice as difficult to obtain as another's in physics. I'm relatively new to Hubski, but have found myself just about always believing people's assertions here. No one really seems unreasonably outlandish in their claims. And yeah, I migrated from Reddit for discussion. It's degenerated into a mainstream cesspool, as good things sometimes do. Makes me feel a little hypocritical, being a recent migrant, but it might bode well for Hubski to remain fairly small. Cheers! :)
Hahah, every time I see you around I'm reminded to work on it. My goal is to get you a new draft by mid-June... They won't be accepting applications until the fall, but it'd be best to just knock it out ASAP. Thanks again, lil!
I don't think it's necessarily about, or even possible, to turn our propensity as human beings to make assumptions on and off at will. Rather, just trying as best as possible to be aware of your assumptions and knowing when to allow them or let them go.
That's fair. It is an impossible pursuit. I agree with your amendments. :)