[ExI] significant figures

Tue Jan 21 19:13:38 UTC 2020

I thought after I got my doctorate that, while I got out of clinical work
in grad school, I might go into sports psych.  Then I said, no, a lifetime
of sport?  Unhuh.  But a lasting interest has been marketing, which is
mainly about images, and those are mainly visual.  I read one study where
the only thing that really mattered about a TV ad for soap was the repeated
image of the product.  So if you want people to buy Tide, have them see the
box over and over during the ad.

Other studies show that if you show people pictures of people they can pick
out which ones they would vote for.  Political ads feature the image of the
person and a few words and they are very successful.  What that comes down
to is money.  More money, more images you can put in front of people.

I don't know how long George Wallace was voted for after he died, but it
was a long time.  Seeing Wallace on the ballot was all it took:  his name
(he had a son who kept getting elected).  Later there was an unrelated
Wallace who got elected without running.  Just got his name on the ballot.

Just a few words:  the magical words here are Baptist, family man, family
values, conservative.  And Republican.  Those here have vowed to choke
government until it dies and never raise taxes for any reason, and they
keep getting elected.

Prison riots, roads closing, bridges closing - nothing seems to get through
to the people here that some things need to change.  Just vote Republican
and go home.  They don't know what socialism is, but they don't like it,
and the Repubs have branded the Democrats with that,and the only Demos that
get elected are blacks from black districts.  Speaking of depressing.

I can only hope that things are better elsewhere.  But people are people
and images are nearly everything.

bill w

On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 12:53 PM Kunvar Thaman via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> > But they take their orders from elected, corrupt fools who keep getting
> elected despite the peoples' disgust with them
> 1. Aren't those people getting elected because the majority of people see
> them as competent leaders and elect them? Then it's essentially the public
> which is the fool, not those political leaders.
>
> 2. Where do these corrupt fools come from? They also came out of the
> system like us, went to similar schools, etc. We're in a system which
> promotes and selects for people who are good speakers and people pleasers,
> who may not efficient or smart people.
>
> 3. What can the STEM people do (I'm curious because I'm one of them) - not
> follow the law? There have already been pretty good solutions to most world
> problems which haven't been realized in practice. Small steps over time
> lead to huge changes.
>
> 4.Sure there have been engineers in Congress but the elections don't
> select for that. Public elections where common people vote are inherently
> going to promote people who can influence other better than their
> competition.
>
> 5. There's plenty of stupidity and ignorance in STEM people as well.
> There's a large percentage of people who got in to this field only for
> financial gains ( well, these jobs *do* pay well) and not internal interest
> or desire.
>
> &Kunvar
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 11:28 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> If STEM people got together, they could stop anything from functioning.
>> But they take their orders from elected, corrupt fools who keep getting
>> elected despite the peoples' disgust with them.  Side question:  are there
>> any engineers in Congress?  In the California legislature?  Doctors and
>> lawyers, yes.  STEM people, not so much.  bill w
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 11:20 AM John Clark via extropy-chat <
>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 10:02 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <
>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> >… has lied 16,241 times in the 3 years …
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *> News people often mix numbers having several significant digits to a
>>>> subjective category. *
>>>>
>>>
>>> They didn't just pull that number out of the air, every single one of
>>> those 16,241 utterances can be specified, the only subjective part is in
>>> deciding whether to call them "lies" or to use a euphemism like "misleading
>>> statement".
>>>
>>> > *It is analogous to saying “In the northern hemisphere it is cold
>>>> 37.641 percent of the time.” *
>>>>
>>>
>>> Misleading statements like "My opponent in this election Spike Jones
>>> has said the northern hemisphere it is cold 37.641 percent of the time
>>> and I have the quote to prove it!". Some would argue that wouldn't exactly
>>> be a lie but.. well.. it wouldn't exactly demonstrate a strong urge to get
>>> at the truth either.
>>>
>>> John K Clark
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
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