Archaeologica.org

http://johnhawks.net/weblog

That's the question that occurred to me, reading a column by David Freedman ("Why experts are usually wrong"). Freedman, whose book is Wrong: Why experts keep failing us--and how to know when not to trust them, makes a big point of the high rate of medical studies that are later shown to be incorrect. Put together the desire for easy answers, the pressure for positive results in grants and publications, and a strong tendency toward groupthink, and you end up with a club of experts that propagate wrong information.

The bolding is mine, but you all probably would have noticed anyway.


Edited to fix a typo

Edit #2 Lol, i guess you can only barely see the bold on a club anyway

We can all be wrong, the thing about experts is that, not infrequently, their errors are so blindingly obvious that it becomes difficult to understand how they accept them.

Roy.

By concentrating on the wrong data?

Or do they just follow what others state I wonder.

Roy.

Digit wrote:Or do they just follow what others state I wonder.

Of course they do. They choose to lick the hand that feeds them. They're human. So they're opportunists.

Much of science builds on the work of others. I suppose the question becomes, what happens when the foundation is shown to be incorrect?

Logically the whole thing is reconstructed, but the refusal by some to ignore such evidence as there is concerning Clovis, for example, shows that there is often a reluctance to move forward.

Roy.

'One funeral at a time.'

You pinched my quote!

Roy.

I was reminding you.


At our age...it helps.

I should have claimed copyright!
A question, off topic of course. I've been watching Bounty Hunter programmes on TV. How does the Bail system work in the States and how does a BH make money?

Roy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bail_bondsman

They make money the same way every other business makes money. Volume. Incarcerating people is one of the few growth industries in the US. The prison-industrial complex is growing.

Its a barbaric system.

Minimalist wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bail_bondsman

They make money the same way every other business makes money. Volume. Incarcerating people is one of the few growth industries in the US. The prison-industrial complex is growing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarcerat ... ted_States

Its a barbaric system.

The last figures I saw were over 3 million American citizens incarcerated (that is 1 in every 100 Americans!), of which 2,7 million (that's over 90%!) for minor drug (ab)use (= cannabis/MJ/hashish).
"The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world."

Time for a fresh roach!

If cannabis were legalized US citizens could save 270 billion dollars per year in taxes! Probably nearer half a trillion since half of the courts and the police forces wouldn't be necessary anymore either!

The US economy and the dollar are in stitches, and sinking, with no end in sight. Legalizing cannabis could turn that around in one fell swoop!

Time for another roach! It liberates the mental constraints! It promotes thinking out of the box!

If cannabis were legalized US citizens could save 270 billion dollars per year in taxes! Probably nearer half a trillion since half of the courts and the police forces wouldn't be necessary anymore either!

Why do you think they oppose the idea so strenuously?

Minimalist wrote:

If cannabis were legalized US citizens could save 270 billion dollars per year in taxes! Probably nearer half a trillion since half of the courts and the police forces wouldn't be necessary anymore either!

Why do you think they oppose the idea so strenuously?

Because "they" would be out of an easy high-paying job and would have to find new, real jobs and start to actually work for a living. And learn to be productive members of society, for a change. Instead of parasites. But obviously that's not gonna happen if "they" can help it. And sofar, "they" can! So it's a self-perpetuating industry. A free money machine.
So anybody who has a financial interest in the prison, police, and court systems is morally disqualified to partake in this debate.