Technology ConnectionsJul 16, 2024

Confidence is not "I know what I'm doing."

Confidence is "I know how to find that out" and "I know how to learn new things" and most importantly "I know when I don't know what I'm doing, so I stop and find someone who does"

Obnoxious blowhards rely on people not understanding this distinction. And they amplify it by framing actual confidence as weakness.

This may be a useful thing to talk about with certain people in your life who are being fooled by fascists.

Show threadtyzbitJul 16, 2024

@TechConnectify I strongly agree. it's the difference between pretending you don't need help to do anything and realizing the value in getting help doing virtually anything - that's called society and we made it for a reason.

having an answer isn't what makes you smart. it's how you got it.

Show threadtyzbitJul 16, 2024
@TechConnectify NASA isn't smart because they have answers to a bunch of questions. NASA is smart because they did experiments using the scientific method and went to the damn moon to get answers to those questions.
Show threadMarty FoutsJul 16, 2024
@tyzbit @TechConnectify As someone who spent years at NASA as a researcher I suspect that this will be the funniest thing I read today.
Show threadtyzbitJul 16, 2024
@MartyFouts @TechConnectify you probably got front row seats to the unglorious side of finding answers: getting it wrong. a lot. we have to grasp in the dark to find our way.
Show threadMarty FoutsJul 16, 2024

@tyzbit @TechConnectify It’s “experiments using the scientific method” that I find most funny; but social media doesn’t really allow the nuance that a discussion of philosophy of science and “method” requires so I will simply recommend “For and Against Method” in case you haven’t read it and say that I agree far more with Feyerabend than Lakotas.

more direct note: going to the moon was mostly an engineering exercise and didn’t really involve much science relatively.

Show thread~nJul 16, 2024
@MartyFouts @tyzbit @TechConnectify I don't really want to get into this whole discussion as it doesn't have much to do with the initial toot, but while NASA is doing some really heavy lifting engineering wise (pun maybe intended), most of the engineering is based on science. Understanding how materials work, laws of physics, etc.
To tie the knot and connect the two: NASA is using bonkers engineering to enable sciencing where no sciencing has been done before by humbly finding "someone who does"
Show threadMarty Fouts

@nblr @tyzbit @TechConnectify We were talking about the moon landing which was nearly 60 years ago and NASA, before Apollo was cancelled, was very different than it has been since; as I experienced firsthand.

Another thing that social media doesn’t allow enough nuance to discuss is the extent to which engineering does or doesn’t stem from science (pun intended.)

One area to explore that is the history of ceramics and how the shuttle tiles were developed.

Jul 16, 2024 at 11:38pmWeb
Show thread~nJul 16, 2024
@MartyFouts @tyzbit @TechConnectify
Now I'm genuinely curious. From an outside view I can see that some things surely have changed, as in every large and evolving organization. Less risky/daring, more bureaucracy (both for better or worse). But from your perspective... what - in the brevity social media allows - would you say has changed?