Preston von GabbleduckHR: "Do you have a moment? We just want to ask you about your self-assessment?"
Me: "Sure."
HR: "So, for 'personality type', we were expecting something from Myers-Briggs. You know, like ENJF."
Me: "Oh?"
HR: "You selected 'Other' and filled in, 'Chaotic Good'."
Me: "Yes, that's right."
HR: "Why?"
Me: "Because I use the term 'fortnight' as often as possible in communications in a US-based company, replace 'z's with 's'es, and convert dates everywhere to ISO8601."
HR: "Well yes we can see how that would be classified as 'Chaotic Good', but we were expecting something grounded in science."
Me: "So why were you asking for Myers-Briggs?"
Steve Leach@backupbear I'd have to search to find it, but there was a paper a few years back showing that a model could learn to predict one (or was it two?) of the four variables based on video of eye movements. I found that interesting 'cause I've always said Myers-Briggs was nonsense, but apparently one of the axis at least seems to map to something, maybe? Just the fact that one axis can be predicted well from other data... idk.
Gentleman Technologist@stevenaleach @backupbear my sister got really into astrology and could guess someone’s sun sign at way better than 1 in 12. This confused me for ages.
I still can’t explain it, except with the non-explanation that “human psychology is really, really complicated and we really don’t understand it at all well”.
I offer this in the hope it provides some intellectual comfort.
Peter Skov Larsen ★@GentlemanTech @stevenaleach @backupbear
Astrology has got a bad rep - it is not as useless as most people claim.
(It's not at all reliable either, but that's a different story).
An astrological chart - and the interpretation of it - works best if it is hand-made by a competent and experienced person. No computers - everything must be looked up in printed siderial tables and entered manually.
My arguments for this are too complex for a toot. But basically, it's about scaffolding intuition.
@paelse @stevenaleach @backupbear that actually makes sense, given how much we don’t know about all of this, and especially intuition.
@paelse @GentlemanTech @backupbear
*Obviously* the astrological stuff is nonsense, but I wonder if it has roots/inspirations in personality/developmental differences between winter and summer babies pre-electricity.
We have seasonless diets in the modern world, plus of course electric lighting.
Throughout most of human history and all of prehistory that was not the case.
Nutritional and sociological differences during developmental periods may well have resulted in stereotypical "types".
notsoloud@stevenaleach
In many school systems, your date of birth decides whether you go to class with kids older or younger than yourself. That could influence personality.
Atz@paelse @GentlemanTech @stevenaleach @backupbear
Astrology is utter bullshit. There is no reason at all to ever believe that the motions of planets affects the behavior and personality of large segments of the population.
Any and all well done studies show it to be meaningless and useless.
@atzanteol @paelse @stevenaleach @backupbear that was my position too.
I’m glad I was able to re-evaluate my position when confronted with evidence that contradicted it.
I don’t expect you to believe me. The evidence I experienced is hearsay for you. You’re right to be extremely skeptical.
And I don’t conclude that Astrology is true. Just that brains are probably more complicated than we understand. Maybe. Or maybe my sister cheated.
Simon Lucy@GentlemanTech @stevenaleach @backupbear
Births are not evenly distributed. The time of the year you are born in can affect you not because of the stars but societal structure such as where you are in the school year through childhood.
In previous generations what foods were available? Did they encourage strong growth or was it better to bank carbohydrates and fat?
Etc, etc so it wasn't so much 1 in 12.
@simon_lucy @GentlemanTech @backupbear I'm thinking too of (especially pre-electric lighting) the socialization differences during different developmental periods - longer days with people more dispersed in outdoor activities versus longer nights and people huddled together indoors.
The idea of personality types based on birth dates would predate public school schedules, but diet, lighting, and type of socialization during different developmental periods might have stereotypical correlations?
@stevenaleach @GentlemanTech @backupbear
Ok. If you invert it then it's the symbolic language which sorts stuff that happens and events that affect people and populations and that filters and also illuminates understanding.
By that I mean the perceived cosmology, constellations and the Doctrine of Signatures. Things that have similar properties, the colour red, fire, etc are connected and other properties inferred.
That it occasionally coincides with reality is not causation.
@GentlemanTech
I remain skeptical about that claim until I see the experimental protocol used.
@stevenaleach @backupbear
I remain skeptical about that claim until I see the experimental protocol used.
@stevenaleach @backupbear
@notsoloud @stevenaleach @backupbear totally agree, you are right to do so.
Purely anecdotal. I only register my confusion because I witnessed it personally.