General > General Technical Chat
Why do the big "guns" get more credits for their technical skills?
<< < (12/22) > >>
pcprogrammer:

--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on September 23, 2022, 05:22:04 am ---However, if you do become critical about "big guns" –– regardless of whether we are talking about engineers, businessmen, political leaders, religions, nations, ideologies, ideas, or scientists –– be careful of who hears you voicing those criticisms.  Humans are very keen about the brands they care about, and will instinctively stab you in the back and try to destroy you if given half a chance, if they feel you threaten their beloved brands.  I cannot help but voice them out (a personality flaw), and you can see in at least one recent thread how that makes many otherwise rational and intelligent members here react.  So, beware.

--- End quote ---

Being more active on the forum lately I have learned, and that is why I wrote:


--- Quote ---This is not an attack on their personalities, just a simple question about whether they deserve the hail for their technical skills.
--- End quote ---

But since some people don't read very well there is always the risk of it being overlooked and then shit starts to fly :-DD

And the keen observers here know what I'm hinting at, since we mostly read and react in the same "risky" threads.
pcprogrammer:

--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on September 23, 2022, 05:22:04 am ---It is not wrong, in any sense, though.  It works on humans, that's all; it is part of being a social animal, I believe.  What it does mean is that if you are actually interested in what "big guns" know and understand, you start looking at their speech and output and work product with a critical eye; recognizing that a lot of it is brand management –– either conscious or more often unconscious: they do it because it works, not because they decided that that was the way they want to go about their career.  In some ways, you'll appreciate facets of their work/brand more, in other ways your appreciation will vanish.

--- End quote ---

Maybe it is the "critical eye" that is missing in the average "social animal" as to why the adoration reaches, in my eyes, absurd levels.

And here I go, sticking my neck out again :-DD
Nominal Animal:

--- Quote from: pcprogrammer on September 23, 2022, 05:39:13 am ---Being more active on the forum lately I have learned, and that is why I wrote:


--- Quote ---This is not an attack on their personalities, just a simple question about whether they deserve the hail for their technical skills.
--- End quote ---

But since some people don't read very well there is always the risk of it being overlooked and then shit starts to fly :-DD
--- End quote ---
Yes.

An approach I've noticed seems to work is to first point out a good thing about the target of discussion, before pointing out the criticism.  Just be honest about it, do not exaggerate or lie.  It seems to reduce the perception of the discussion being an attack.


--- Quote from: pcprogrammer on September 23, 2022, 05:45:47 am ---Maybe it is the "critical eye" that is missing in the average "social animal" as to why the adoration reaches, in my eyes, absurd levels.
--- End quote ---
I agree.  We might trace reasons why we have evolved to be this way from early human societies (or even earlier!), but for the purposes of mutually beneficial interaction with other humans, it suffices to accept that we have evolved to be this way.
PlainName:

--- Quote from: pcprogrammer ---Still to me no reason to idolize
--- End quote ---

Quite a few times in this thread you've suggested that people are 'idolizing' the 'big guns', with Jobs in particular being an example. I think you're being overly derogatory, albeit possibly unwittingly, in using that term. For most of us, we don't idolize these people but we recognise and appreciate the contribution they've made to furthering things. Jobs could be a dick and Apple's walled garden is, ah, not a preferred option, but the iPhone was a jolly impressive thing at the time and pretty much dictated the way all future mobile phones would go. That is really impressive, but in recognising it you're not idolizing anyone.

Similarly, Musk is a <expletive censored> and basically takes over someone elses bandwagon, but who else has put a private rocket in space? Not just that but running a taxi service for NASA! By any stretch that's impressive. If you appreciate that you're no necessarily idolizing him - indeed, you might actively loathe him at the same time.
b_force:
My idea on the question of this topic; that's quite literally how marketing works.

I have seen countless of engineers and companies that get all the credits.
While a big portion are just reinventing the wheel, or even worse not even that.

Just put enough money in advertisement and the whole world will know you for some kind of invention.
People will link feelings and emotions to these inventions, but at the same time forget that there might be other inventions maybe even a little better?
If you know a thing or two about marketing and physiology (if not, absolute must to read into fascinating part of science) , it's no different than known brands and products.

The same goes for patents for example. There are people with tons of patents on their name PER YEAR.
That is practically not even possible! I have talked to quite some people in bigger companies like IBM, and the majority were just co-workers (often higher up the ladder) just saying their name had to be on the patent as well.

Another example, personally I have seen some interviews with some "field experts" in certain fields of electronics.
Most of the time these people are called experts only because they worked for some very known companies.
However, the information they were giving in those interviews showed people very clearly that they were just "okay engineers", but also making A LOT of mistakes and wrong explanations.

In the end it's no different than celebrities of any other kind; music, arts, religions, movies, kings, presidents
For some reason, idolizing is really a thing for us human beings.  :-//

The science behind this can be a pretty long deep rabbit hole.
If you want to know a but more about the science behind marketing here are some nice reads to start with to get familiar with certain concepts;

Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger
As well as; Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior, also by Johan Berger.

Although this isn't hardcore literature yet, it gives already so many insights as well as starting points and references to dive deeper.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod