tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post4332285706876527889..comments2024-03-17T05:03:46.056-07:00Comments on xkcd sucks: Comic 451: Math people are STILL better than youCarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-16637931601509909402010-09-21T09:38:53.521-07:002010-09-21T09:38:53.521-07:00I just want to correct Overthinking It re: Sokal. ...I just want to correct Overthinking It re: Sokal. What Sokal did was to abuse the trust of the editors of a magazine he <i>already knew</i> wasn't peer-reviewed by insisting they publish his nonsense <i>against their better judgment</i>. They even asked him to revise it, but he refused.<br /><br />Everyone jumps on <i>Social Text</i> for not being peer-reviewed, but why should they have been? Is there some law I don't know about?<br /><br />There are some really important criticisms of postmodernism that can be made, but Sokal's hoax is not one of them.<br /><br />Source: http://math.bu.edu/people/nk/rr/James M. Jensen IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17424548803826283101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-13184134341582744772010-09-16T00:20:45.327-07:002010-09-16T00:20:45.327-07:00Having studied lit crit at the postgraduate level,...Having studied lit crit at the postgraduate level, it IS easy to fake, because it's completely and utterly devoid of content. I essentially spent several years doing field research on the field, and found that marks were inversely proportional to any textual basis for one's assertions (the best marks consistently went to those who had at most read the back-cover blurb of whatever reading was assigned), and that even those who taught the material professionally had trouble taking it seriously. <br /><br />That's why a random word generator can get published in a peer-reviewed journal in this field, and why one of the main academic responses to a journal article ("Against Theory" from the mid 1980s) pointing this out was not to defend literary "theory", but to say that pointing out the hollowness and standardlessness of the discipline would cost jobs in the age of budget cuts in the humanities. <br /><br />When this particular XKCD comic came out, I distributed it in my department, and it was a hit (sample: 30 M.A. and PhD lit "theory" students and faculty from about as many countries and prior institutional affiliations).Elise Hendrickhttp://meldungen-aus-dem-exil.noblogs.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-46238503424711279312010-07-21T21:13:54.481-07:002010-07-21T21:13:54.481-07:00It's not the lit people's fault you read t...It's not the lit people's fault you read too much into what they're saying--maybe if you were a lit student you would be better at reading comprehension? Nobody's feelings are hurt. We're just attacking Randall's blatant ignorance.<br /><br />It's something science people do all the time, especially the Out And Proud nerds. They attack people for being ignorant. It is, indeed, one of the great pastimes of the internet.<br /><br />In this particular case, Randall is merely reflecting the widespread belief, common among science assholes, that these fields are incredibly easy to fake your way through, and that any science person could write compelling theses and pass himself off as a lit student. This misconception is based on the Lit Classes For Complete Dumbasses that science people take, and do fairly well in, because they speak passable English. Wikipedia also contributes.<br /><br />This is an incredibly annoying misconception--not because of hurt feelings, but because science people are actually pretty inept at this sort of thing, and it's annoying when they act as if they have some sort of meaningful literary skill.rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-69148627827344449752010-07-18T23:45:39.102-07:002010-07-18T23:45:39.102-07:00Although much of the above discussion was interest...Although much of the above discussion was interesting and enlightening, some of the "lit" people have taken this comic a weeee bit too personally. There have been some extravagant assumptions made about the content of the comic and the intentions of the author, both of which are unnecessary.<br /><br />If it makes you feel better, don't read the comic, but I also wouldn't start crying because you're a lit major/grad student and "Mistah Wandall said somefing mean about witerature cwiticizm!" Acting so indignant and hurt only makes you look insecure in your discipline...as though deep down you suspect Randall is actually right. That's probably not entirely true, but probably not entirely false. Either way I suspect you and lit-dom will survive.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-80206915707697095572010-06-27T21:55:25.630-07:002010-06-27T21:55:25.630-07:00Also: to those of you saying, "I didn't e...Also: to those of you saying, "I didn't even try and still got Bs," a 'B' is not a good grade in a literature class. It's not like an orgo final where you're docked a half-point for every error. A 'B' says: "this isn't a very good paper, but it's written in English." People who go on in literary studies don't get Bs.lit studentnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-47952248298246050082010-06-27T21:51:43.179-07:002010-06-27T21:51:43.179-07:00Caveat: I study literature on the graduate level, ...Caveat: I study literature on the graduate level, although as an undergraduate I mostly focused on political science and philosophy. In high school, I was good at (and enjoyed) advanced math and physics; I just lost interest in them after a while.<br /><br />I wish that I better understood advanced science these days. I still find most scientific disciplines to be fascinating and exciting. I have a good deal of respect for those who pursue them.<br /><br />That said, it's simply not true that, as this comic and others above suggest, the humanities consist in a collection of ever more intricate mystifications and obfuscations that we magicians use to bewitch right-thinking, logical people into paying our salaries. Think about it: that's what this comic implies, coming from a self-identified (and apparently rather proud) "scientist" -- me no understand your mouth-words, you dumb, I smart.<br /><br />It's the same kind of knee-jerk anti-intellectualism that threatens science, that makes a lawyer think he can trump Darwin and Dawkins with something called "Intelligent Design," or a weatherman with a Doppler radar think he can debunk climate science as "voodoo." This is not to say that there exists no B.S. in academia. Having quite a few scientist friends in graduate school, I know that it also exists in the sciences. It doesn't matter whether you study physics or Renaissance art: the money flows to the top, and at the top are people who are popular, powerful, or both.<br /><br />One need glance only very briefly at what passes for an understanding of humanism in the sciences to know that most scientists, young ones and students especially, have a poor grasp of things like politics, ethics, philosophy, and so on. Smart (and not merely competent) ones tend to nevertheless have an appreciation for them. Math is fundamentally logical, but only as a closed system; mathematical logic cannot be transposed to rhetorical (or, more generally speaking, philosophical) logic. The only thing that this comic proves is that Randall does not understand the difference between science and humanism. It takes a while to identify charlatanism in the humanities precisely because there are very few axioms to which one might turn; I could not simply cite a formula that disproves the statement 'Deconstruction is inextricable from [...] the self', although on its own it does appear to be nonsense -- because it is. None of the terms are defined, and there's no rhetorical context, even if the "eight papers and two books" are implied in the supposed punchline. Is this ghostly statement meant to unmask literary criticism as a fraud? For me, it simply says that Randall doesn't know much about it, or that he only knows enough to vaguely mimick the style, sort of like me writing, "Science is stupid. 'Excited Subnomial Particulate Matter: Quantum Plasma States.' What kind of a paper title is that? Fucking science, how does it work?" Any scientist would be able to read that as nonsense: just me using words that sound "scientific," much in the same way that Randall uses words that sound "literary" -- the principle difference is that I know that I'm not an expert, whereas he thinks that he is.<br /><br />He can snigger and giggle like a buffoon all he wants; challenged to actually cite exactly what it is that he finds to be so lamentably sophomoric about literary criticism, I suspect he'd be at a loss for words. Judging from his work, it would probably do him well to read a book or two.<br /><br />This is why I stopped reading XKCD a long time ago. When it comes down to it, Randall is neither smart nor witty, just a self-obsessed twat. His fans aren't much better.lit studentnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-27973099087087254982010-06-20T21:31:58.114-07:002010-06-20T21:31:58.114-07:00Nerd culture's demonization of the liberal art...Nerd culture's demonization of the liberal arts (and by that it means anything that doesn't involve doing things with numbers) has always baffled me. OK, so it's alright to be obsessed with Newtonian physics, but not the works of Vladimir Nabokov? Just because a field doesn't deal in absolute truths (which don't exist IRL, dinguses) doesn't make it any less viable. Sure, an English major doesn't have a good chance at making a lot of money doing boring things, but what's inherently wrong about a Best Buy employee who spends his free time with T.S. Eliot?<br /><br />SMBC did a great parody of this in which an engineer and a philosopher have a debate and both are made fun of.<br /><br />http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1879#comicAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-12199654738575197702010-05-18T11:46:17.957-07:002010-05-18T11:46:17.957-07:00that doesn't mean you were doing a good job, j...that doesn't mean you were doing a good job, just that whoever was grading you didn't care enough. Do you really think the field of literary criticism is full of people who just BS all the time?Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-6821674440771456302010-05-13T15:30:53.557-07:002010-05-13T15:30:53.557-07:00Actually I have to agree with Randall on this one....Actually I have to agree with Randall on this one. The jab at sociology might be a bit undeserved, but the literary criticism thing is right on.<br /><br />I've written a lot papers (on books that I haven't read) in a couple of hours and still got Bs most of the time. You really just need to look at the plot summary and scan through the book for a few adjectives that stick out to you and you can generally create a pretty coherent criticism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-13894686182371533492009-12-20T20:19:39.524-08:002009-12-20T20:19:39.524-08:00No, it says the "advanced mathematics" m...No, it says the "advanced mathematics" may be unsuitable for liberal arts majors. Letting aside that 3 of the 7 liberal arts are considered elements of "mathematics" (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Arts" rel="nofollow">check it out, bitches</a>!), the point is, there is no advanced mathematics in this comic and there almost never is any in any part of xkcd. What there is is advanced "thinking math makes you better than other people"Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-36891259884560717102009-12-19T21:21:47.807-08:002009-12-19T21:21:47.807-08:00why r u ppl are so pissed anyway? The comic has a ...why r u ppl are so pissed anyway? The comic has a fair and straight warning that it may be unacceptable to liberal arts majors.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-85374909795212351312009-12-17T15:10:17.952-08:002009-12-17T15:10:17.952-08:00As someone who took higher-level IB literature, I ...As someone who took higher-level IB literature, I can verify that yes, lit crit is mostly total BS. At least up to the late high school/early university level.Connorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05216992824546310964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-27140419332212031722009-12-17T05:47:46.207-08:002009-12-17T05:47:46.207-08:00God I hate this comic. I majored in both philosop...God I hate this comic. I majored in both philosophy and physics (Alan Sokal was my prof. at one point; i had to read his paper..he's a very nice guy whose wife is like Brazilian or something). So I can't help but feel that Randy is hopelessly biased. Meh.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-44456489036618456412009-10-29T02:16:37.272-07:002009-10-29T02:16:37.272-07:00can't say I agree with your implicit ranking o...can't say I agree with your implicit ranking of webcomics, but otherwise, nice. very nice.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-25080183384819188952009-10-28T19:23:00.458-07:002009-10-28T19:23:00.458-07:00hahahahahhaha
captcha: ratessec. ratessec guys! ...hahahahahhaha<br /><br />captcha: ratessec. ratessec guys! i think xkcd has been getting better! ... NOTAmandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11192581573588205095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-71576526601474385302009-10-28T09:18:56.417-07:002009-10-28T09:18:56.417-07:00Bah, this is the comic that started to get me very...Bah, this is the comic that started to get me very angry with XKCD, sure I do philosophy and English Language at uni, but I'd like to see Randall come even close to scratching the surface. I'm not a very good programmer. I don't work for NASA. I would still kick his arse in an intellectual debate on ethics, language and even some parts of biology and evolution. So don't talk down to us because we don't do what you do.<br /><br />My Hobby: sitting down with webcartoonists and timing how long it takes them to realise that I have no artistic talent:<br />Ctrl+Alt+Del: 12 seconds<br />Little Gamers: 45 seconds<br />Cyanide & Happiness: 4 minutes<br />XKCD: 200 Hangman games and he still hasn't caught on.<br /><br /><br />See, I CAN DO THE FUNNY TOOsheepdeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02715187848406924025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-88994935930589385452009-08-30T22:30:07.351-07:002009-08-30T22:30:07.351-07:00basically he is saying "in the low-level Lit ...basically he is saying "in the low-level Lit Classes For Complete Dumbasses" he had to take in college, he didn't do as well on the papers as the actual lit students, but the only reason for that is this was Literature For Complete Dumbasses, where everyone with a functioning brain can write a good essay, and it is literary-minded individuals who tend to do the best because they also know proper spelling and grammar, which he does not.rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-46700284011407363652009-08-30T20:51:24.351-07:002009-08-30T20:51:24.351-07:00randall is several years out of college. also: i d...randall is several years out of college. also: i did not understand what the heck you just wrote. Perhaps I am not a literary type after all.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-60256408900232311662009-08-28T20:29:54.903-07:002009-08-28T20:29:54.903-07:00As a CS type, I've taken the minimal ammount o...As a CS type, I've taken the minimal ammount of Lit classes needed, and there is a very clear trend in grades on papers of this sort. Lit majors consistantly get higher grades. The problem is that if you look at the actual papers you'll notice that almost everyone that scores a B or higher gets close to the same marks in the area of content. Lit majors just do a lot better in the grammer format and general presentation areas. Granted this is only at the junior college level, but seeing as Randell is a College student (still? or has he graduated) the comic holds up to reason. The being said it would've been better if a less obvious field was picked.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-70219252784512584892009-06-05T15:02:01.633-07:002009-06-05T15:02:01.633-07:00as a literary type, I thank you all and bow gracio...as a literary type, I thank you all and bow graciously.Amandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11192581573588205095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-1176756013941908702009-06-05T14:35:38.895-07:002009-06-05T14:35:38.895-07:00as a literary type, I concur, well doneas a literary type, I concur, well donershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-85699623589928035972009-06-05T14:27:55.854-07:002009-06-05T14:27:55.854-07:00as a literary type, Amanda just had one of the bes...as a literary type, Amanda just had one of the best smackdowns in the history of this blog.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-51979384004606283802009-06-05T13:01:55.692-07:002009-06-05T13:01:55.692-07:00okay rob just for youokay rob just for youAmandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11192581573588205095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-56764101668619214822009-06-05T12:59:19.912-07:002009-06-05T12:59:19.912-07:00Can we preface all of our opinions with "as a...Can we preface all of our opinions with "as a literary type" pleasershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-42691550755182130932009-06-05T12:59:07.058-07:002009-06-05T12:59:07.058-07:00As a literary type I think the latest Anon is a du...As a literary type I think the latest Anon is a dumbass.rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.com