İkna

Önemli miktarda duygusal yatırım içeren konuları (evrim var-yok, ırklar arasında yetenek farkı var-yok, toplum tepeden biçimlendirilmeli-değişim tabandan gelmeli, Hitit'lileri uzaylılar yaratmıştır vb.) tartışırken karşındakinin son derece zayıf argümanlara sıkı sıkı sarılıp daha güçlü argümanlarla ikna olmadığını gördüğünde "nasıl bir delil seni ikna eder" diye sor. Böylece karşındaki muhtemelen ilk kez savunduğu konunun alternatifini düşünmeye başlayacak ve ortam sidik yarışı havasından çıkacaktır. Yok eğer "beni hiçbirşey aksine inandıramaz" diyorsa ya iddia-ispat-alternatif açıklama mevzusunda anlaşın ya da tartışmayı kesip geyiğe sarın, birbirinizi üzmeyin şu fani Dünya'da...

Benzer konular:
* Arthur Schopenhauer - Die Kunst, Recht zu Behalten
* Argumentum per Fabula
* How to detect bullshit
* Explaining Social Behavior
* On Being Certain
* Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper
* Science, Pseudo-Science, and Falsifiability

Music:
* Mozart - Requiem Rex Tremendae Majestatis
* Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing - Piano Cover
* Dire Straits - Brothers in arms - Piano Cover
* Adele - Set Fire To The Rain - Piano Cover

How to write a technical report

There are many good sources on the basics of writing a technical report, see 1, 2 (pdf), 3 (pdf). What I want to emphasize in this blog post is the actual writing process.

I found that it is difficult to write a report after you have done the technical work, feel exhausted, and want to move on to greener pastures (i.e. new technical challenges). The most productive approach is to begin writing before you have started any analysis, i.e. when you don't have a clue what you're going to do. I start by taking notes on the blank report about why I am undertaking this effort, what mathematical tools I might need to develop, what scenarios I might try. Thereby, I make up my mind on how I will approach the problem. That allows me to get over one of the main procrastination reasons, namely not knowing where to start. This makes the report an integral part of the overall picture. The rest is following/updating your outline and filling the blanks (and sometimes realizing you are at a dead end and giving up).

Your report and analysis will be finished at the same time and both of them will be much better than if you had done them separately.

Update 31.10.2012: See In Defense of the Scientific Paper for similar ideas.

p.s. Having more than one computer monitor where you will use one for the report and one for the calculations, is a big productivity boost.

p.p.s For basic English writing rules, see The Elements of Style

music:
* Akrep Nalan - Sarhoş
* Adele - Set Fire to the Rain
* Placebo - Every You, Every Me (covered by Basement Alchemy)

Film: Changeling

Changeling filmi 1928'de yaşanan bir olaya dayanıyor. Küçük oğlu kaybolan annenin oğlunu bulma mücadelesini ve bu sırada polisin kendisine kötü muamelesini anlatıyor. Beni etkileyen kısmı kadının otorite/güç karşısındaki çaresizliği ve direnişi idi. Nedense aklıma ruhsat maceramız ve İzmir'de polislerce dövülen kadın geldi... Nedense... Sözlerimizi filmden bir alıntı ile bitirelim:

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on!

Wired

Thanks to Umut, I read the September and November issued of Wired magazine. I found it entertaining (no surprise there considering my character). For example, check out Self-Help for Nerds:

Ladies will be sexually aroused to know that I was the Memphis City Junior High Chess Champion of 1983.

Nerds get caught up in minutiae, because there is a tremendous and fulfilling sense of control in understanding every single detail of a thing more than any other living creature.

We are hyper-self-aware. We have difficulty “chilling out.”

It’s the nerd’s greatest weakness that is the nerdist’s greatest strength: a laserlike ability to focus on something. Nerdist = obsession + direction.

Nerds tend to spend a lot of time in the past and future, but to achieve happiness you have to cultivate the skill of living in the present.

Another interesting read was The Wired Atlas of the Human Ecosystem.
In short, if you are a nerd and have some time left from other serious things (like optimizing your Civilization IV strategies), go read Wired.

music:
* Morcheeba - Otherwise
* Finley Quaye - Dice

Otomobil ruhsatı maceraları - 2

Geçen yıl başlayan ruhsat maceramız nihayet bugün bitti (inşallah). Önce sorunun vergi dairesinden kaynakladığını düşünmüştük, meğerse Emniyet Trafik Tescil Şubesi'ndeki görevli ruhsata plakayı hatalı yazmış, dolayısı ile de arabamıza hatalı plaka takılmış. Hikayeyi ilginç kılan böyle bir hatanın yapılmış olması değil, konudan sorumlu başkomiserin tepkileri (daha doğrusu baştan savma taktikleri) idi. Madem Emniyet'imizin sloganı bilinçli toplum, buyrun baştan savmaya karşı bilinçlenmeye sevgili yurttaşlarım:

Book: The Pragmatic Programmer

"The Pragmatic Programmer", Hunt, A., Thomas, D., 1999, 321 pages is mainly about the practical technical aspects of programming like "don't repeat yourself (DRY) Principle". It also gives advice on how to improve yourself in general by recommending constant learning. A good book for people interested in software development.

Book: Please Understand Me

Please Understand Me - Character & Temperament Types describes our basic character types. It should be read for inspiration, not for scientific precision because some parts are vague and the character test [pp.5-11] was wrong about my character: The test told me that I was ISTJ but when I read the rest of the book I saw that I was much closer to INTP (i.e. being obsessed with analysis and information gathering).

What I benefitted from is the realization that people might be feeling very different things inside for similar outside behaviour. It is also good to know what your weaknesses are. And finally, there are things that you cannot change no matter how good your arguments are. And, no, that doesn't mean they are stupid or crazy. It means they have a different character.