Re:Unskilled and Unaware of It (1999) [pdf]
by dahart on Thursday January 11, 2018 @07:07PM
(#16129282)
> Basically gives a scientific basis to insulting one's ignorant opponents.
I suspect that's exactly why it's popular, and why the critiques and followup papers that show this result doesn't hold up to real-world scrutiny don't seem to have any effect on the public perception of this paper.
It gives people an excuse to feel superior. I think it's a meta effect, because it's one of those specious, great sounding results that is super easy to understand and super easy to believe, but isn't actually true. Everyone has someone in their life that is aggressive and annoyingly over-confident.
This paper has some really big flaws, it's probably a bad idea to apply it to any real world situation including opponents. It can't benefit society to have everyone making incorrect assumptions that confidence proves a lack of skill.
I suspect that's exactly why it's popular, and why the critiques and followup papers that show this result doesn't hold up to real-world scrutiny don't seem to have any effect on the public perception of this paper.
It gives people an excuse to feel superior. I think it's a meta effect, because it's one of those specious, great sounding results that is super easy to understand and super easy to believe, but isn't actually true. Everyone has someone in their life that is aggressive and annoyingly over-confident.
This paper has some really big flaws, it's probably a bad idea to apply it to any real world situation including opponents. It can't benefit society to have everyone making incorrect assumptions that confidence proves a lack of skill.