> He used this term to describe the phenomenon of experts believing news articles on topics outside of their fields of expertise, even after acknowledging that articles written in the same publication that are within the experts' fields of expertise are error-ridden and full of misunderstanding

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmnes...

I see the paper as a friend who I find annoying in a few ways but that I nevertheless appreciate and generally trust.

Edit- It was Gell Mann amnesia as described in a comment further down

I'd rather see programmers have any outside experience... even literature or music or one of those other fields we often deride. The people who majored in that field are likely to be our customers, and when we don't know how they work, we won't be able to serve their needs.

At the very least, every programmer should have a minor in some other field. (And ideally not everybody going into the same physics or math fields.)

Why is it a threat to their profession? We'll still need journalists. and they'll still need training. This seems more like a hiring/staffing problem. Media outlets should start hiring more grads with double majors or non-journalism majors who can write.

However, journalism might make an excellent choice for when they retire but still want something socially impactful to do that leverages their long experience.

>“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.

In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.” – Michael Crichton

I've noticed I have this sort of meta Gell-Mann effect where every time I think of that annecdote the news seems much more dubious. Then a short while later I go back to not thinking about it and reading the news as I otherwise would.

So, maybe, who knows anything..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism

The problem is nihilists never produce anything of lasting value. Or of any value. It seems to be the posture of those who feel like failures, and justify that perceived failure to themselves by telling themselves that nothing is worth anything.

Perhaps others hold that position too. It seems like a dead end in a lot of ways...

Same. This year, with the coverage of Covid (an area where I have a certain level of expertise), I've been bombarded with the extremely low quality level of essentially all of the major news providers. They are more than willing to amplify the most speculative voices, credulously, without even basic fact-checking. The ones that depend on advertising are the worst, overall. Writers with no subject-matter expertise will take a scary quote from a single source, won't bother to make even the simplest of efforts to verify the claim, and will publish it just to get the scoop.

I won't mention names because I'll only be downvoted, but there are some extremely high-profile "scientific" media figures who are constantly broadcasting utter nonsense. And because they heard it from a "scientist" on the news, people will attack you if you rebut it. I am old enough to remember when journalists were skeptical of the people they interviewed, and the rule was that no fact was published without independent verification (read "All the President's Men" for example).

2020 is the year where the news media fell apart for me -- it is all simply entertainment now, which is unfortunate.

And when they read the article or see the video that is produced, that is the day they lose faith in the press. True 50 years ago, true today.

This is true even if both sides in good faith are doing the best job they can. The media always has its own agenda, which is never identical to the goals of the profession.

Ten times worse if advocacy is involved.

My sibling spent some time working around prostitution related issues. When they were interviewed, words were literally put in their mouths as quotes, and what they actually said was ignored. You either fit the narrative that they'd been told to go out and find, or you were made to fit it. I imagine because the Overton Window is small enough that reporters aren't able to work outside of it.

I generally don't put much stock in anecdotes, but if others are sharing "the press always gets it wrong" anecdotes I might as well share my more positive ones.

I'm really hoping that this kind of stuff happens slightly more (not a lot more, that undermines the market). Just a few high-profile things that play to the kind of paranoia common here: Maybe another Facebook/CambridgeAnalytica would be a good one. Something to do with Google spying on Android phones maybe? Amazon Echos reporting to the Chinese government?

Holding out hope for a nice panic journalist to put one out. Delicious. Come on. There's got to be someone who'll do it.

Interesting choice you're making there - social acceptance prioritised over journalistic accuracy and scientific advocacy.

FWIW, I think he made the right decision.

I couldn't evaluate the merits of his claim, which is that famous people are broadcasting nonsense, because he didn't name any of these people or cite any example. Had he done so, I could have formed an opinion based on the facts presented.

Unfortunately, I don't know you or trust you, so this post seems like more noise.

This has been widely studied and seems to be surprisingly effective. When there is lack of expertise or objective metrics, people default to social proof or whatever misleading thing they could use as a measure. Many sales people abuse this and it is written in those manuals as well.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/65213-briefly-stated-the-ge...