Re:The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
by flaubere on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @09:57AM
(#27208675)
Gould wrote a controversial book attacking whole swathes of science done in the past. The existence of a senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire who has written a criticism of it doesn't seem that surprising and certainly doesn't seem sufficient evidence that we should disregard what he has to say.
Re:The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
by MikeUt on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @10:27AM
(#27209120)
> certainly doesn't seem sufficient evidence that we should disregard what he has to say.
No, we should disregard what he has to say because even his arguments against the century-old studies he attacks (while carefully avoiding modern work) were shown to be faulty. It's like (poorly) debunking phlogiston in the modern day, and expecting to be taken seriously.
Stephen F. Blinkhorn, a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, wrote that The Mismeasure of Man was "a masterpiece of propaganda" that selectively juxtaposed data to further a political agenda. [..] Jensen also criticized Gould for concentrating on long-disproven arguments (noting that 71% of the book's references preceded 1950), rather than addressing "anything currently regarded as important by scientists in the relevant fields"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mismeasure_of_Man