December 15th, 2008

Text Ticker: Science and the economic crisis

At Edge, a cabal of scientists offers their trade to the economy:

Along with economists with whom they work, other scientists and computer scientists now have a profound responsibility to see that their skills, the principles which they have found effective, and the tools they have wrought, are all used well and wisely.

My old favorite Nassim Nicholas Taleb is not surprisingly unimpressed:

I spent close to 21 years in finance facing "scientists" in some field who show up in finance and economics, realize that economists and practitioners are not as smart as they are (they are not as "rigorous" and did not score as high in math), then think they can figure it all out.

Nice, commendable impulse, but I blame the banking crisis (and other blowups) on such "scientism".

[go!]

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