[Todos] Bullshit and Voodoo

[fvicent en dm.uba.ar]

Dear Moshe:

It is an established fact that when an animal grows old its brain turns
soft and its penis doesnt stand up anymore. We, human beings, have a
superior mind and find ways of bullshitting through old age. Let me try to
understand the voodoo approach to scientific knowledge. I happen to be 
interested in Boudou Economics, namely the one being applied in Argentina
by its economy minister Amando Boudou (to be pronounced like voodoo).

When I was retired at 65 I made to the Math department chairman an offer
he couldnt refuse like Marlon Brando in The Godfather movie. I said to him
"Let me go on teaching free of charge". My offer made much sense because I
was the only OR man in the spot. For a while they let me do my way but in
the end they kicked out of school because a younger fat lady learned my
metier, and she was the dean's wife. You will meet her in the ALIO/IFORS
meeting in Buenos Aires.

I am coming to Boudou Economics as applied to old age. In Argentina Big
Brother got 22 per cent of my salary during 45 years while I worked as an
honest laborer, and when I reached 65 they sent me home with 86% of my
active payment in 2002. Then the time series followed the following
pattern

2002   	86%
2003	71
2004	64
2005	51
2006	43
2007	42
2008	42

As you notice my retirement pay has been reduced by half with certainty.
Boudou Economics is not Voodoo Economics. Señor Boudou has not been
trained by OR scholars, but by the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank bureaucrats. And believe me, these sonofbitches know how to
divide by half third world income. Perhaps you might understand while I
did not enjoy the ninth symphony in the celebration of 20th anniversary of
the fall of the Berlin Wall.
====================
on 09/11/20 Moshe Sniedovich wrote

Dear Fabio:

As indicated on my website and in my articles, I use the following
definition of Voodoo:
1. A religion practiced throughout Caribbean countries, especially Haiti,
that is a combination of Roman Catholic rituals and animistic beliefs of
Dahomean enslaved laborers, involving magic communication with ancestors.
2. Somebody who practices voodoo.
3. A charm, spell, or fetish regarded by those who practice voodoo as
having magical powers.
4. A belief, theory, or method that lacks sufficient evidence or proof.
namely, the last meaning.

What I am saying is that, unfortunately,  even reputable journals and
publishers accept papers that promote the use of Voodoo theories. So the
problem in academia is not just with bullshitting, but also with Voodoo
theories. This means that some academics have a choice: they can either
bullshit and/or Voodoo their way through the ranks.

My experience has been that academics  who are successful in spreading
voodoo theories are also very good bullshitters. Perhaps there is a
theorem behind this phenomenon.

Best wishes
Moshe

Moshe Sniedovich
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
The University of Melbourne

==========================
on 09/11/19 Fabio Vicentini wrote
Last time I heard of voodoo was when I read LIVE AND LET DIE where James
Bond fights a huge negro who calls himself Count Samedi. But this time I
looked itup in the dictionary where they define voodoo to be  a deceptive
or delusivenonsense. I sent you a letter complaining that academics at
Laputa areengaged on bullshit paper making and you are refering me to
voodoo . Do I have to understand that bullshitting in academy is nothing
else but an oldvoodoo practice? Do you mean to say that if I learn how to
practice voodoo Ican bullshit my way through?
Best wishes
Fabio