Comments on: A bias towards power

By: ms

ms — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:09:58 +0000

Relatedly Hamming’s You and Your Research says something similar. But then again maybe we need to look at myelin http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/sports/playmagazine/04play-talent.html

By: Michael Nielsen » The curse of busy-ness

Michael Nielsen » The curse of busy-ness — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:14:07 +0000

[...] think my post about the bias towards power contains a partial explanation: powerful people’s ideas often aren’t tested as [...]

By: Michael Nielsen » Deference, defiance, and power

Michael Nielsen » Deference, defiance, and power — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:41:34 +0000

[...] Hanson has some thoughts related to my recent post about the consequences of the bias towards power: People relate to power two ways, via deference and defiance. When we defer to power, we are [...]

By: Michael Nielsen

Michael Nielsen — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:25:48 +0000

Kimberly: Yeah, such people (especially if they’re thoughtful and pleasant in addition to being independent minded) can be worth their weight in gold. I definitely find it an effort to persistently engage with such people – it’s so much easier just to talk to people who’ll agree with everything you say.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:39:43 +0000

“Another example of the senior/junior academic dynamic: Feynman, in one of his books, tells how when he and Bohr were both at Los Alamos, Bohr would seek him out to bounce ideas off of, because Feynman was the only person there who was willing to tell Bohr when he was wrong.”

There’s nothing more dangerous than being surrounded by “yes people”. I foundered in a research position for two years while working with people who just assumed I knew what I was doing and never offered any constructive advice or criticism. It was just assumed by people around and under me that I didn’t need any help, simply because of my title, and so none was ever offered. Nor did anyone ever look closely at what I was doing and point out mistakes that would have been obvious to them, but weren’t to me.

I’ve since learned that there’s always one guy in every company who, like Feynman, isn’t afraid to criticize ANYONE. This is who you have make contact with, and cultivate if you can. Even if that person doesn’t like you and gives criticism that isn’t very constructive, you’ll learn more than you do with the yes men.

By: Pedro S

Pedro S — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:03:00 +0000

Wow, great points. Mind you, I’m only saying this because you’re a famous physicist.

By: divisive.info » Bias And Power

divisive.info » Bias And Power — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:58:51 +0000

[...] when they feel powerful. On a related note, Michael Nielsen, quantum physicist extraordinaire, suggests a “bias toward power”: A form of bias I’m interested in is the great deference [...]

By: Michael Webster

Michael Webster — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:18:10 +0000

Deference even to idiots serves a social purpose.

When someone has to pay for the mistake, we can all point to the person in “power” as the responsible one.

By: Michael Nielsen

Michael Nielsen — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:59:24 +0000

Steve: It’s a good thing to be aware of; it’s not entirely clear how to correct for it, other than to spend a lot of time talking to people who don’t take you seriously!

By: steve

steve — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:06:37 +0000

There is a variation of number 2 that I would call “affiliation bias” instead of “seniority bias”. I recently experienced a combination of them firsthand. I wasn’t so much spouting rubbish, I was just spouting the same things I spouted a few months ago when I was a graduate student. The only thing different was that my name tag had a fancy institution on it and my title was now “postdoc”. People took me much more seriously and I found it quite disturbing.