Comments on: Scott Adams on Bias

By: george weinberg

george weinberg — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:30:47 +0000

I imagine there are vastly more people that don’t care for Timberlake’s music than do. If so, it would seem odd that the hundreds of millions of non-fans should feel somehow defective because he has tens of millions of fans. Similarly for dilbert.

By: Doug S.

Doug S. — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:56:46 +0000

I suspect that a lot of musical taste is determined by the “mere exposure” effect; you tend to like music similar to the music that you hear most often. (There seems to be an over-exposure effect of some sort, though, in that listening to the same piece of music for long enough often becomes annoying.) I have observed that my own tastes sometimes seem to change when I hear other people praising or denigrating things. Is that reasonable?

By: Torben

Torben — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:19:22 +0000

Well, that is pretty ironic, coming from a evolution 'skeptic' such as Adams. If all those scientists say it is so, maybe he should conclude the problem is him?

By: TGGP

TGGP — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:36:34 +0000

The more you use Pandora the better it gets to know your tastes. NE1, I thought I recalled reading an attribute for catchiness, but looking up the list I only found this. I'm not really into "catchy" stuff as much (I doubt anyone who's sat through O.V by Orthrelm several times, which I don't recommend, is) which might explain why I like it more.

By: NE1

NE1 — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:38:11 +0000

I am a fan of catchy music, but I have never found a catchy song via Pandora. Just loads of stuff to rate somewhere in between “ok” and “not bad enough that maybe someone who likes it knows of something worth listening to”.

I like the general conclusion about the post (though I like Dilbert and dislike Scott Adams…) that it’s important to identify the niche wrt which you’re judging something.

By: savagehenry

savagehenry — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:11:35 +0000

I’ve definitely checked out Pandora before, it’s pretty neat but I’ve found that when it comes to some things it’s a bit off. Try entering pg. 99, my favorite band, and you’ll find it recommends things that most pg. 99 fans wouldn’t be caught dead listening to. I guess my tolerance for yelling and loud noises is much higher than most people, that and I enjoy shows where there is a serious risk of getting hurt.

By: TGGP

TGGP — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 01:33:53 +0000

I agree with you savagehenry on the note about listening to radio vs finding new music. Regarding punk/HC, it’s like there’s an unwritten law against playing it on the radio (I know realistically it’s just abrasive and appeals to a niche audience). If you’re not already, you need to start using Pandora internet radio. I discovered tons of stuff I never would have heard of otherwise.

By: Zubon

Zubon — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 00:56:31 +0000

We could probably hit 1000 comments on this post just trying to work out whether NASCAR is an example or a counterexample.

By: Alan Gunn

Alan Gunn — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:36:45 +0000

There are artistic sorts of things (Emily Dickinson, for instance) that I dislike, and when this happens I suspect that I’m missing something that others see. I also dislike NASCAR, and it’s never crossed my mind that the problem is me: it’s those yokels. This pattern may reflect a bias, of the snobbish variety, on my part. But perhaps not: I have friends, some of them highly intelligent and creative, whom most people would call yokels. So perhaps I’ve figured out that my yokel friends, smart though they may be, have standards for entertainment that I don’t share, and that art snobs, even though I don’t share all their enthusiasms, are more aware of some sorts of things than I am. Sometimes things that look like biases really aren’t.

By: savagehenry

savagehenry — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:36:12 +0000

As someone who listens primarily to punk and hardcore I’m definitely of the opinion the majority of people are defective when it comes to music. Ok, defective may be too strong of a word. I think most people when it comes to music are simply lazy and follow the trends because it is easier than going out and finding music that isn’t on the radio. Personally I hated music when all I knew what was on the radio.

@Stan
I don’t think generalizations like that work very well. With some things it might (like NASCAR). But as I said above specifically about music I think a good deal of trends become trends because it is easy to like them and people in general enjoy feeling like they’re accepted because of their preferences. It’s cool to like Justin Timberlake so I like him too is what I think is the driving force behind most trends. Is there a name for that kind of bias? Because it seems to be all around us so it’s worth noting.