Comments for onetechmonkey.com http://onetechmonkey.com If a million monkeys were to type on a million typewriters, would one of them produce Hamlet? That's the boring question. The intresting one is what would they produce the rest of the time... Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:35:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 Comment on Tales from beneath a coconut tree by Prolific Dyslexic http://onetechmonkey.com/2010/05/tales-from-beneath-a-coconut-tree/#comment-950 Prolific Dyslexic Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:34:13 +0000 http://onetechmonkey.com/?p=242#comment-950 Super. Good to know you're back to writing stuff. Super. Good to know you’re back to writing stuff.

]]> Comment on A brief digression on love by silverback http://onetechmonkey.com/2010/06/a/#comment-928 silverback Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:28:50 +0000 http://onetechmonkey.com/?p=245#comment-928 love machan. happens love machan.
happens

]]> Comment on A brief digression on love by SRK http://onetechmonkey.com/2010/06/a/#comment-927 SRK Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:35:39 +0000 http://onetechmonkey.com/?p=245#comment-927 Damn! I wanted to 'hear' this rather than read it :( Serves me right for missing Bangalore though :( Damn! I wanted to ‘hear’ this rather than read it :(
Serves me right for missing Bangalore though :(

]]> Comment on Indian Snake Oil by Aayushi http://onetechmonkey.com/2010/05/indian-snake-oil/#comment-910 Aayushi Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:12:04 +0000 http://onetechmonkey.com/?p=243#comment-910 I am an Economist,Iwant to comment on the absolutely ignorant way Economics was mentioned. Economics per se is not a physical science, there are no 'Laws of Motion' in Economics, like Newton gave for Physics. It is a Social Science. One o branch of Economics - Econometrics is purely science, in the sense it is based on statistics. Statistical Analysis tells us probabilities of an event. Science accepts one thing. There is no certainty. So Economic predictions are like - there is a 90% probability that the market fails. What this means is for every 10 times the situation assessed happens, markets will fail 9 times. Since this is really high so lets regulate the market. We re not saying this is the only way or that the disaster will surely happen but there is a good chance so lets be safe. It is the more prudent thing to do. Prediction therefore is difficult because you cannot tell when will the 10th time come. You know its one in 10 chance but when is that one, we dont know that. When Economists disagree, and we are infamous for it, it is mostly for the magnitude of the occurrence. We do not have the privilege of laboratory experiment and hence our data is collected when the issue happens. For example the financial crisis, it happened and the data was collected among a lot of complex factors, seperating them may not always be possible. However Econometrics can do it and gives the actual probability of it working. The branch of Macro Economics, which is the one considered 'erratic' got us out of the Great Depression. This branch is relatively new and still needs more robust methods. For the author(Kanjilal) I suggest 'Principles of Economics' By Greg Mankiw before he quotes Economics again. I am an Economist,Iwant to comment on the absolutely ignorant way Economics was mentioned. Economics per se is not a physical science, there are no ‘Laws of Motion’ in Economics, like Newton gave for Physics. It is a Social Science. One o branch of Economics - Econometrics is purely science, in the sense it is based on statistics. Statistical Analysis tells us probabilities of an event. Science accepts one thing. There is no certainty. So Economic predictions are like - there is a 90% probability that the market fails. What this means is for every 10 times the situation assessed happens, markets will fail 9 times. Since this is really high so lets regulate the market. We re not saying this is the only way or that the disaster will surely happen but there is a good chance so lets be safe. It is the more prudent thing to do.
Prediction therefore is difficult because you cannot tell when will the 10th time come. You know its one in 10 chance but when is that one, we dont know that.
When Economists disagree, and we are infamous for it, it is mostly for the magnitude of the occurrence. We do not have the privilege of laboratory experiment and hence our data is collected when the issue happens. For example the financial crisis, it happened and the data was collected among a lot of complex factors, seperating them may not always be possible. However Econometrics can do it and gives the actual probability of it working.
The branch of Macro Economics, which is the one considered ‘erratic’ got us out of the Great Depression. This branch is relatively new and still needs more robust methods. For the author(Kanjilal) I suggest ‘Principles of Economics’ By Greg Mankiw before he quotes Economics again.

]]> Comment on Tales from beneath a coconut tree by Saurabh http://onetechmonkey.com/2010/05/tales-from-beneath-a-coconut-tree/#comment-906 Saurabh Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:42:43 +0000 http://onetechmonkey.com/?p=242#comment-906 Awesome..Loved it..!! Awesome..Loved it..!!

]]> Comment on Indian Snake Oil by Chetan Crasta http://onetechmonkey.com/2010/05/indian-snake-oil/#comment-903 Chetan Crasta Mon, 31 May 2010 11:55:36 +0000 http://onetechmonkey.com/?p=243#comment-903 Good analysis. How Homeopathy and alternate "medicines" cause harm is by keeping people from taking real medicines. However, I think it is too much to expect the layperson to weigh the scientific evidence of a particular claimed cure. That is the job of governments. And I am appalled that no country has banned Homeopathy and other alternate "medicines". Good analysis.

How Homeopathy and alternate “medicines” cause harm is by keeping people from taking real medicines.
However, I think it is too much to expect the layperson to weigh the scientific evidence of a particular claimed cure. That is the job of governments. And I am appalled that no country has banned Homeopathy and other alternate “medicines”.

]]> Comment on Indian Snake Oil by Ceryle http://onetechmonkey.com/2010/05/indian-snake-oil/#comment-902 Ceryle Mon, 31 May 2010 01:54:47 +0000 http://onetechmonkey.com/?p=243#comment-902 I love how in one spot, you have 'what works for one may not work for another - we treat individuals' and in another spot, you have 'cluster people and their symptoms'. If you can cluster people and treat according to that cluster, surely you can do a scientific study with people in the cluster? (Oh, right, they have - you just re trotted out the 'individual treatment' line again when it failed). Sorry - on my phone, and can't look up any of the myriad of studies to reference, but I know they are out there. I love how in one spot, you have ‘what works for one may not work for another - we treat individuals’ and in another spot, you have ‘cluster people and their symptoms’. If you can cluster people and treat according to that cluster, surely you can do a scientific study with people in the cluster? (Oh, right, they have - you just re trotted out the ‘individual treatment’ line again when it failed).
Sorry - on my phone, and can’t look up any of the myriad of studies to reference, but I know they are out there.

]]> Comment on Islam it is for me by silverback http://onetechmonkey.com/2010/05/islam-it-is-for-me/#comment-901 silverback Sun, 30 May 2010 18:43:01 +0000 http://onetechmonkey.com/?p=244#comment-901 milk of human kindness I say milk of human kindness I say

]]> Comment on Indian Snake Oil by silverback http://onetechmonkey.com/2010/05/indian-snake-oil/#comment-900 silverback Sun, 30 May 2010 18:40:23 +0000 http://onetechmonkey.com/?p=243#comment-900 @ajaypal: Exactly. Sent this to letters@hindustantimes.com will send it to ramesh.vinayak too. But I still can't understand what the Queen having a homeopath has to do with the homeopath's claim itself? @ajaypal: Exactly. Sent this to letters@hindustantimes.com will send it to ramesh.vinayak too. But I still can’t understand what the Queen having a homeopath has to do with the homeopath’s claim itself?

]]> Comment on Indian Snake Oil by Ajaypal Singh Cheema http://onetechmonkey.com/2010/05/indian-snake-oil/#comment-899 Ajaypal Singh Cheema Sun, 30 May 2010 18:29:39 +0000 http://onetechmonkey.com/?p=243#comment-899 Spot on! Another major error he makes is in the very beginning when he accuses the British Medical Association of trying to "ban" homeopathy. They are merely calling for it to be excluded from the U.K. National Health Service, a taxpayer-funded body. Why should British(or any other) taxpayers finance "alternative medicine" that cannot be scientifically tested or proven to work. PS: Why not write this as a letter to the editor(e-mail: ramesh.vinayak@hindustantimes.com)? Feedback never hurts;) Spot on!
Another major error he makes is in the very beginning when he accuses the British Medical Association of trying to “ban” homeopathy.
They are merely calling for it to be excluded from the U.K. National Health Service, a taxpayer-funded body. Why should British(or any other) taxpayers finance “alternative medicine” that cannot be scientifically tested or proven to work.
PS: Why not write this as a letter to the editor(e-mail: ramesh.vinayak@hindustantimes.com)?
Feedback never hurts;)

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