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Software Development and the False Promise of Science
by Giacomo Tesio Oct. 14, 2019

Oct. 14, 2019

Provocatorio, divertente e... molto attinente alla realtà. https://twitchard.github.io/posts/2019-10-13-software-development-and-the-f… # The Limits of Science Why is the project to construct a science-based discipline of software development hopeless? For one, I don’t think researchers are really aiming to do this. They are quite content to continue telling insightful stories about their relatively narrow specialties – bits of our discipline, here and there. There is no grand plan to reform us. But even if there were, it would be bound to fail for methodological reasons. This is worth some discussion, so I’ll describe four of what I mean by “methodological reasons”. [...] 1. Controlled experiments are typically nothing like professional programming environments [...] 2. The unpredictable dynamics of human decision-making obscure the effects of software practices in field data. [...] 3. The outcomes that can be measured aren’t always the outcomes that matter. [...] 4. Software practices and the conditions which modify them are varied, which limits the generality and authority of any tested hypothesis [...] # Science is not the only source of knowledge Is this cause for despair? If science-based software development is off the table, what remains? Is it really true as Hillel suggests, that in the absence of science “we just don’t know” anything, and we are doomed to an era of “charisma-driven development” where the loudest opinion wins, and where superstition, ideology, and dogmatism reign supreme? Of course not. Scientific knowledge is not the only kind of knowledge, and scientific arguments are not the only type of arguments. Disciplines like history and philosophy, for instance, seem to do rather well, despite seldom subjecting their hypotheses to statistical tests. [...] Software development, like history and philosophy, can be understood without measurement. [...] And here is a secret: in the natural sciences themselves, storytelling and bare conjecture are far more important modes of persuasion than data-based empirical argument, anyway. [...] In fact, progress in science can sometimes depend on scientists to proceed “counterinductively”, and, driven by intuition, ideology, insanity, or other sentiments, deliberately accept a theory that is less consistent with the data. [...] # Science gone wrong Science – or at least a mysticized version of it – can be a threat to this sort of inquiry. Lazy thinkers and ideologues don’t use science merely as a tool for critical thinking and reasoned argument, but as a substitute. Science appears to offer easy answers. [...] You can probably get away with just reading the abstracts, even. No need to trouble yourself about the line of argument that led the researchers to their conclusions. Heaven forbid you read the “threats to validity” section – nobody takes that seriously. They’ve got p-values, confidence intervals and such. Those are essentially SLAs on the objective truth. [...] No need to demonstrate the shortcomings and inconsistencies of their ideas. We can simply dismiss them as “anti-science” and compare them to anti-vaxxers. Why appeal to rational sensibilities when you can exploit tribal instincts instead? This sentiment exists. I witnessed it play out among industry leaders in my Twitter feed, the day after I started drafting this post. It’s amplified by the fact that nuanced scientific analysis doesn’t make good clickbait, and by the fact that everything except the abstract of a research paper tends to live behind a paywall. # TL;DR Software developers are domain experts. We know what we’re doing. We have rich internal narratives, and nuanced mental models of what it is we’re about, and we can learn to get better through the simple but difficult act of telling our stories, articulating our ideas and listening to each other, like philosophers or historians do. Empirical researchers have a different perspective and can say interesting things about our field, but it is important to consider these arguments on their (necessarily limited) merits, not idealizing them as an absolute authority. Down that road lies pettiness and lazy thinking.

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Payment firms back out in painful blow to Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra | Technology | The Guardian
by Alberto Cammozzo Oct. 12, 2019

Oct. 12, 2019

Scherza coi fanti ma lascia stare i santi... <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/11/payment-firms-back-out-i…> Nearly every payment firm that initially agreed to join Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra has backed out, in a potentially fatal blow to the social network’s plan for a worldwide digital currency. Visa and Mastercard said on Friday they would no longer participate in the Libra Association and Latin American payment system Mercado Pago announced it would back out as well. Several other large companies have announced their departures . The payment processing company Stripe said it was stepping back, as well as the online auction company eBay. PayPal was the first of Libra’s big partners to exit, announcing last week it would no longer be involved. Facebook unveiled its plans for Libra in June 2019, announcing it meant to roll out the international digital currency publicly in 2020. Though it was built by Facebook, the company said the digital asset would be controlled by the Libra Association, a non-profit made up of a collective of international companies. Facebook Libra must meet strict standards, warns Bank of England When Libra was announced, the Libra Association was comprised about 30 founding companies. To be listed as founding members, these companies contributed a minimum of $10m (£8m). The first official meeting of the Libra Council is scheduled for 14 October in Geneva – in just a few days. Executives at Facebook and the Libra Association said the exits will not affect the product’s success. “Although the makeup of the association members may grow and change over time, the design principle of Libra’s governance and technology, along with the open nature of this project ensures the Libra payment network will remain resilient,” said Dante Disparte, head of policy and communications for the Libra Association. David Marcus, a former PayPal executive and co-creator of Libra, thanked Visa and MasterCard on Twitter on Friday, saying their dropping out is “liberating”. “I would caution against reading the fate of Libra into this update,” he said. “Of course, it’s not great news in the short term, but in a way it’s liberating. Stay tuned for more very soon. Change of this magnitude is hard. You know you’re on to something when so much pressure builds up.” The departures come as Facebook faces intensifying international legislative scrutiny over the currency. Politicians on both sides of the spectrum have questioned the privacy issues raised with Facebook controlling a currency, as well as concerns about money laundering. [...]

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Preventing Digital Feudalism by Mariana Mazzucato - Project Syndicate
by antonio.vetro＠polito.it Oct. 11, 2019

Oct. 11, 2019

By exploiting technologies that were originally developed by the public sector, digital platform companies have acquired a market position that allows them to extract massive rents from consumers and workers alike. Reforming the digital economy so that it serves collective ends is thus the defining economic challenge of our time. Continua su: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/platform-economy-digital-feuda… av == Sent from my wireless device ==

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Colorado police partner with a popular doorbell camera company
by J.C. DE MARTIN Oct. 11, 2019

Oct. 11, 2019

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/22/ring-colorado-police-camera-surveilla… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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The end of theory: does the data deluge make the scientific method obsolete? – Learning from Data
by J.C. DE MARTIN Oct. 11, 2019

Oct. 11, 2019

https://statisticallearningtheory.wordpress.com/2019/10/10/the-end-of-theor… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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How Photos of Your Kids Are Powering Surveillance Technology - The New York Times
by J.C. DE MARTIN Oct. 11, 2019

Oct. 11, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/11/technology/flickr-facial-rec… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Smart TVs are data-collecting machines, new study shows - The Verge
by J.C. DE MARTIN Oct. 11, 2019

Oct. 11, 2019

Smart TVs are data-collecting machines, new study shows Roku and Amazon Fire TVs are tracking you like everything else By Zoe Schiffer on October 11, 2019 9:34 am https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/11/20908128/smart-tv-surveillence-data-col… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Is Amazon Unstoppable? | The New Yorker
by J.C. DE MARTIN Oct. 11, 2019

Oct. 11, 2019

Is Amazon Unstoppable? Politicians want to rein in the retail giant. But Jeff Bezos, the master of cutthroat capitalism, is ready to fight back. By Charles DuhiggOctober 10, 2019 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/21/is-amazon-unstoppable (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniers | Environment | The Guardian
by Alberto Cammozzo Oct. 11, 2019

Oct. 11, 2019

<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/11/google-contributions-cl…> Google has made “substantial” contributions to some of the most notorious climate deniers in Washington despite its insistence that it supports political action on the climate crisis. Among hundreds of groups the company has listed on its website as beneficiaries of its political giving are more than a dozen organisations that have campaigned against climate legislation, questioned the need for action, or actively sought to roll back Obama-era environmental protections. The list includes the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a conservative policy group that was instrumental in convincing the Trump administration to abandon the Paris agreement and has criticised the White House for not dismantling more environmental rules. Google said it was disappointed by the US decision to abandon the global climate deal, but has continued to support CEI. Google is also listed as a sponsor for an upcoming annual meeting of the State Policy Network (SPN), an umbrella organisation that supports conservative groups including the Heartland Institute, a radical anti-science group that has chided the teenage activist Greta Thunberg for “climate delusion hysterics”. SPN members recently created a “climate pledge” website that falsely states “our natural environment is getting better” and “there is no climate crisis”. Google has defended its contributions, saying that its “collaboration” with organisations such as CEI “does not mean we endorse the organisations’ entire agenda”. [...]

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Job opening at the College of Europe / Economics
by Luigi Scorca Oct. 10, 2019

Oct. 10, 2019

https://www.coleurope.eu/vacancies/job-vacancy-full-time-professor-100-depa… Luigi

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