New post at Judgment NOV

[judgmentnov at lists.powerblogs.com]

Posted by Daniel Austin Green:
Mathturbation
http://judgmentnov.com/posts/1116977118.shtml


   [1]MATHTURBATION:

     What pseudoscientists, cranks and charlatans use to "prove" their
     self-indulgent theories. The nutjob used mathturbation to show that
     the Bible contains an encrypted message warning of the September
     11th attacks.

   I recently encountered the following description of the state of
   graduate economics programs, specifically those that do not teach the
   history of economic thought:

     ...a combination of intellectual laziness and mistaken arrogance on
     the part of economic mathterbationists [sic]....

   The quote comes from an email listserv - one that has been very lively
   recently, discussing responses to people that believe the history of
   economic thought is the history of error, thus shouldn't be taught.
   The replies have rambled a bit, drifting at points, and for unknown
   reasons, into fairly heated discussions of [2]allopathy versus
   osteopathy.

   I have to say that the is more than an apt description of far too many
   departments. Too many economists have methodologically abandoned their
   field, instead acting as applied mathematicians. The problem is that,
   since the abandonment is (1) only methodological and (2) so common,
   they have become the hegemony in many (or most) departments. Last
   summer, I encountered advanced graduate students (and one Ph.D.) from
   a top U.S. graduate economics program that didn't even understand ECON
   101-style supply and demand. But, boy could they write out a proof! To
   some extent, this is true of even very heterodox economists, though
   many say it is only to be respected by or speak the same language as
   everyone else.

   The result of economics' hyper-mathemetization is that "economists" go
   around ignoring economics entirely and everyone plays with equations
   to get their jollies. (I'll not even attempt to make a [3]Slutsky joke
   here, although they somehow remain popular, especially among grad
   students.) Hence the applicability of the term "mathturbation".

References

   1. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mathturbation&defid=927423
   2. http://www.ncahf.org/articles/a-b/allopathy.html
   3. http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/slutsky.htm