So this critique (https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/20/history-cliodynamics-weird-turchin/ …) in @ForeignPolicy on failures of the sort of data-driven pseudo-history we've been seeing a lot of lately is pretty spot on.
It's focused specifically on Joseph Henrich's recent 'WEIRD' book, but the critique is more broadly useful. 1/9
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Woefully incomplete datasets, problems in framing assumptions, lack of comparative basis, and an apparent ignorance of the nuances of the evidence and what it can tell us versus what it can't. 6/9
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Honestly, in my 100-level survey course, I have assignments built around moving students to these sorts of realizations, "oh, this source doesn't give me evidence for what people thought, only for what *this* person said" kind of stuff. And yet, here we are. Again. 7/9
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And I do mean *again* - Fafinski here, with a real economy of words, does a great job of setting out this tradition of 'scientific' pseudo-history - from Spengler and Huntington to Turchin, Henrich and Safra. He could have easily added Arthur de Gobineau (d 1882). 8/9
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Anyway, it's a good article. The key thing is to remember that no amount of fancy math can raise the reliability of a conclusion any higher than the reliability of the evidence it is based on. A statue with feet of clay is made no stronger by casting the torso in steel. end/9
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