Ericisms

Eric often uses terms or turns-of-phrase that some people may not immediately understand. This page is a reference source for those only. This should not be confused with more general topic areas that may at first cause confusion such as the DISC, EGOs, Load-Bearing Fictions, etc.

See also: Eric Weinstein Quotes

A/B testing

A/B testing (also known as bucket testing or split-run testing) is a user experience research methodology. A/B tests consist of a randomized experiment with two variants, A and B. It includes application of statistical hypothesis testing or "two-sample hypothesis testing" as used in the field of statistics. A/B testing is a way to compare two versions of a single variable, typically by testing a subject's response to variant A against variant B, and determining which of the two variants is more effective. (Source)

Reference: [1] Discussed in the context of adding “differential diagnosis” to our educators’ toolkit so that teaching disabled educators can learn how to add to better instruct students rather than externalizations the blame for their inadequate methods onto into the students.

Adaptive landscape

• Sewall Wright's theory of adaptive landscapes of fitness

Adaptive valley

• Sewall Wright's theory of adaptive landscapes of fitness

Adjective, occupation, name

https://twitter.com/ericrweinstein/status/955117591378329606?lang=en

Artificial Outelligence

Artificial Outelligence, n: An unintelligent computer system that evolves by hijacking the minds it dupes & outwits.

Example:

The Bass designs false fish used by the mussels to better parasitize the bass.

It’s one thing to think & talk about the risks of unintelligent agents using *our* brains to outsmart ourselves. Another to see such examples in nature:

References

https://twitter.com/ericrweinstein/status/867050623174295552?s=21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu8s0tp9yzY

https://twitter.com/ericrweinstein/status/1116065653847285760?s=21

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0j9dxbB4Z1o

Consensus

There’s no arithmetic consensus because it doesn’t require a consensus. But there is a Washington consensus. There is a climate consensus. “Consensus” is how we bully people into pretending that there’s nothing to see, move along, everyone. And so I think that in part, you should start to learn that people don’t naturally come to high levels of agreement unless something is either absolutely clear, in which case consensus isn’t present, or there’s an implied threat of violence to livelihood or self.

- (https://tim.blog/2016/01/13/eric-weinstein/)

Church and Pike commissions

Were two parallel committees run in the US House and Senate investigating illegal activities by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Security Agency (NSA). In the 1970's

References and Links:

Church Committee

Wikipedia Church Committee

Brookings institute on the Church Committee

Pike Committee

Wikipedia on the Pike Committee

The CIA themselves on the Pike Committee

De-Potemkin

Depotemkin, verb: To create the missing reality that a façade was originally constructed to suggest was present.

Twitter

Don't screw yourself out of magic

• https://twitter.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1169339966477852673
• https://nilesjohnson.net/seven-manifolds.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milnor

The Educational Complex

A system of selective political, economic, and memetic pressures resulting in a cult of the teaching profession which prioritizes the careerist desires of the educators over the learning needs of the students.

High Agency

When you’re told that something is impossible, is that the end of the conversation, or does that start a second dialogue in your mind, how to get around whoever it is that’s just told you that you can’t do something? So how am I gonna get past this bouncer who told me that I can’t come into this nightclub? How am I going to start a business when my credit is terrible and I have no experience? You’re constantly looking for what is possible in a kind of MacGyverish sort of a way. And that’s your approach to the world.

- (https://tim.blog/2016/01/13/eric-weinstein/)

Irrationality

Irrationality is a feature not a bug. It gives us the ability to Camp and decamp.

It's a beautiful thing

This originates from New York City.

Meaning: You can extract money from people with no say in the matter.

Related: "It's perfectly legal" – something ethically dubious may be going on.

Kayfabe

"A rigorous system would be capable of tying together an altered reality of layered falsehoods in which absolutely nothing can be assumed to be as it appears. Such a system, in continuous development for more than a century, is known to exist and now supports an intricate multi-billion dollar business empire of pure hokum. It is known to wrestling's insiders as "Kayfabe"." (E Weinstein 2011)

Erics Original Edge.org Response relating to Kayfabe

Meaning

"The meaning of my life is the progressing struggle to impart meaning to meaning." [2]

Middle Finger

It's the US’s Competitive Advantage. One of the things that the US still has over, let’s say, a competitor like China is that we tolerate the middle finger. it’s really important to start respecting our marginal citizens of greatest ability, and looking for the unusual personality types that are irreverent and committed enough to making things happen and really do things.

- (https://tim.blog/2016/01/13/eric-weinstein/)

Minus epsilon

This originates from the epsilon-delta definition of a limit in mathematics.

Samizdat

The clandestine copying and distribution of literature banned by the state, especially formerly in the communist countries of eastern Europe.

Steady hands

This originates from Washington D.C.

"He has steady hands." You can count on him to do the wrong thing during an emergency to keep everyone on the inside okay Everyone on the inside is super dependent to burn all of their credibility in public

Steel-manning

The steel man argument (or steelmanning) is the exact opposite of the straw man argument. The idea is to find the best form of the opponent's argument to test opposing opinions.

Steelmanning

Teaching disabilities

Not Learning Disabilities Differential diagnosis

Terms of Service

References:

• https://twitter.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1071092543536848896
• https://twitter.com/ericrweinstein/status/1071216823742291968

There is no secret ingredient

This is a line from Eric's favorite movie, Kung Fu Panda.

Umwelt

(in ethology) The world as it is experienced by a particular organism.