āThe reality is that women are treated differently by society for exactly the same reason that children and the mentally handicapped are treated differently.ā - Scott Adams
SOME people are Simple-minded and SOME are optimizing their media choices by not listening to misogynists.
These ātwo types of peopleā things can miss a lot of in-between, but I think heās got a point about looking at your life as a whole and going for what causes the least stress.
Itās easy to focus on tasks and expectations without considering the one resource you have to apply to those things: yourself. Saying ānoā once in a while might mean doing less things, but youāll do them better and be simplifying and optimising all at once!
Oh, come, come, now. If the Invisible Hand chooses to pat rich white guys on the head, that means Market Forces have ensured the Optimum Solution. Freedom itself has chosen a winner! Canāt grumble about Freedom!
Even Certified Genius misogynists?
Another big advantage of simplification is that it frees up time, and time is one of your most valuable resources in the world.
Hmm. He must be using a different rubric for optimization than I do. Iām an inveterate optimizer, largely because optimizing frees up time. If I figure out the most efficient order in which to empty all the trash cans in the house on trash night, once, then I save myself three minutes every week, and never have to think about it again. Once Iāve worked out the optimum bike route home from work, I can ride easy forever after, knowing Iām not wasting time or effort.
(Granted, Iām also driven by the psychological satisfaction of efficiency, which is its own little neurosis. But I do think optimization for optimizationās sake is ultimately a time- and effort-saver.)
I think āpragmatists and perfectionistsā might be a better way of putting it.
Itās not the first time Adams has chosen his words poorly 
at what point does writerās block develop into megalomania?
āI realize I might take some heat for lumping women, children and the mentally handicapped in the same group. So I want to be perfectly clear. Iām not saying women are similar to either group. Iām saying that a manās best strategy for dealing with each group is disturbingly similar.ā
-Scott Adams (in the same post AK selectively quotes)
Working on a high school robotics team with a 6-week build season has taught me a lot about the choice between simplicity and optimality.
There is a third quality, elegance. Elegance is optimal simplicity. Itās not easy to achieve, and Apple charges a lot for it. Typically, many complex ideas are examined and discarded before the elegant solution comes along, but itās always a āWhy didnāt I think of that earlier?ā moment when it arrives.
Let me know, Scott, when you find a way to get to elegance without examining a lot of non-optimal, non-simple solutions first.
Boing, Boing - youāve done it again (sigh). There are so many innovative artists, comic artists, and creative types whose work deserves a wider audience and youāve given this platformā¦to this guy.
Iāve never seen this quote in its context before (an article criticising menās rights groups for complaining about their own problems). [Hereās][1] the offending article with some of Adamsā explanation:
But perhaps I can summarize my viewpoint so you can understand why Iām such a misogynist asshole douche bag. Hereās my view in brief:
You canāt expect to have a rational discussion on any topic that has an emotional charge. Emotion pushes out reason. That is true for all humans, including children, men, women, and people in every range of mental ability. The path of least resistance is to walk away from that sort of fight. Men generally prefer the path of least resistance. The exception is when men irrationally debate with other men. Thatās a type of sport. No one expects opinions to be changed as a result.
Are women more emotional than men? Iām not sure how you measure that sort of thing. On the emotional scoreboard, does one personās anger equal another personās excitement? All I know for sure is that the Menās Rights group I poked with a stick has some irritable dudes.
I guess heās mainly saying that menās rights advocates are kind of dumb because on balance, they get a pretty good deal out of the inequality. Men (especially simplifiers like Scott Adams) donāt care much about a lot of what goes on around them, so their best strategy is not to weigh in when faced with people who are more emotionally involved (such as women, children and disabled people). I get the idea that he isnāt on board with a number of areas of feminism, but here heās just telling MRAs that theyāre just pissing in the wind. They should just sit down and shut up, if for no other reason than that thereās no benefit to bringing your own relatively minor issues to this argument (especially as theyāre often voiced by people who arenāt affected by them much in the first place).
@Dr_Awkward I realize I might take some heat for lumping women, children and the mentally handicapped in the same group."
Itās his talent for understatement that keeps me coming back for more. Maybe he should listen to his own advice?
[1]: http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/im_a_what/
Yeah. Thatās SO MUCH BETTER in ācontextā.
Itās like he was handed an EXTRA shovel to dig his hole.
At the scottadams point[TM] (measured in millions of viewers).
Which is optimal? Parking as close to work as you can each day, to keep your walk in as short as possible? Or parking far away, but always in the same spot, so you never have to think about where you parked? Is āfasterā always āoptimalā? If you do something faster, but introduce more errors, is it optimal?
Iām in the camp that parks far away and has five of the same pants, shirt and socks (but I vary my ties, thatās important - not a robot) to optimize dressing for work.
How about those times Scott Adams was posting all this stuff about how great he was under a sock puppet account. Huh, huh? So funny am I right ? What a comedic genius !
http://www.salon.com/2011/04/19/scott_adams_sock-puppetry_scandal/
I donāt think Apple is achieving any kind of optimal with their phones right now. No NFC, no slot for a memory card? I hate it. Iām an old school apple fan, but Iām no iFan, waiting in line for days or paying thousands of dollars for a crippled phone. Iām tied to the iPhone for one reason and one reason only - Hipstamatic (now thatās elegance). The minute they make the move to android Iām going with them.
Grr. I fell for it. This topic has nothing to do with Apple and I got trapped in it.
Is not having NFC a simplification or an optimal thing?
"If the situation involves communication with others, simplification is almost always the right answer. "
For example, if you create a couple sockpuppets, you can simplify the conversation to the point where it doesnāt actually involve other people.
A simplification. Especially considering that NFC is a niche application in most parts of the world.
