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Why everyone should think like a lawyer

Modify argument is not the same as change position. In military think, "we should not defend this open ground, let us stay here and modify our position" is not the same as "we should not defend this open ground, let us move onto that ridge behind that river."
In your example, what is the objective? Defending a position or is it something bigger?
 
In your example, what is the objective? Defending a position or is it something bigger?

The objective is to be right. I don't want to be so wed to a position that I will ignore that it is the wrong position. You never saw me claim Biden was in OK health, even though it was the position "my side" took. I have no interest what my perceived liberal side's position is. Hence why I also support a spending freeze for the government (but overall spending, we can redistribute to priorities). I didn't particularly criticize Manchin, he had to represent his people.

So I don't get things like RINO. I don't think there should be a litmus test for a party. Bending one's opinion to fit in should be wrong.

So the example I gave of COVID worked. I bought that it was needed to close schools in the opening weeks, we had no idea yet what was happening. But the evidence came back that schools could be reopened as long as we had a system for protecting the kids/families that were at danger (and there were some). It didn't matter what team blue thought, go with the evidence.
 
The objective is to be right. I don't want to be so wed to a position that I will ignore that it is the wrong position. You never saw me claim Biden was in OK health, even though it was the position "my side" took. I have no interest what my perceived liberal side's position is. Hence why I also support a spending freeze for the government (but overall spending, we can redistribute to priorities). I didn't particularly criticize Manchin, he had to represent his people.

So I don't get things like RINO. I don't think there should be a litmus test for a party. Bending one's opinion to fit in should be wrong.

So the example I gave of COVID worked. I bought that it was needed to close schools in the opening weeks, we had no idea yet what was happening. But the evidence came back that schools could be reopened as long as we had a system for protecting the kids/families that were at danger (and there were some). It didn't matter what team blue thought, go with the evidence.
your approach is how everyone should think. lawyers in their practice operate more along the lines of the partisans we see on the board. you represent a side and therein are limited in your advocacy
 
The objective is to be right. I don't want to be so wed to a position that I will ignore that it is the wrong position. You never saw me claim Biden was in OK health, even though it was the position "my side" took. I have no interest what my perceived liberal side's position is. Hence why I also support a spending freeze for the government (but overall spending, we can redistribute to priorities). I didn't particularly criticize Manchin, he had to represent his people.

So I don't get things like RINO. I don't think there should be a litmus test for a party. Bending one's opinion to fit in should be wrong.

So the example I gave of COVID worked. I bought that it was needed to close schools in the opening weeks, we had no idea yet what was happening. But the evidence came back that schools could be reopened as long as we had a system for protecting the kids/families that were at danger (and there were some). It didn't matter what team blue thought, go with the evidence.
For the vast majority of things there is no right. There is only better or worse. Accepting ambiguity is part of thinking like a lawyer, according to my opening link.

FWIW, I don’t think closing schools was “right” and it wasn’t the best answer either.
 
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The objective is to be right. I don't want to be so wed to a position that I will ignore that it is the wrong position. You never saw me claim Biden was in OK health, even though it was the position "my side" took. I have no interest what my perceived liberal side's position is. Hence why I also support a spending freeze for the government (but overall spending, we can redistribute to priorities). I didn't particularly criticize Manchin, he had to represent his people.

So I don't get things like RINO. I don't think there should be a litmus test for a party. Bending one's opinion to fit in should be wrong.

So the example I gave of COVID worked. I bought that it was needed to close schools in the opening weeks, we had no idea yet what was happening. But the evidence came back that schools could be reopened as long as we had a system for protecting the kids/families that were at danger (and there were some). It didn't matter what team blue thought, go with the evidence.
That's why you're Sigma, Marv. You could rizz Livvy Dunn like Kai Cenat.
 
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For the vast majority of things there is no right. There is only better or worse. Accepting ambiguity is part of thinking like a lawyer, according to my opening link.

FWIW, I don’t think closing schools was “right” and it wasn’t the best answer either.

The book Premonition by Michael Lewis does a great job of breaking down those early days. Our early modeling suggested it was going to be bad, but then they discovered something missing. The model didn't include children. second graders riding four to a bus row would spread a contagious disease FAR faster than anything else. The risk of having all of America come down with COVID within a few days was way too high given we had no idea how bad it was going to be. Our ICU capability was swamped as it was.
 
For the vast majority of things there is no right. There is only better or worse. Accepting ambiguity is part of thinking like a lawyer, according to my opening link.

FWIW, I don’t think closing schools was “right” and it wasn’t the best answer either.

Ambiguity exists, but most ideas can be tested. Let me ask this, what do you find ambiguous about the success of Biden's immigration plan?
 

Pretty interesting take on applying lawyer-think to business everyday life.

Scott Turow, an excellent legal fiction writer, described a legal education like this :

But legal education is not about specific cases or statutes. It is, as Mr Turow later understands, about processing a mountain of information and exercising judgment. It teaches how to infer rules from patterns, use analogies, anticipate what might happen next, accept ambiguity and be ready to question everything.
I mostly agree, especially the part about being ready to question everything. Particularly when group-think is involved. But should everybody think like a lawyer? Not at all. Not all lawyers think like a lawyer. Variety is good. But the independence lawyers bring to the table is important.

As Ken Nunn in his television ads says, "Not all lawyers are alike".
 
The book Premonition by Michael Lewis does a great job of breaking down those early days. Our early modeling suggested it was going to be bad, but then they discovered something missing. The model didn't include children. second graders riding four to a bus row would spread a contagious disease FAR faster than anything else. The risk of having all of America come down with COVID within a few days was way too high given we had no idea how bad it was going to be. Our ICU capability was swamped as it was.
I don’t think your last sentence is correct. I think only ICUs in NYC were swamped.

My wife works at Rush, downtown Chicago. It’s the designated biohazard hospital, designed to handle it better than others, for Chicago. They were busy but never so full they couldn’t handle things.

Chicago had the McCormick center ready to use but I don’t think it ever became necessary.
 
If only scientists adhered to this…..
They pretty much all do. It's the business & PR people that they report to, though, (like pharma CEOs) that put a spin on things.

Or its the media who always try to overstate the findings of a study. Say you have an experimental ALS drug and the prevalence of ALS among those talking the drug is 6 in 100,000 people, and those not taking the drug is 9 in 100,000 people. The headlines scream "33% reduction in ALS cases" without noting that both the 6 in 100,000 and 9 in 100,000 figures have ERROR BARS associated with them, and that -33% may in fact be -10% or even 0%.
 
Ambiguity exists, but most ideas can be tested. Let me ask this, what do you find ambiguous about the success of Biden's immigration plan?
Not sure what you are asking about immigration. I think the bill was a nonstarter because it legitimized an erroneous view of asylum and tied law enforcement’s hands. Not sure what that has to do with thinking like a lawyer and I’m not gonna debate immigration in this thread.
 
I don’t think your last sentence is correct. I think only ICUs in NYC were swamped.

My wife works at Rush, downtown Chicago. It’s the designated biohazard hospital, designed to handle it better than others, for Chicago. They were busy but never so full they couldn’t handle things.

Chicago had the McCormick center ready to use but I don’t think it ever became necessary.

Some areas ran out, Bloomington and Bedford ran out. Indiana went below 10% statewide, hard to believe that happened and some hospitals weren't at or over 100


Here is Texas saying they had hospitals run out

 
They pretty much all do. It's the business & PR people that they report to, though, (like pharma CEOs) that put a spin on things.

Or its the media who always try to overstate the findings of a study. Say you have an experimental ALS drug and the prevalence of ALS among those talking the drug is 6 in 100,000 people, and those not taking the drug is 9 in 100,000 people. The headlines scream "33% reduction in ALS cases" without noting that both the 6 in 100,000 and 9 in 100,000 figures have ERROR BARS associated with them, and that -33% may in fact be -10% or even 0%.
Or it might be a .003% reduction from 9/100,000 to 6/100.000
 
They pretty much all do. It's the business & PR people that they report to, though, (like pharma CEOs) that put a spin on things.

Or its the media who always try to overstate the findings of a study. Say you have an experimental ALS drug and the prevalence of ALS among those talking the drug is 6 in 100,000 people, and those not taking the drug is 9 in 100,000 people. The headlines scream "33% reduction in ALS cases" without noting that both the 6 in 100,000 and 9 in 100,000 figures have ERROR BARS associated with them, and that -33% may in fact be -10% or even 0%.
Do you have data to support this? Because research scientists have incentives to oversell their conclusions. I'd think you'd know this and mention it, if you weren't trying to construct a post like a lawyer to "win at all costs." TIC

The problem has been written about a lot over the last decade, and those who are complaining have at least some evidence to back it up:





 
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Do you have data to support this? Because research scientists have incentives to oversell their conclusions. I'd think you'd know this and mention it, if you weren't trying to construct a post like a lawyer to "win at all costs." TIC

The problem has been written about a lot over the last decade, and those who are complaining have at least some evidence to back it up:






It is a problem, but much of the time the media has a lot of the blame. It isn't hard to find a story suggesting we are seconds away from something like fusion, but in reading the article the scientist with the "breakthrough" in no way says that. Or that a comet is on course to hit earth in 2028, and when one reads the article they give it a 3% chance and expect to be able to rule it out in just a few days.

But yes, in a world where one chases money, some play the game and oversell their product. A person suggesting their work on new generation batteries is just a waypoint that MIGHT lead someone else to a new discovery isn't as likely to get funding as the person who says their lead will create batteries the size of a dime that can power a car for 1000 miles.

It just shows scientists are subject to the same foibles.

The thing is, outside the grant process, a scientist claiming a theory of everything that cannot prove it with math will face intense scrutiny. The theory will quickly go into the garbage heap, far faster than our political failed theories do.
 
Do you have data to support this? Because research scientists have incentives to oversell their conclusions. I'd think you'd know this and mention it, if you weren't trying to construct a post like a lawyer to "win at all costs." TIC
No, I don't, just basing it on personal experience. I would say that in my field anyway the impact of a proposed study is often oversold in research grant proposals, where you are incentivized to make the grant reviewers want to give you money.

But when it comes to a research paper, the peer review process necessarily makes you justify your conclusions and not oversell them, with precise language and recognition of statistical significance.

But then after you get the high impact publication, you are contacted by your organization's science writer, and you really need to insist on editing the final draft, otherwise they make it look like you cured a rainy day. Then the broader news media reads the press release and takes it even further.

"No, please don't write that! I didn't say that this new drug X was a cure for all brain cancers. I said that, when added to this other drug Y, there is a combined effect of extending the mean survival time in mouse models, from 3 months on drug Y to 18 months on the combination, which is near the expected lifespan of the mice used in the study. And we only looked at one genetic form of brain cancer. Further studies are needed to see if this result recapitulates in humans"

The science writers always think that the facts don't sound sexy enough.
 
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