It is hard to say if it's just me, or perhaps others see the absurdity of some of the research going on in academia - you know things that people just know due to their observations. After all, how many times have you read studies and just laughed and said; "Duh, I could have told you that, or everyone knows that, why the study in the first place? Yes, it happens all the time and you certainly are not the first to point out such. Would you like me to give you an example - let's talk about this okay?
For instance, recently there was an interesting blog post on MIT's Technology Review ArXIV Blog posted on December 12, 2010 by KFC titled; "Cyclists Pedal Faster On Wednesdays, Reveals Smart Bike Data - The first analysis of data from shared bicycle networks in Europe, reveals some surprising urban cycling patterns," and it turns out the big brouhaha was about the fact finding mission and data which showed that electric bicyclists peddled harder on Wednesdays than any other day of the week, when they used their bikes for both recreation and commuting.
But, I ask you; does this surprise you? Not me, in fact at Starbucks today, I asked 12 random people to guess which day those who road their electric bikes for both pleasure and commuting - they peddled the hardest. Two-thirds of the people guessed Wednesday, 3 declined to guess, and one guessed wrong. Guess what - the wisdom of the crowd already knew the answer, again nothing new to report here, it's just an obvious observation of humans in society.
Still, realize that I was talking to Americans in American Society, not Europeans, here people do not often ride their bikes as much, yet, everyone knew the answer. I bet the people of Europe knew this too. Okay so, now I ask you, why are we studying such things in the first place? Are the empirical evidence gatherers bored; do they have too much time on their hands, or is there simply too much funding for nonsensical alternative and green energy research grants these days?
For instance, recently there was an interesting blog post on MIT's Technology Review ArXIV Blog posted on December 12, 2010 by KFC titled; "Cyclists Pedal Faster On Wednesdays, Reveals Smart Bike Data - The first analysis of data from shared bicycle networks in Europe, reveals some surprising urban cycling patterns," and it turns out the big brouhaha was about the fact finding mission and data which showed that electric bicyclists peddled harder on Wednesdays than any other day of the week, when they used their bikes for both recreation and commuting.
But, I ask you; does this surprise you? Not me, in fact at Starbucks today, I asked 12 random people to guess which day those who road their electric bikes for both pleasure and commuting - they peddled the hardest. Two-thirds of the people guessed Wednesday, 3 declined to guess, and one guessed wrong. Guess what - the wisdom of the crowd already knew the answer, again nothing new to report here, it's just an obvious observation of humans in society.
Still, realize that I was talking to Americans in American Society, not Europeans, here people do not often ride their bikes as much, yet, everyone knew the answer. I bet the people of Europe knew this too. Okay so, now I ask you, why are we studying such things in the first place? Are the empirical evidence gatherers bored; do they have too much time on their hands, or is there simply too much funding for nonsensical alternative and green energy research grants these days?
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