After the 2008 economic crisis - two pro-austerity economist ghouls, Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff created an economics paper that said (Surprise!) austerity is good! And the media regurgitated that shit as gospel and governments used the paper as an excuse for austerity.

A spreadsheet error from two Harvard professors leading to incorrect economic policies after 2008 recession

It's 2010, and the world is coming out of recession. Two Harvard professors--one of whom is a former economist for the IMF and chess Grandmaster--publish a paper suggesting that a country with a high public debt-to-GDP ratio of over 90% is associated with low economic growth. Turns out the Excel model the professors use is riddled with some basic statistical and formula errors. The results potentially lead to incorrect economic policies, austerity measures, and high unemployment around the world.

At least in that case there were two human beings the bullshit could be directly connected to. But now...

Since chatbots are regurgitating information

The fucking bots are running the show!

[–] SoyViking@hexbear.net 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We were promised the cool Terminator/Matrix robot apocalypse. Instead we got fascism by ChatGPT.

[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 11 points 3 days ago

I torrented the movie but I still want a refund. :(

[–] BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 8 points 3 days ago

Turns out the Excel model the professors use is riddled with some basic statistical and formula errors.

Didn't something similar happen with the Freakonomics guys? It seems like a disturbing amount of policy consensus is derived from boomers misusing Excel.