That stinks

A professor used to remark in response to an argument or statement or proof, in the classroom setting, that was not quite what it seemed, or ought to be, with "that stinks" as an expression of his evaluation. The use of "what stinks" leads to a discussion about how a nose (or what nose) helps us ferret (if you will allow) out the truth.

There are several types of noses ranging from the protuberance with which we face our daily lives to a high-ranging nose applied in the rarefied air of some mathematical spaces. Of course, we'll need to look at little 't' and big 'T' aspects of the nose.

Too, to further our explanation of the problematic aspects of computation, we can talk about several nose models. Truth engineering postulates that 'truth' assessment requires some 'nose' (its or their [as it could be noses] attributes to be defined) that is associated with intelligence of a humanly type.

Now, going to a concrete example of something that stunk then and still stinks, we can look at the consequences of some business practices. In this particular case, a significant number of older workers lost their retirement benefits. This is problematic as one trait of advancement in age is diminishing chance of recovering from failure. How are lost benefits to be made up by the older folk who lost, not due to their taking risk [except for working at the site] but due to what could be characterized as greedy manipulations by financial sharks.

One area to discuss in an objective manner might be the role of the union in cases like this. What could the union have done, perhaps, to help the matter? It needs to be noted that the whole affair seemed to have a union busting flavor; what is there that might allow a more clear assessment of such a claim?

Whose nose knows?

Remarks:

09/22/08 -- Well, Goldman Sachs wants to change the game. Why is this important? Well, the event was handled by their expertise; you see, they had rolled in the dough for years. Fortunately, for those who made it here; the timing worked. Not long after this, the financial games started to unwind. It's taken awhile. But, now with this development, we'll be more explicit and analytic.

01/01/08 -- 'stinks' pertains to one of several senses. As we know, in our advanced state of knowledge, there are ways that we can get better at the control issues. So, expect the 'nose' to become more multi-dimensional and multi-faceted (nose with legs, so to speak).

Modified: 09/22/2008