On 4/17/2021 11:06 AM, Falsifian via agora-business wrote:
On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 09:52:45PM -0700, Aris Merchant via agora-business
wrote:
On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 7:10 PM nix via agora-official
<agora-offic...@agoranomic.org> wrote:
I intend, with 2 Agoran consent, to award Jason the degree of Doctorate
of Nomic Science.
I support.
Normally, I think this would be about the level of a Magisteriate. The
quality is high, the analysis is interesting, and the research has
sparked a lot of discussions about whether us agreeing so much is a
good thing or a bad thing. I think the contribution is at about the
"remarkable" target for a Magisteriate level degree.
However, the candidate already has a Magisteriate. This leaves us two
choices: we can go down, or we can go up. There are a few factors that
make me want to go up.
First, I have long believed that we are too sparing with high-level
degrees. I think that the standards of Agora in general are too high.
At our recent standard, barely any work in the entire history of the
game would qualify for a Doctorate. ais523's thesis on the
"Paraconsistency is overrated" debacle might, but I don't know what
else would. I believe it would do us good to push back, just a bit,
against that standard.
Second, Rule 1367 notes that "Any degree at the Doctorate level SHOULD
take into account the awardee's academic history and participation in
Agora over time." It is manifestly against this idea for us to punish
past academic success with a lower degree rather than rewarding it
with a higher one.
Finally, I come back to the quality of the work. Although this work
feels around the level of Magisteriate, I would say that, between the
"substantial" contribution for a Baccalaureate and the "exceptional"
contribution Doctorate, this work seems closer to the Doctoral level.
This is amplified by the type of Doctorate the thesis committee now
considers awarding. This is a Doctorate of Nomic Science, not a
Doctorate of Nomic Philosophy. The lack of subtle insight is little
obstacle to us awarding *this* degree. Simply put, this is one of the
most interesting analyses of a dataset I have seen in my time in
Agora, quite possibly the most interesting. Jason has taken the data e
had as Assessor and ran with it, putting it through nearly every kind
of analysis that I can think of and some that I probably couldn't
have. This thesis sets a new standard for Agoran science. In that
sense, it truly is an exceptional contribution to the game.
-Aris
I support. Aris's reasoning is good.
I also agree with Aris's reasoning, and I support the intent to award
Jason the Doctorate of Nomic Science degree.
--
ATMunn
friendly neighborhood notary :)
