Popular in Professional

Leading Figures

Induction of Social Contagion

Yale University Nicholas A. Christakis

Business

The Allegory of the Favela: The Multifaceted Effects of Socioeconomic Mobility

University of Pennsylvania Leandro S. Pongeluppe

Architecture

Connecting Cities and Nature

University of Virginia Timothy Beatley

Human Rights Law

Human Rights and Corruption: Problems and Potential of Individualising a Systemic Problem

Max Planck Institute Anne Peters

Finance

Chinese Exchange Rate Policy: Lessons for Global Investors

University of California San Diego Michael Melvin

Law

A statistical approach to law school citation rankings

University of Virginia Joshua Fischman

Education

Sucking Stones

View more insights in Professional - Business - Operational Research

View more figures from Anglia Ruskin University

View the page of Gregory Allen

Read the Study

Next in Business

Do Investors Value Workforce Gender Diversity?

David P. Daniels | National University of Singapore

Design of Patient Visit Itineraries in Tandem Systems

Nan Liu | Boston College

Gregory Allen attempts to highlight ontological paradoxes and examples of the absurd in cross cultural management (CCM) studies.

Image courtesy of interviewee. January 15, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

The speaker discusses their academic journey, particularly their collaboration with Professor Rob Campbell, a philosopher and expert on Samuel Beckett. They express a long-standing interest in Beckett's work, specifically the novel "Molloy," which they found to resonate with their critique of cross-cultural management methodologies.

The speaker's PhD focused on cross-cultural management in Central and Eastern Europe, where they criticized existing paradigms. They draw connections between the absurdity depicted in "Molloy" and the futility of relying on quantitative methods in cross-cultural studies, which they argue yield trivial results despite considerable effort in data collection and analysis.

The speaker critiques the foundational work of Gert Hofstede in cross-cultural management, suggesting that his methodology is based on the flawed assumption that culture is immutable, ignoring the significant changes cultures undergo over time. They conclude that while statistical analysis can be thorough, the outputs often reinforce stereotypes rather than providing meaningful insights.

The speaker also reflects on their future research interests, including the portrayal of work in science fiction and how it engages with societal fears about technology and the future. They believe that these fears are often exaggerated and aim to explore these themes further.

Language:

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.305 --> 00:03.685
It was working with my former PhD, supervisor,

00:03.685 --> 00:05.845
professor Rob Campbell, who's a, a philosopher

00:05.905 --> 00:09.445
and, a a a Beckett, expert, Semial Beckett expert,

00:09.825 --> 00:12.245
miles away from my subject area, really.

00:12.305 --> 00:14.965
But, but I, I love reading Beckett, and I always have,

00:15.505 --> 00:16.685
and I've always been a bit of a,

00:17.305 --> 00:19.565
so I've got a background in quantitative methods.

00:19.795 --> 00:22.965
I've always been a bit of a, a, a geeky amateur,

00:23.195 --> 00:25.805
math, aficionado.

00:25.945 --> 00:28.565
Uh, and, and I, I was just speaking

00:28.565 --> 00:32.405
with him one day about a Beckett play craps slash tape,

00:32.425 --> 00:33.685
and it got me reinterested

00:33.685 --> 00:38.255
and I reread the novel Molloy dearly out of, for pleasure,

00:38.255 --> 00:39.895
nothing to do with my academic work.

00:40.595 --> 00:43.855
And, and I just thought back to my PhD dissertation,

00:43.855 --> 00:47.775
which had been around, cross-cultural management.

00:47.775 --> 00:49.935
And in particular, I was looking at cross-cultural

00:49.935 --> 00:51.655
management in central and Eastern Europe,

00:51.755 --> 00:55.135
and being very critical of the predominant, methodology,

00:55.955 --> 00:59.295
or paradigm used in cross-cultural management studies.

00:59.835 --> 01:02.295
And I thought that that, that, that the sort

01:02.295 --> 01:04.415
of absurdity highlighted in this

01:04.635 --> 01:08.975
by Beckett very beautifully in this novel, Molo, sort

01:08.975 --> 01:11.415
of encapsulated what I was trying to say about the,

01:11.415 --> 01:13.975
this predominant paradigm in, in, in the field.

01:14.235 --> 01:18.815
So I, I am a very much a believer that, that, that,

01:19.255 --> 01:22.855
literature and films can often be very useful metaphors for,

01:23.035 --> 01:25.095
academic concepts.

01:25.155 --> 01:27.015
So I, I, it sparked the idea,

01:27.075 --> 01:31.375
and this was the most fun I've ever had writing any article,

01:31.885 --> 01:35.455
even, professor Rob Campbell, my, my colleague,

01:35.455 --> 01:37.495
would be able to summarize it nicely.

01:37.775 --> 01:38.815
I I don't think anyone

01:38.815 --> 01:42.175
who knows the story can really summarize, what,

01:42.175 --> 01:43.935
what Mulloy is actually about.

01:44.035 --> 01:46.895
Uh, it, it, it, it, it's, it's, it's one of three,

01:47.115 --> 01:49.695
novels, a trilogy.

01:49.835 --> 01:53.915
Uh, but let, let me focus on the relevant part of the,

01:53.935 --> 01:56.515
of, of the novel, which will make my life easier.

01:57.695 --> 02:01.115
Uh, there is a section in the, in, in, in the novel

02:02.025 --> 02:06.215
where Mulloy, the sort of anti-hero who's, sort

02:06.215 --> 02:11.095
of a, a elderly homeless, individual is,

02:11.275 --> 02:12.775
is, is walking along the beach.

02:12.835 --> 02:15.055
And as I recall, I think this passage,

02:15.915 --> 02:17.295
it takes place over about three

02:17.295 --> 02:18.415
or four pages of the novel,

02:18.425 --> 02:20.455
which are all written in a single paragraph.

02:21.355 --> 02:23.375
And, it's, it's worth stating beforehand that,

02:23.375 --> 02:26.535
that Beckett was quite a good mathematician himself and,

02:26.535 --> 02:29.975
and, and quite interested in, in, in maths and philosophy.

02:30.595 --> 02:33.335
And so, Molo is walking a pebbled beach,

02:34.555 --> 02:38.775
and he has four pockets, and he, he picks up stones

02:38.775 --> 02:41.255
and puts, I believe it's five stones in each pocket.

02:41.795 --> 02:43.375
And he, he, he's sucking on them

02:43.395 --> 02:44.975
and sucks the, the salt,

02:45.315 --> 02:47.655
the salt from the sea off of these stones.

02:48.675 --> 02:51.335
And he, he, he, he, he sucks one for a bit

02:51.335 --> 02:53.735
and then puts it back in a pocket and takes another one.

02:54.115 --> 02:56.295
And he starts to wonder is, is there a way

02:56.965 --> 03:00.965
that he can rotate these stones in his four pockets in such

03:00.965 --> 03:04.445
a way that ensures that he never sucks the same stone twice

03:05.175 --> 03:08.965
until he's sucked all other 19 stones, yet at the same time,

03:09.105 --> 03:11.805
you know, he, he can't put too many in one individual pocket

03:11.805 --> 03:13.525
because it's simply not, not big enough.

03:13.865 --> 03:16.485
So he goes through all the different mathemat,

03:16.485 --> 03:18.285
mathematical permutations,

03:18.785 --> 03:22.285
and finally concludes that, that no, it's, it's, it's, it's,

03:22.285 --> 03:24.085
it's, it's, it's not possible actually.

03:24.115 --> 03:26.805
It's, it's, it's, it's, it's quite impossible.

03:26.825 --> 03:28.845
But, but then he, he thinks on this a bit further,

03:28.985 --> 03:30.605
and I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll quote from

03:30.605 --> 03:31.925
the, from from the book here.

03:31.945 --> 03:33.205
He, he, he decides at the end

03:33.205 --> 03:34.885
that he doesn't even like sucking stones

03:35.625 --> 03:38.685
and that he'll throw them all away, apart from one.

03:38.985 --> 03:42.085
Uh, and, and then he says, which, which,

03:42.895 --> 03:45.165
which he kept now in one pocket, now in another,

03:45.265 --> 03:48.205
and which of course, I soon lost or threw away,

03:48.305 --> 03:50.285
or gave away, away or swallowed.

03:50.865 --> 03:52.125
So it's sort of making the point that

03:52.125 --> 03:54.885
after all this great deliberation af

03:54.885 --> 03:58.085
after this incredible sort of thought experiment, that,

03:58.115 --> 04:00.045
that actually, it, it, it doesn't matter.

04:00.155 --> 04:03.485
It's, it's all just absurd philosophical absurdism.

04:03.585 --> 04:06.925
Uh, quite simply is the idea that nothing matters.

04:07.475 --> 04:09.405
That, that it's, it's all futile.

04:09.915 --> 04:12.725
That, that, that, that we, we strive

04:12.985 --> 04:15.645
to find inherent meaning in, in, in things,

04:15.905 --> 04:20.285
but we're doomed to failure because there is no meaning.

04:20.745 --> 04:22.925
And it, it, it, it almost implies that,

04:22.925 --> 04:24.245
that we shouldn't bother.

04:24.605 --> 04:26.485
Although, although the key proponents

04:26.485 --> 04:29.525
of philosophical absurdism, kiir God and,

04:29.545 --> 04:32.205
and Kaus, sort of turned it around

04:32.345 --> 04:35.205
and said, whilst everything seems absurd actually, that the,

04:35.205 --> 04:38.765
the, the there is reason, the, the,

04:38.765 --> 04:40.685
the working definition really adopted,

04:40.685 --> 04:43.125
for this paper is simply, is more around,

04:43.125 --> 04:47.325
methodological, in quantitative studies.

04:47.545 --> 04:50.805
Now, remember as I said that, that I have a background in,

04:50.825 --> 04:52.365
in, in, in quantitative methods.

04:52.545 --> 04:55.285
Uh, I, I've, a lot of my research has been quantitative,

04:55.285 --> 04:56.285
A lot has been qualitative,

04:56.285 --> 04:58.565
but I am, I, I sort of have a bit of a history

04:58.585 --> 05:03.325
of being critical of the misuse of quantitative methods.

05:04.105 --> 05:06.165
And, and this is what brought me to,

05:06.165 --> 05:07.285
cross-cultural management,

05:07.285 --> 05:12.165
because I think in, in something as, as as, sorry,

05:12.285 --> 05:13.685
I should perhaps back up a little bit.

05:13.855 --> 05:17.245
Brass cultural management is the, the study of, of,

05:17.265 --> 05:18.565
of national cultures

05:18.665 --> 05:22.205
and how the differences in national cultures,

05:23.595 --> 05:27.855
impact on, on managerial, systems and,

05:27.855 --> 05:29.215
and managerial behavior.

05:30.265 --> 05:34.045
But the basis of it is very much national cultures.

05:34.705 --> 05:37.885
And, and it's always been my feeling that, that, that the

05:38.555 --> 05:43.525
attempt to quantify national cultures is, is, is, is one

05:43.525 --> 05:47.325
that, that, that, that doesn't bring

05:48.135 --> 05:49.325
meaningful results.

05:49.605 --> 05:52.285
I think national culture is, is, is a fascinating topic.

05:52.485 --> 05:54.965
I think it's it's very worthy of study, but,

05:55.065 --> 05:57.325
but not in this, in this quantitative fashion.

05:58.585 --> 06:02.365
So, so that, that, that, that's it really is, is,

06:02.365 --> 06:06.125
is is this idea that the, that that absurdism is the idea

06:06.125 --> 06:09.405
that you put so much effort into collecting data,

06:09.795 --> 06:14.725
analyzing data, incredibly complex processes,

06:14.755 --> 06:18.245
huge data sets, yet the outputs that you get from it are,

06:18.305 --> 06:19.605
are trivial and meaningless.

06:19.785 --> 06:21.765
Uh, that, that's sort of what the, the,

06:21.865 --> 06:25.165
the way I came about it from the, the philosophical,

06:25.165 --> 06:27.045
sorry, the, the absurdist perspective

06:27.105 --> 06:28.565
to cross-cultural management studies.

06:28.985 --> 06:31.965
The key, the key proponent of, or, or,

06:32.025 --> 06:33.805
or, guru

06:34.865 --> 06:38.445
of cross-cultural management studies was a, a a, a Dutch,

06:38.585 --> 06:42.365
individual named Gert Hofstetter who, who,

06:42.745 --> 06:44.525
who passed away a, a few years ago,

06:44.585 --> 06:45.965
but he was hugely successful.

06:45.965 --> 06:49.805
He began a study in the 1970s, I believe it was, with IBM,

06:49.825 --> 06:52.885
and it went this, his questionnaire went to IBM,

06:53.445 --> 06:54.445
employees across the world.

06:54.505 --> 06:59.165
So he amassed this huge data set in which he looked at the

06:59.165 --> 07:02.005
differences between, between cultures

07:02.005 --> 07:03.965
and how they, they responded to these questions.

07:03.985 --> 07:08.855
And it's sort of just without, without, question a lot

07:08.855 --> 07:13.335
of the time been adopted as, as, as gospel really in,

07:13.335 --> 07:14.735
in business and management studies.

07:14.835 --> 07:17.615
And I, I make the case in this, this paper that business

07:17.615 --> 07:20.655
and management studies is perhaps an area that hasn't had

07:20.655 --> 07:23.015
to stand up to the same level of academic rigor

07:23.075 --> 07:26.215
as other areas in the, in the, the social sciences.

07:27.395 --> 07:31.655
Uh, so in terms of examples, well, when,

07:31.655 --> 07:34.895
when you read the work of Hofstetter, he,

07:36.315 --> 07:39.735
he describes the, the, the, the, the data sets that,

07:39.805 --> 07:40.975
that he was working with.

07:41.115 --> 07:44.495
He describes in great detail the, statistical,

07:44.675 --> 07:46.295
analysis of the data.

07:46.355 --> 07:49.775
And none of that, I have any problems with, it's a very

07:50.455 --> 07:53.055
thorough, statistic from, from a, a,

07:53.135 --> 07:54.415
a methodological perspective.

07:54.755 --> 07:57.815
The, the study itself and the analysis of the data is, is,

07:57.955 --> 07:59.655
is, is, is sound.

08:00.195 --> 08:02.775
Uh, it, it, it's, it's about the, the outputs.

08:02.775 --> 08:04.375
It's about what you get from this and,

08:04.475 --> 08:08.055
and the, a lot of the publications, a lot of the books

08:08.055 --> 08:12.495
of Hofsteder really just, just try it, it seems to me,

08:12.555 --> 08:17.055
in my opinion, seem to use this, this methodology

08:17.235 --> 08:21.655
to support just quite stereo, standard, stereotypical sort

08:21.655 --> 08:24.335
of portrayals about, you know, Germans being punctual,

08:24.935 --> 08:26.775
Italians being less so.

08:26.995 --> 08:30.135
And, I put a, a an example in the paper of, of

08:30.195 --> 08:32.895
how he describes the British, that,

08:33.375 --> 08:34.575
I live in the UK by the way.

08:34.575 --> 08:36.375
I live and work in, in, in, in the uk.

08:36.475 --> 08:37.855
Uh, but I'm originally Canadian.

08:38.515 --> 08:41.295
Uh, but, but his, I, his, his summary

08:41.295 --> 08:44.735
of the British is includes things like they wake up in the

08:44.735 --> 08:47.095
morning not really knowing what the day will bring,

08:47.155 --> 08:49.095
and that's fine with them, and they don't care,

08:49.315 --> 08:50.415
and things like this.

08:50.475 --> 08:54.175
It just seems really, to be, oddly

08:55.635 --> 08:58.925
Connected to, to, to this, you know, very thorough,

09:00.565 --> 09:03.295
statistical methodology that, that I described earlier.

09:03.895 --> 09:08.655
I think that this method is exhausted simply, it, it, it,

09:08.715 --> 09:10.855
it hasn't stood the test of time very well.

09:11.085 --> 09:13.175
That, that there, there, I think there,

09:13.175 --> 09:15.255
there were some legitimate uses for it,

09:15.395 --> 09:18.375
but, it, it, it's, it's, it, it's,

09:18.565 --> 09:19.855
it's, it's time to move on.

09:20.195 --> 09:24.055
Uh, one of the key fundamental flaws in, in Hofstadter's,

09:24.115 --> 09:27.655
approach, which I didn't get into in this paper, is that

09:28.675 --> 09:32.375
methodologically for his system to work, he needs to work

09:32.375 --> 09:36.975
with the assumption that culture, is immutable.

09:37.045 --> 09:38.215
That culture doesn't change,

09:38.235 --> 09:41.655
or at least culture remains static over decades

09:41.875 --> 09:44.255
and centuries, that it takes a incredibly long

09:44.255 --> 09:45.375
periods of time to change.

09:45.955 --> 09:49.175
And, and I just don't think that anybody living in the uk,

09:49.315 --> 09:52.655
for example, in the last 30 to 40 years, can really argue

09:52.725 --> 09:55.455
that, that that British culture hasn't changed.

09:55.515 --> 09:57.375
And I use British culture only as one example.

09:57.495 --> 09:58.495
I think anybody listening

09:58.495 --> 10:01.215
to this from anywhere in the world can think about their own

10:01.215 --> 10:02.775
culture over the last generation and,

10:02.775 --> 10:04.575
and the huge changes that have taken place.

10:04.795 --> 10:06.535
Now, that assumption is, is the,

10:06.535 --> 10:09.055
the entire methodology rests on that assumption.

10:09.995 --> 10:11.975
And if you can undermine one

10:11.975 --> 10:15.895
of the key assumptions on which any, methodology is, is,

10:15.955 --> 10:18.855
is constructed, then, then the whole methodology sort

10:18.855 --> 10:20.695
of comes, comes tumbling down.

10:21.415 --> 10:23.555
Moving on from this paper, I did really enjoy,

10:23.555 --> 10:24.675
and it's the first time I've really done this

10:24.725 --> 10:25.955
using literature.

10:26.175 --> 10:27.195
Uh, it,

10:27.215 --> 10:30.835
and certainly parts of literature is a, is a metaphor for,

10:30.895 --> 10:34.635
more, deeper sort of academic points that that,

10:34.635 --> 10:35.835
that I, I'm trying to make.

10:35.975 --> 10:38.115
And, at the moment I'm looking at the future of work

10:38.615 --> 10:41.315
and there's certainly a lot of fearmongering going about

10:41.315 --> 10:44.355
around AI and, and is it going to end the world

10:44.535 --> 10:45.795
and will we have any jobs?

10:45.935 --> 10:48.595
And I think a lot of that fear-mongering is, is unjustified.

10:49.235 --> 10:51.555
I, I'm, I'm very interested in looking at science fiction

10:51.575 --> 10:53.115
and the portrayal of, of the future

10:53.135 --> 10:54.715
of work in science fiction.

10:55.455 --> 10:58.395
Uh, blade Runner Dune are good examples, but, but,

10:58.395 --> 10:59.475
but there are many,

10:59.475 --> 11:03.435
because I think that these, that these works highlight,

11:03.535 --> 11:05.795
societies' fears about the future.

11:05.855 --> 11:08.395
And, and, and through doing so we can, we can show perhaps

11:08.395 --> 11:11.515
that a lot of those fears, are fiction and, and,

11:11.535 --> 11:12.595
and are not justified.

Exploring Absurdity Through Beckett's Work

00:00:00 - It was working with my former PhD, supervisor, professor Rob Campbell, who's a, a philosopher and, a a a Beckett, expert, Semial Beckett expert, miles away from my subject area, really. But, but I, I love reading Beckett, and I always have, and I've always been a bit of a, so I've got a background in quantitative methods. I've always been a bit of a, a, a geeky amateur, math, aficionado. and, and I, I was just speaking with him one day about a Beckett play craps slash tape,
00:00:33 - and I reread the novel Molloy dearly out of, for pleasure, nothing to do with my academic work. And, and I just thought back to my PhD dissertation, which had been around, cross-cultural management. And in particular, I was looking at cross-cultural management in central and Eastern Europe, and being very critical of the predominant, methodology, or paradigm used in cross-cultural management studies. And I thought that that, that, that the sort of absurdity highlighted in this
00:01:08 - of encapsulated what I was trying to say about the, this predominant paradigm in, in, in the field. So I, I am a very much a believer that, that, that, literature and films can often be very useful metaphors for, academic concepts. So I, I, it sparked the idea, and this was the most fun I've ever had writing any article, even, professor Rob Campbell, my, my colleague,
00:01:37 - I I don't think anyone who knows the story can really summarize, what, what Mulloy is actually about. it, it, it, it, it's, it's, it's one of three, novels, a trilogy. but let, let me focus on the relevant part of the, of, of the novel, which will make my life easier. there is a section in the, in, in, in the novel where Mulloy, the sort of anti-hero who's, sort
00:02:11 - is, is walking along the beach. And as I recall, I think this passage, it takes place over about three or four pages of the novel, which are all written in a single paragraph. And, it's, it's worth stating beforehand that, that Beckett was quite a good mathematician himself and, and, and quite interested in, in, in maths and philosophy. And so, Molo is walking a pebbled beach, and he has four pockets, and he, he picks up stones
00:02:41 - And he, he, he's sucking on them and sucks the, the salt, the salt from the sea off of these stones. And he, he, he, he, he sucks one for a bit and then puts it back in a pocket and takes another one. And he starts to wonder is, is there a way that he can rotate these stones in his four pockets in such a way that ensures that he never sucks the same stone twice until he's sucked all other 19 stones, yet at the same time,

Embracing Absurdism in Quantitative Analysis

00:03:11 - because it's simply not, not big enough. So he goes through all the different mathemat, mathematical permutations, and finally concludes that, that no, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's not possible actually. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's quite impossible. But, but then he, he thinks on this a bit further, and I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll quote from the, from from the book here. He, he, he decides at the end that he doesn't even like sucking stones and that he'll throw them all away, apart from one. and, and then he says, which, which,
00:03:45 - and which of course, I soon lost or threw away, or gave away, away or swallowed. So it's sort of making the point that after all this great deliberation af after this incredible sort of thought experiment, that, that actually, it, it, it doesn't matter. It's, it's all just absurd philosophical absurdism. quite simply is the idea that nothing matters. That, that it's, it's all futile. That, that, that, that we, we strive
00:04:15 - but we're doomed to failure because there is no meaning. And it, it, it, it almost implies that, that we shouldn't bother. Although, although the key proponents of philosophical absurdism, kiir God and, and Kaus, sort of turned it around and said, whilst everything seems absurd actually, that the, the, the there is reason, the, the, the working definition really adopted, for this paper is simply, is more around,
00:04:47 - Now, remember as I said that, that I have a background in, in, in, in quantitative methods. I, I've, a lot of my research has been quantitative, A lot has been qualitative, but I am, I, I sort of have a bit of a history of being critical of the misuse of quantitative methods. And, and this is what brought me to, cross-cultural management, because I think in, in something as, as as, sorry, I should perhaps back up a little bit.
00:05:17 - of national cultures and how the differences in national cultures, impact on, on managerial, systems and, and managerial behavior. But the basis of it is very much national cultures. And, and it's always been my feeling that, that, that the attempt to quantify national cultures is, is, is, is one that, that, that, that doesn't bring
00:05:49 - I think national culture is, is, is a fascinating topic. I think it's it's very worthy of study, but, but not in this, in this quantitative fashion. So, so that, that, that, that's it really is, is, is is this idea that the, that that absurdism is the idea that you put so much effort into collecting data, analyzing data, incredibly complex processes, huge data sets, yet the outputs that you get from it are,

Critique of Hofstede's Cross-Cultural Management Methods

00:06:19 - that, that's sort of what the, the, the way I came about it from the, the philosophical, sorry, the, the absurdist perspective to cross-cultural management studies. The key, the key proponent of, or, or, or, guru of cross-cultural management studies was a, a a, a Dutch, individual named Gert Hofstetter who, who, who passed away a, a few years ago, but he was hugely successful. He began a study in the 1970s, I believe it was, with IBM,
00:06:53 - employees across the world. So he amassed this huge data set in which he looked at the differences between, between cultures and how they, they responded to these questions. And it's sort of just without, without, question a lot of the time been adopted as, as, as gospel really in, in business and management studies. And I, I make the case in this, this paper that business and management studies is perhaps an area that hasn't had
00:07:23 - as other areas in the, in the, the social sciences. so in terms of examples, well, when, when you read the work of Hofstetter, he, he describes the, the, the, the, the data sets that, that he was working with. He describes in great detail the, statistical, analysis of the data. And none of that, I have any problems with, it's a very thorough, statistic from, from a, a,
00:07:54 - The, the study itself and the analysis of the data is, is, is, is, is sound. it, it, it's, it's about the, the outputs. It's about what you get from this and, and the, a lot of the publications, a lot of the books of Hofsteder really just, just try it, it seems to me, in my opinion, seem to use this, this methodology to support just quite stereo, standard, stereotypical sort of portrayals about, you know, Germans being punctual,
00:08:26 - And, I put a, a an example in the paper of, of how he describes the British, that, I live in the UK by the way. I live and work in, in, in, in the uk. but I'm originally Canadian. but, but his, I, his, his summary of the British is includes things like they wake up in the morning not really knowing what the day will bring, and that's fine with them, and they don't care, and things like this. It just seems really, to be, oddly
00:09:00 - statistical methodology that, that I described earlier. I think that this method is exhausted simply, it, it, it, it hasn't stood the test of time very well. That, that there, there, I think there, there were some legitimate uses for it, but, it, it, it's, it's, it, it's, it's, it's time to move on. one of the key fundamental flaws in, in Hofstadter's, approach, which I didn't get into in this paper, is that

Challenging Cultural Change Assumptions in Methodology

00:09:32 - with the assumption that culture, is immutable. That culture doesn't change, or at least culture remains static over decades and centuries, that it takes a incredibly long periods of time to change. And, and I just don't think that anybody living in the uk, for example, in the last 30 to 40 years, can really argue that, that that British culture hasn't changed. And I use British culture only as one example. I think anybody listening to this from anywhere in the world can think about their own
00:10:02 - and the huge changes that have taken place. Now, that assumption is, is the, the entire methodology rests on that assumption. And if you can undermine one of the key assumptions on which any, methodology is, is, is constructed, then, then the whole methodology sort of comes, comes tumbling down. Moving on from this paper, I did really enjoy, and it's the first time I've really done this using literature. it, and certainly parts of literature is a, is a metaphor for, more, deeper sort of academic points that that,
00:10:35 - And, at the moment I'm looking at the future of work and there's certainly a lot of fearmongering going about around AI and, and is it going to end the world and will we have any jobs? And I think a lot of that fear-mongering is, is unjustified. I, I'm, I'm very interested in looking at science fiction and the portrayal of, of the future of work in science fiction. blade Runner Dune are good examples, but, but, but there are many, because I think that these, that these works highlight, societies' fears about the future.
00:11:11 - that a lot of those fears, are fiction and, and, and are not justified.

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Research

Policy

Analysis