1
My problem is that I cannot seem to be able to pick a project (any project) and stick with it long enough to do any meaningful progress, let alone finishing it. It's been several years since I've managed to work on a side project for more than two days continually.
I sit before the computer thinking: I know! I'll write a roguelike in X! Five minutes later, I'm thinking: fuck roguelikes! I'll write a graphical solitar card game with Y! Five minutes later, I don't care for it anymore, and would rather write an isomorphic strategy game in Z.
The same thing happens with tools I might need, applications I think about, experimental stuff, etc.
Has anyone else experienced this, and, more importantly, found their way out? How?
All of this has been discussed and criticised from different points of view; what I seem to have missed is discussion on whether this is just a fraud or it actually works. Specifically:
* Does an app allow to determine the personality traits of its users? Won't users take it too lightly, being it an app rather than a white coat wearing serious professional asking questions?
* Do tests for personality traits actually make usable and accurate predictions on people's behaviour?
* Do correlations between like patterns and personality test results hold? In other words, could you really predict the result of the personality test of people at large having their like patterns?
* Is there evidence that people with different personality traits reacts differently to stimuli ad campaigns?
* Did people's voting behaviour actually change? How strong was the effect?
All these questions may be framed differently, that is: did Cambridge Analytica actually try to disprove the null hypothesis? How did they do it, or how could it be conceivably done? Did they succeed, or did the null hypothesis win?
N.B. I'm not asking: do personality tests work in general? I'm asking: did this stunt actually work? How would you tell a genuine CA style proposal from a "let's win the elections using tarots, talismans and acupuncture?