PhonySilverBullets

There are so many phonies in my profession. Three-minute abs, and two-minute this. I work out two hours a day. If I could do all this (my level of fitness) in three minutes, I'd have a lot more time.
JackLaLanne, Fitness Guru

What specific "3-minute abs" (silver bullet) claims do you hear?

Who is making the claim?

Who, like JackLaLanne, do you hear that advocates that there is no short cut to fitness.

I just wanted to note that JackLaLanne is 89 years old and probably fitter than any of us. Yet I don't think he knows something we do not know. He's just willing to do the work.

MikeMelendez 2004.03.16

The '2 minutes a day' are not necessarily phony silver bullets. They are valuable for those of us who are in terrible shape and need to start slow; or those of us who don't feel we have time to workout, but want to try Something. They are not miracles, but starting places...

It is true, however, that they aren't necessarily Sold that way.

How many other Silver Bullets are seen as such because of the way they are sold, not because of anything inherent?

DianeGibson 03-17-04

I agree that many things touted as "Silver Bullets" are useful, even very useful (including JackLaLanne's juicer).

I suggest that the way they are sold is what makes them Silver Bullets. If "Silver Bullet" means anything that can improve the situation, then it loses all meaning. If that's the meaning, then "Bullet" does just fine.

I believe there's a lot of territory between silver and dross.

MikeMelendez 040318

I wonder if a real silver bullet, in part, doesn't work with all other things being equal. In contrast a phony silver bullet requires some other magical things to happen, then it delivers it's miracle. I think that's common to many of the silver bullet promises. They are actually something useful, but they drop everything else you have to do.

My current favorite silver bullet in technology is around C# language, and some recently announced Java development tools. Both are selling in part, programming without having to know much about what you are doing. Both are correct in a narrow range of circumstances. Relatively unskilled people can make lots and lots of consistent, cheap McDonald's burgers, and fast, given some very specialized equipment, training, and a narrow menu. If that's what you want, it's a fine plan. If that's not what you want, the solution is less useful.

Mythology examples abound about the same thing. Soup from a stone worked because of everything else available around the stone.

I do believe a little bit in things we might call "silver balms." There are some little things that don't fix any big problem, but do help a bit in almost any circumstances. Listening for example. Daring to name a dream you don't yet know how to realize is another.

-- JimBullock, 2004.03.18 (Just salving my conscience again.)

Updated: Friday, March 19, 2004