= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
David_Gerard comments on A sense of logic - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (269)
I don't know about science fiction, but when I'm working on a RationalWiki article about stupid or crazy things, I really do feel like I'm getting dumber doing the research - finding the original sources of stupidity, going through the bad thinking and trying to understand it enough to describe it and mentally shouting "WHAT. WHAT." all the way through. The pseudoscience equivalent of being boxed in the head repeatedly. There's a reason why skeptics who write about pseudoscience have a tendency to get snarky. Of course, I keep going back to it.
Wow. I think we need another word than "stupid" to describe baraminology. Normal stupidity is a sort of dull-wittedness-- it doesn't include the complex invention of bad theories. I admit it's stupid to not just give up on all creatures fitting in Noah's ark, but baraminology goes rather beyond normal thick-headedness.
What about "anti-inteligence?" Like antimatter, it's similar to the real thing at a glance, but touch it and the resulting explosion damages both.
The inside of Todd Charles Wood's head seems a frightening place - he's responsible for huge chunks of baraminology; but he's seen the evidence, he thinks evolution is a successful scientific theory, he attends mainstream conferences on evolution, but he feels he must assume it false because his faith says to. One stuck bad idea and you may be done. There's no stupidity as exquisite as that really smart people fall prey to - longer to fall, maybe.
I mean, at least Serge Monast was actually crazy, so has an excuse.
I get the same kind of reaction from reading really bad reasoning; it registers as a strong desire to facepalm and an increasing sense of revulsion/anger in direct correspondence to the stupidity ot their reasoning.
I must have a slight addiction to facepalming. I actively seek out topics like this to write about.
Not just an addiction to facepalming, an addiction to making others do so. I hereby label you a sadist :)
Here is my own current source of bad reasoning. Some of the arguments there are less silly than others, but the first 10-20 are pretty good as sources of bad logic.
EDIT: You're right, that was even dumber than homeopathy
I heartily endorse step 4. Vial of water optional. Steps 1-3 and 5 also optional.