Annoyance comments on The ideas you're not ready to post - Less Wrong

24 Post author: JulianMorrison 19 April 2009 09:23PM

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Comment author: Annoyance 25 April 2009 04:40:26PM 1 point [-]

"but also in some good ideas like cryonics and not in other bad ideas like extraterrestrial contact, ecological footprints, p-values, and quantum collapse,"

Your listing of 'bad' and 'good' ideas reveals more about your personal beliefs than any supposed failings of skeptics.

Comment author: steven0461 25 April 2009 04:50:46PM *  0 points [-]

OK, so can you name any idea that you think is bad, is accepted/fashionable in science-oriented circles, but is rejected by skeptics for the right reasons?

Comment author: Annoyance 25 April 2009 05:33:56PM 0 points [-]

Whether I think some idea is bad is completely irrelevant. What matters is whether I can show that there are compelling rational reasons to conclude that it's bad. There are lots of claims that I suspect may be true but that I cannot confirm or disprove. I don't complain about skeptics not disregarding the lack of rational support for those claims, nor do I suggest that the nature of skepticism be altered so that my personal sacred cows are spared.

Comment author: steven0461 25 April 2009 06:14:33PM *  0 points [-]

Do you believe, then, that there are no ideas that are accepted/fashionable in science-oriented circles, yet that have rational support against them? I wouldn't have listed the ideas that I listed if I didn't think I could rationally refute them as being true, coherent, or useful.

If it's not the case that 1) such ideas exist and 2) skeptics disagree with them, then what's the point of all their critical thinking? Why not just copy other people's opinions and call it a day? Is skepticism merely about truth-advocating and not truth-seeking?