PhilGoetz comments on Where's Your Sense of Mystery? - Less Wrong
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Comments (54)
That's an very good point, especially because most smart people who really understand science share your opinions
I like your last point - that you feel better than everyone else now, because you do get real science, and so you'd hate to have everything change around. Maybe the people who do like.the idea of a Martian pyramid are those who currently feel worse than everyone else, but who would suddenly become better than everyone else if the pyramid were proven real, because they're the only ones who have studied it.
That would also explain why I find some pseudohistory interesting but most pseudoscience just plain annoying.
Possible experiment to test this: give two randomly assigned groups a test on biology and medicine. Give one group a really easy test and tell them they're within the top 10% regarding medical knowledge; give other people a really hard test and tell them they're within the bottom 10% of medical knowledge. Then give both of them an article on some ancient natural alternative medicine treatment and see which group is more positive towards it. I predict the people convinced they know nothing about medicine will support the alternative treatment more, regardless of how much they actually know.
You may find some statistical effect, but why not give them all the same test, and rank them on their actual knowledge of biology and medicine?
I think the concept of feeling better or worse than the majority is important to the experiment. Being told that you suck is more convincing after a hard test regardless of how much you actually know.
Seems too potentially confounding. How would you distinguish between:
a) A person who knows a lot about biology wants to promote scientific values in order to become a more valuable person.
and b) A person who knows a lot about biology is smart enough not to believe pseudoscience involving biology?