To be fair to the electricians of the world, moths were also led astray by candles and torches. But people forget that electric lights make it easier and cheaper to light a room with far less fire hazard. Probably because some people hate humanity and want to enslave mankind.
Gibson's law is a good one. Our debate coach used to say that he could find a quote from "some guy" to support any position.
Which is not to say that statistics are meaningful. The infamous Josiah Stamp pointed out that stats begin with what the watchman writes down in his log book. And the watchman writes down whatever he wants.
Yes, with enough googling it's possible to find credible-looking data to support almost any theory. Reminds me of the famous Darrell Huff quote (paraphrasing Ronald Coase):
"If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything."
Yes! But the confessions of victims of torture are not admissible for this very reason: they confess to get the torture to stop. Admissible in court, of course, courts are run by demon worshipping cannibals. But not admissible as evidence to me. 😎👍
Love these definitions! The other phenomenon that needs a proper name has to do with people needing religion and finding new gods once they’ve we’ve rejected traditional ones eg., wokeism smacks of the worst aspects of primitive practices in most religions...
"St. George in Retirement Syndrome: Many who fight injustice come to define themselves by their fight against injustice ..."
Definitely a bit of a two-edged sword, or the tail eventually wagging the dog.
Reminds me of a more or less famous Zen parable which I may have read, decades ago, in Alan Watts' "The Way of Zen".
But the parable has it that a newly-minted white knight goes out to defends the town's people by challenging and killing all the black knights. For which he acquires some claim to fame and fortune. But once he has killed those black knights he finds "remuneration" is a bit thin on the ground so he takes to raiding gardens and then to waylaying travelers, becoming ever blacker in the process. Until, one bright sunny morning, he goes around a curve in the road to find himself challenged by some other newly-minted white knight. Karma baby, karma.
Sadly, more than a few people -- even some of those on "our side", supposedly on "the right side of history" -- are more or less in that boat, apparently being more interested in a grift than in defending the commonwealth.
Sounds like the exact theme of the short novel in 7 parts I wrote in a lucid dream this week. (Hard times => strong men => good times => weak men => hard times, but about evil)
Hopefully I dare to publish it next week, but I'll
Dysrationalia....Gibson's Law....& St. George in Retirement Syndrome.....all in one:
"Thanks to the internet, there is......now a wealth of journalism, of impeccable probity, investigating and interrogating the prevailing left-liberal narratives on race, gender and much else. Now, any open-minded person can - if the will is there - find persuasive, evidence-based refutations of those MSM narratives with their wilful seeking of ‘discrimination’, emotional ‘trauma’ and minority victimisation stories often diametrically opposed to evidence.
An important element behind online activism is a search for community and belonging, which many struggle to find these days. But getting behind these causes, however ridiculous they may be, is the simplest way to find that. They always have to orbit around the catastrophic, to keep more people interested and to keep it going. What they don't realise (or don't wish to realise) is that these "communities" are artificial, they seldom translate into real life companionships. Ultimately, you do need to learn to let your personality shine through. Unfortunately, social media has given a permanent safe haven to these folks and it just keeps pushing them further into a downward spiral.
I am actually drawn in by the St. George syndrome retirement which is mostly applicable in the political arena. Politicians often look forward to seeing more problems in the society. Some of them will even create problems and later emerge behind that they want to be the saviours. They are more skilled in deteriorating further the plight of the underserved. Instead of bringing in real solutions, they treat symptoms and not the actual causes.
“Gibson's Law: In matters of law and policy, anyone can find a subject-matter expert who supports their view, because having a PhD doesn’t necessarily make someone right, it often just makes them more skilled at being wrong.”
To be fair to the electricians of the world, moths were also led astray by candles and torches. But people forget that electric lights make it easier and cheaper to light a room with far less fire hazard. Probably because some people hate humanity and want to enslave mankind.
Gibson's law is a good one. Our debate coach used to say that he could find a quote from "some guy" to support any position.
Which is not to say that statistics are meaningful. The infamous Josiah Stamp pointed out that stats begin with what the watchman writes down in his log book. And the watchman writes down whatever he wants.
Yes, with enough googling it's possible to find credible-looking data to support almost any theory. Reminds me of the famous Darrell Huff quote (paraphrasing Ronald Coase):
"If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything."
They found two "black holes" (only exist in fantasy) colliding 3 billion lightyears away... In white noise just before it was time to renew the grant.
Unrelated: Teach monkeys the value of coins, and there are instantly a bunch of monkey prostitutes...
Yes! But the confessions of victims of torture are not admissible for this very reason: they confess to get the torture to stop. Admissible in court, of course, courts are run by demon worshipping cannibals. But not admissible as evidence to me. 😎👍
Love these definitions! The other phenomenon that needs a proper name has to do with people needing religion and finding new gods once they’ve we’ve rejected traditional ones eg., wokeism smacks of the worst aspects of primitive practices in most religions...
Peter Boghossian calls this the "substitution hypothesis." He discusses it with Richard Dawkins here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MfBLPuwwdo
Cool. Thanks
"St. George in Retirement Syndrome: Many who fight injustice come to define themselves by their fight against injustice ..."
Definitely a bit of a two-edged sword, or the tail eventually wagging the dog.
Reminds me of a more or less famous Zen parable which I may have read, decades ago, in Alan Watts' "The Way of Zen".
But the parable has it that a newly-minted white knight goes out to defends the town's people by challenging and killing all the black knights. For which he acquires some claim to fame and fortune. But once he has killed those black knights he finds "remuneration" is a bit thin on the ground so he takes to raiding gardens and then to waylaying travelers, becoming ever blacker in the process. Until, one bright sunny morning, he goes around a curve in the road to find himself challenged by some other newly-minted white knight. Karma baby, karma.
Sadly, more than a few people -- even some of those on "our side", supposedly on "the right side of history" -- are more or less in that boat, apparently being more interested in a grift than in defending the commonwealth.
Sounds like the exact theme of the short novel in 7 parts I wrote in a lucid dream this week. (Hard times => strong men => good times => weak men => hard times, but about evil)
Hopefully I dare to publish it next week, but I'll
Dysrationalia....Gibson's Law....& St. George in Retirement Syndrome.....all in one:
"Thanks to the internet, there is......now a wealth of journalism, of impeccable probity, investigating and interrogating the prevailing left-liberal narratives on race, gender and much else. Now, any open-minded person can - if the will is there - find persuasive, evidence-based refutations of those MSM narratives with their wilful seeking of ‘discrimination’, emotional ‘trauma’ and minority victimisation stories often diametrically opposed to evidence.
If the will is there – therein lies the rub. As Saul Bellow put it “a great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”" https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/mrs-thatcher-and-the-good-life
An important element behind online activism is a search for community and belonging, which many struggle to find these days. But getting behind these causes, however ridiculous they may be, is the simplest way to find that. They always have to orbit around the catastrophic, to keep more people interested and to keep it going. What they don't realise (or don't wish to realise) is that these "communities" are artificial, they seldom translate into real life companionships. Ultimately, you do need to learn to let your personality shine through. Unfortunately, social media has given a permanent safe haven to these folks and it just keeps pushing them further into a downward spiral.
G. you are always a source of great inspiration in this world flattened toward mediocrity!
I am actually drawn in by the St. George syndrome retirement which is mostly applicable in the political arena. Politicians often look forward to seeing more problems in the society. Some of them will even create problems and later emerge behind that they want to be the saviours. They are more skilled in deteriorating further the plight of the underserved. Instead of bringing in real solutions, they treat symptoms and not the actual causes.
“Gibson's Law: In matters of law and policy, anyone can find a subject-matter expert who supports their view, because having a PhD doesn’t necessarily make someone right, it often just makes them more skilled at being wrong.”
Love this😊
Can't wait to listen to the podcast. Two of my favorite people to listen to. Keep up the great work!