all 3 comments

[–]HugodeCrevellier 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Nothing.

The norm for us seems to be to assume what the experts/masses say is conclusively right by virtue of how established the authority is, depending on the subject.

Appeal to authority is (specifically) not what happens with objective facts and real science (profit-driven/corporate 'science' can indeed fudge).

If the world maps say North America is on top of South America, or the historical textbooks say we didn't discover America until after the first one thousand years AD, or Stephen Hawking says we have a black hole in the center of the galaxy, we typically think "yes, alright", and I don't doubt those examples.

North America is on top of South America as a matter of mere convention, i.e. placing North up and South down, for the sake of consistency/simplicity. Historical textbooks have been updated with evidence that Viking Europeans 'discovered' America earlier. All Physicists, not just Hawking, say we have a black hole in the centre of the galaxy, because, so far, that's the best explanation from the observed phenomena.

As to your specific phobia:

'A woman was nearly swallowed by quicksand on a Maine beach' and her husband 'was able to grab her and pull her to safety'.

So even in a freak example where, 'horror of all horrors!', what you fear most has happened to someone, it ... almost happened.

Sure, if some freakish occurrence is not physically completely impossible, it can indeed occur. It's just very unlikely. There are many more dangerous, and more likely occur, things to worry about.

In any case, statistically, you'll actually probably die of ischaemic heart disease, if that makes you feel any better.

[–]zyxzevn 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

See http://thescienceanalyst.substack.com
Some examples: There is no evidence for black holes. There are no photons. AI is not really intelligent.

But a big conspiracy against reality is not happening.
There is a huge bias, but not a conspiracy to hide some big secret.

[–]Mcheetah 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That human life matters, has value, or is "important." We're all just bacteria on a blue dot in the middle of nowhere. And 95% of people are objectively useless to the greater species, if not outright parasites. The only reason we have laws is for mutual beneficial coexistence and even that is falling apart nowadays.

I can prove someone is an idiot merely by asking them about politics and if they tell me they're some form of Conservative, Progressive, Liberal, Libertarian, etc., then I know they're just another easily-manipulated idiot conned into thinking both their "side" of tribalistic morons, and their worthless "vote," matters towards anything. As if the super-wealthy who truly rule over us are on "the left" or "the right." And yeah, I get one side is worse than the other, but that changes every 12-15 years anyway, so it's not like it even matters.

There's a million ways to prove the absolute utter dumbfuckery of the average human being, from religion, to entertainment, to their view on money and economics, but politics really is the magnifying glass to point out people's unfathomable endless level of stupidity. Funny thing is; I don't even think I'm that smart. It's not like I graduated MIT with a quantum physics degree at 12 or anything. I'm just not retarded enough to think the old rich-fuck you vote into the White House every 4 years, is gonna change jack shit, or that the President has as much power as the average retard thinks, or that Amazon, Disney, Microsoft, and Google aren't the real owners of America, anyway.

And the easiest solution to all of this is the one most 85 IQ American already owns in their home. It starts with "B" and ends with "Ullets" and it'd be very easy to save yourselves from the old, frail, evil billionaire pussies who rule over you all. But most people are too stupid to live in actual freedom, and too retarded to realize they're slaves. They're no different than beef cattle on a free-range farm, thinking they're in bovine utopia.

I'm not even particularly in a bad mood or anything right now, but the endless stupidity of the most common human being and their infuriating belief that they "matter" being as proudly mediocre and "average" (aka useless) as possible, with selfish mindsets that they don't actually have to contribute back to society or help others beyond their own small social circle, if that, is so unbelievable, that mindset fits them to a T. People are inherently stupid, selfish, and mediocre, by default, and even the idea of me telling people to be a positive contributor to the world around them, confuses them beyond belief. The simple idea of "don't be a useless selfish shitstain in the world." Most people have no idea why they would ever not want to be.

At least prior to AI and automation, people did have usefulness in numbers. But in the 21st century? No one besides a soldier, doctor, lawyer, parent/teacher, or maybe police officer, really matters in this society. Yet social media has given every Joe Dumbfuck a platform to call U-turn Signs homophobic or cheese "a symbol of white supremacy" or some shit. And even people like me, who are self-aware, are seen as "equals" to people like them.

My thoughts more against "established narrative" than scientific fact. But yeah, I will never change my mind about modern "human life" being supremely overrated, at best.