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Maybe not. But is one’s life diminished by hearing bad ideas? I don’t think so. For instance, the idea that the Earth is flat is laughable. But my life doesn’t

Maybe not. But is one’s life diminished by hearing bad ideas? I don’t think so. For instance, the idea that the Earth is flat is laughable. But my life doesn’t deteriorate nor improve based on that idea. We can all agree it’s a stupid idea, laugh at it, and move on.

foxylad 8y ago
Bad ideas certainly can diminish quality of life. Firstly because we can't all agree that they are stupid and move on - the flat earth trolls are actually gaining momentum, and we've been re-litigating creationism for over a hundred years. This re-arguing ties up an enormous amount of energy that we could spend far more productively. And secondly, when the masses weary of arguing nonsense ideas, there is a danger of them becoming acceptable. If we all stop arguing when the trolls repeat yet again that jews/immigrants/women/gays are sub-human and should be removed, some people will take that silence as assent and the violence begins. So what we need is some kind of snopes for ideas, where our brightest and best could weigh good and bad ideas, and the rest of us could just point to their results. But wait - that's what a university* is! And it's no coincidence that the trolls direct their fiercest fury at academics. *Trump University excepted.
- toasterlovin 8y ago
  Is there any evidence that there are more people who believe crazy things than before? It seems way more likely to me that there is a portion of the population who are nuts and basically cycle through various conspiracy theories.
snowwrestler 8y ago
Depends on the bad idea. If the bad idea was that you and your family should be killed or forcibly expelled from your jobs and homes, and you heard it discussed seriously and frequently by your neighbors, police officers, and elected officials--yeah, I think that might diminish your quality of life in some ways.
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  You don't even have to go that far. Look at anti-vaxxers. A small group of hysterical "do-gooders" educated by bad ideas are doing a lot of harm and if it's up to them would reverse the arguably greatest achievement in medical history. Kids actually get killed thanks to the efforts of those assholes.
spicymaki 8y ago
That is clearly untrue. History is just full of bad ideas that has caused the death of untold numbers of people. The problem is that we can’t all agree and people do not move on.
jgh 8y ago
Not all bad ideas are so easily brushed off as being "totally laughable". For example a common and particularly insidious one that gets a lot of "logical" people who think of themselves as good critical thinkers is tying IQ to genetics. This leads people down the path of [IQ is largely determined by genetics] => [X impoverished group has a lower IQ] => [Because of their IQ they are impoverished] => [White people are superior]. Looking at that line of thinking it's ridiculous, there are assumptions and a gross misunderstanding of correlation and causation and confounding factors. But if you are not educated enough to see the problems in those arguments (which I think would be a higher level of education required than believing in flat earth) or if you are a little bit inclined to let someone walk you down a "logical" path of fallacies then it's easy to make that leap. And that's an easy argument for a white nationalist to make. It's a lot less easy for someone to refute it.
charlesism 8y ago
> But is one’s life diminished by hearing bad > ideas? I don’t think so You may think that it's harmless to thousands of racist theories floating around the internet. I don't. I think it plants seeds of doubt. "Group X must have done something to make so many people hate them" etc. Let's say I publish an article alleging you murdered your previous girlfriend/boyfriend. It goes viral. A month later, the truth airs! Someone publishes a follow-up explaining that you are innocent. Do you think your life will just go back to normal?
michaelcampbell 8y ago
Depends on how much your time is worth either refuting, or investigating, any claim which may or may not be bad.

foxylad 8y ago

Bad ideas certainly can diminish quality of life. Firstly because we can't all agree that they are stupid and move on - the flat earth trolls are actually gaining momentum, and we've been re-litigating creationism for over a hundred years. This re-arguing ties up an enormous amount of energy that we could spend far more productively. And secondly, when the masses weary of arguing nonsense ideas, there is a danger of them becoming acceptable. If we all stop arguing when the trolls repeat yet again that jews/immigrants/women/gays are sub-human and should be removed, some people will take that silence as assent and the violence begins. So what we need is some kind of snopes for ideas, where our brightest and best could weigh good and bad ideas, and the rest of us could just point to their results. But wait - that's what a university* is! And it's no coincidence that the trolls direct their fiercest fury at academics. *Trump University excepted.

toasterlovin 8y ago
Is there any evidence that there are more people who believe crazy things than before? It seems way more likely to me that there is a portion of the population who are nuts and basically cycle through various conspiracy theories.

snowwrestler 8y ago

Depends on the bad idea. If the bad idea was that you and your family should be killed or forcibly expelled from your jobs and homes, and you heard it discussed seriously and frequently by your neighbors, police officers, and elected officials--yeah, I think that might diminish your quality of life in some ways.

CaptainZapp 8y ago
You don't even have to go that far. Look at anti-vaxxers. A small group of hysterical "do-gooders" educated by bad ideas are doing a lot of harm and if it's up to them would reverse the arguably greatest achievement in medical history. Kids actually get killed thanks to the efforts of those assholes.

spicymaki 8y ago

That is clearly untrue. History is just full of bad ideas that has caused the death of untold numbers of people. The problem is that we can’t all agree and people do not move on.

jgh 8y ago

Not all bad ideas are so easily brushed off as being "totally laughable". For example a common and particularly insidious one that gets a lot of "logical" people who think of themselves as good critical thinkers is tying IQ to genetics. This leads people down the path of [IQ is largely determined by genetics] => [X impoverished group has a lower IQ] => [Because of their IQ they are impoverished] => [White people are superior]. Looking at that line of thinking it's ridiculous, there are assumptions and a gross misunderstanding of correlation and causation and confounding factors. But if you are not educated enough to see the problems in those arguments (which I think would be a higher level of education required than believing in flat earth) or if you are a little bit inclined to let someone walk you down a "logical" path of fallacies then it's easy to make that leap. And that's an easy argument for a white nationalist to make. It's a lot less easy for someone to refute it.

charlesism 8y ago

> But is one’s life diminished by hearing bad > ideas? I don’t think so You may think that it's harmless to thousands of racist theories floating around the internet. I don't. I think it plants seeds of doubt. "Group X must have done something to make so many people hate them" etc. Let's say I publish an article alleging you murdered your previous girlfriend/boyfriend. It goes viral. A month later, the truth airs! Someone publishes a follow-up explaining that you are innocent. Do you think your life will just go back to normal?

michaelcampbell 8y ago

Depends on how much your time is worth either refuting, or investigating, any claim which may or may not be bad.