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> Because if he’s right we really, really want to pay attention to this problem so we don’t all die. You could say that about any doomsayer. It's important to
by n4r9 7y ago
> Because if he’s right we really, really want to pay attention to this problem so we don’t all die.
You could say that about any doomsayer. It's important to use their reputation and authority, and your own context within reason, to weight the significance of their prophecies.
- me_me_me 7y agoYou could say that Eisenstein was doomsayer about nuclear fission. And we did came quite close to doomsday scenarios, cold war, but also false-positives in automated detection defense systems.
- n4r9 7y agoOf course, I'm not saying we should ignore all doomsayers, just that we should weight their prophecies with a reasonable estimate of trust. Saying "if it's right then we need to pay attention" isn't a good argument in and of itself. It would imply that we have to pay attention to thousands of additional crazy prophecies, like those of the Westboro Baptist Church or that lizard people are taking control of the earth. Whether Boston is a genuine trusted authority on this is a much more interesting discussion.