4 ms·

What are some examples of ideas today that are considered heretical but may have value to them?

chmike 7y ago
Homeopathy: see "Water Memory Due to Chains of Nano-Pearls" (https://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=89620 https://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=...)
- redsymbol 7y ago
  Someone asks for heretical ideas. Someone else replies honestly. Honest reply is downvoted, hard. Regardless of the merit, or not, of that idea... this whole process perfectly demonstrates the article's point.
  - CamperBob2 7y ago
    The question was "What are some examples of ideas today that are considered heretical but may have value to them?" There's no conceivable value in homeopathy, so it's non-responsive to the question that was asked.
    - chmike 7y ago
      You are just a member of the people who consider homeopathy and water memory as an heresy. You claim that there is no value to it, but this might be wrong and the article given in reference support this possibility. An aspect that Paul Graham did not address in his essay is the difficulty one can face to communicate about something in a domain considered an heresy. The probability to find something new in such domain is greater than the average, but the recognition is much more difficult to gain than average.
- farrelmahaztra 7y ago
  Thanks! It was an interesting read regardless of the understandable controversy of the topic. Sorry to see you were downvoted. Anyone else?
larnmar 7y ago
Hoo boy, it’s a trap. That’s the thing about heretical ideas, I can get downvoted and possibly banned from the site from even gesturing in their general direction. But okay, here goes. Here are some areas where there’s a very large “dead zone” of ideas which surrounds some bad ideas but which may also encompass some good ones too: 1. Intrinsic statistical racial differences or other ideas labelled as racist 2. Intrinsic statistical sexual differences or other ideas labelled as sexist 3. Maybe some aspects of the Holocaust have been exaggerated? 4. (Increasingly) Climate change skepticism I wish to stress, once again, that all of these heretical regions certainly contain a bunch of bad ideas at their core; but the size of the fenced-off region in each case is so large that it makes you wonder whether some good ideas have been fenced off too.
- farrelmahaztra 7y ago
  Yeah, those were some of the ideas I thought about but I found it difficult to find the kind of value PG mentioned from them in the midst of the bad ideas. Thanks though! I also find myself hesitating to comment or post here to avoid getting downvoted. I would've thought HN would be the most tolerant among online communities of controversial or even obviously wrong ideas.
- coffee123 7y ago
  1,2 and 3 have obvious truth to them that may be difficult to talk about among "educated" people in the west but are just flat out benign in various other places and communities.
- foldr 7y ago
  This post serves as a good illustration of why pursuing heretical ideas per se isn't such a great idea. For every lone genius there are a hundred genocidal racists.
Tiktaalik 7y ago
Everything about automobiles and their required infrastructure was a huge mistake and should be undone.
buboard 7y ago
most of libertarianism
BaronSamedi 7y ago
Modern behavioral genetic research as described, for example, in Robert Plomin's "Blueprint", seems to make some people uncomfortable. I suppose it could qualify as "heresy" as it challenges a number of widely held beliefs.

Homeopathy: see "Water Memory Due to Chains of Nano-Pearls" (https://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=89620 https://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=...)

redsymbol 7y ago
Someone asks for heretical ideas. Someone else replies honestly. Honest reply is downvoted, hard. Regardless of the merit, or not, of that idea... this whole process perfectly demonstrates the article's point.
- CamperBob2 7y ago
  The question was "What are some examples of ideas today that are considered heretical but may have value to them?" There's no conceivable value in homeopathy, so it's non-responsive to the question that was asked.
  - chmike 7y ago
    You are just a member of the people who consider homeopathy and water memory as an heresy. You claim that there is no value to it, but this might be wrong and the article given in reference support this possibility. An aspect that Paul Graham did not address in his essay is the difficulty one can face to communicate about something in a domain considered an heresy. The probability to find something new in such domain is greater than the average, but the recognition is much more difficult to gain than average.
farrelmahaztra 7y ago
Thanks! It was an interesting read regardless of the understandable controversy of the topic. Sorry to see you were downvoted. Anyone else?

larnmar 7y ago

Hoo boy, it’s a trap. That’s the thing about heretical ideas, I can get downvoted and possibly banned from the site from even gesturing in their general direction. But okay, here goes. Here are some areas where there’s a very large “dead zone” of ideas which surrounds some bad ideas but which may also encompass some good ones too: 1. Intrinsic statistical racial differences or other ideas labelled as racist 2. Intrinsic statistical sexual differences or other ideas labelled as sexist 3. Maybe some aspects of the Holocaust have been exaggerated? 4. (Increasingly) Climate change skepticism I wish to stress, once again, that all of these heretical regions certainly contain a bunch of bad ideas at their core; but the size of the fenced-off region in each case is so large that it makes you wonder whether some good ideas have been fenced off too.

farrelmahaztra 7y ago
Yeah, those were some of the ideas I thought about but I found it difficult to find the kind of value PG mentioned from them in the midst of the bad ideas. Thanks though! I also find myself hesitating to comment or post here to avoid getting downvoted. I would've thought HN would be the most tolerant among online communities of controversial or even obviously wrong ideas.
coffee123 7y ago
1,2 and 3 have obvious truth to them that may be difficult to talk about among "educated" people in the west but are just flat out benign in various other places and communities.
foldr 7y ago
This post serves as a good illustration of why pursuing heretical ideas per se isn't such a great idea. For every lone genius there are a hundred genocidal racists.

Tiktaalik 7y ago

Everything about automobiles and their required infrastructure was a huge mistake and should be undone.

buboard 7y ago

most of libertarianism

BaronSamedi 7y ago

Modern behavioral genetic research as described, for example, in Robert Plomin's "Blueprint", seems to make some people uncomfortable. I suppose it could qualify as "heresy" as it challenges a number of widely held beliefs.