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Michael Crichton of Jurassic Park fame wrote about this experience calling it "Gell-Mann Amnesia." >“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows
by paulz_ 6y ago
Michael Crichton of Jurassic Park fame wrote about this experience calling it "Gell-Mann Amnesia."
>“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”
– Michael Crichton
I've noticed I have this sort of meta Gell-Mann effect where every time I think of that annecdote the news seems much more dubious. Then a short while later I go back to not thinking about it and reading the news as I otherwise would.
- jasonv 6y agoReading HN though, every assertion from someone who knows something can become a thread of dispute, disagreements and "yeah, but" digressions. So, maybe, who knows anything..
- onecommentman 6y ago“Who knows anything” sounds dangerously close to nihilism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism The problem is nihilists never produce anything of lasting value. Or of any value. It seems to be the posture of those who feel like failures, and justify that perceived failure to themselves by telling themselves that nothing is worth anything. Perhaps others hold that position too. It seems like a dead end in a lot of ways...
- klmadfejno 6y agoA lot of Nihlism is about recognizing that even if everything is without intrinsic meaning and arbitrary subjectivity, that you can assert yourself to a meaningful life in spite of it all. I find that a compelling argument personally.
- daniellarusso 6y agoSounds exhausting.
- sjg007 6y agoThe same is true for Hacker News comments!