3 ms·

I love RMS but unfortunately his skepticism doesn't get treated well by the vocal mass. These days people like to view things in a very black and white manner a

by ncann 6y ago

I love RMS but unfortunately his skepticism doesn't get treated well by the vocal mass. These days people like to view things in a very black and white manner and if you dare to express your skepticism in a topic that is considered clear cut by the mass you get ostracized.

ravenstine 6y ago
I liked it better when people were religious towards philosophy and universal metaphysics rather than towards technology and science. Now that traditional religion has been in decline for some time now, people have transitioned the concept of orthodoxy towards systems that are antithetical to it. This is nothing new, as there's long been a level of orthodoxy within technology groups, academia, and so forth, but now it's actual heresy to be skeptical towards anything authoritative, especially if that skepticism stems from one's own intuition. Inversely, the "skeptics" behave so skeptically towards anything contrary their views that it has the effect of making them hardly skeptical in the first place. I'm not even talking about Stallman's form of skepticism, but what I deem "pop skepticism" that's permeated the mainstream narrative. If one is so skeptical that they are potentially missing out on critical new information, that's not actual skepticism. It's a stroke of the ego for someone too insecure to be wrong about anything. This is especially true when the evidence in front of them is sound and they refuse to consider it. We are living in an intellectual decline. A true skeptic can't have any sort of controversial opinion without being socially burned at the stake.
foobiter 6y ago
the skepticism he was most criticized for was playing devils advocate for a convicted rapist I support skepticism, but you don’t make arguments like that for the same reason you don’t say “hitler was great for the german economy” - it plays a major role in minimizing abhorrent crimes, whether you intend it to or not. Fighting that concept in any way makes it incredibly hard to distinguish the argument from support, especially when you’re doing so from an armchair. RMS is (was?) an expert in one thing, and outrageously naive in most other things he’s written about.

by ncann 6y ago

ravenstine 6y ago

I liked it better when people were religious towards philosophy and universal metaphysics rather than towards technology and science. Now that traditional religion has been in decline for some time now, people have transitioned the concept of orthodoxy towards systems that are antithetical to it. This is nothing new, as there's long been a level of orthodoxy within technology groups, academia, and so forth, but now it's actual heresy to be skeptical towards anything authoritative, especially if that skepticism stems from one's own intuition. Inversely, the "skeptics" behave so skeptically towards anything contrary their views that it has the effect of making them hardly skeptical in the first place. I'm not even talking about Stallman's form of skepticism, but what I deem "pop skepticism" that's permeated the mainstream narrative. If one is so skeptical that they are potentially missing out on critical new information, that's not actual skepticism. It's a stroke of the ego for someone too insecure to be wrong about anything. This is especially true when the evidence in front of them is sound and they refuse to consider it. We are living in an intellectual decline. A true skeptic can't have any sort of controversial opinion without being socially burned at the stake.

foobiter 6y ago

the skepticism he was most criticized for was playing devils advocate for a convicted rapist I support skepticism, but you don’t make arguments like that for the same reason you don’t say “hitler was great for the german economy” - it plays a major role in minimizing abhorrent crimes, whether you intend it to or not. Fighting that concept in any way makes it incredibly hard to distinguish the argument from support, especially when you’re doing so from an armchair. RMS is (was?) an expert in one thing, and outrageously naive in most other things he’s written about.