4 ms·

If a blik is an "unfalsifiable but meaningful worldviews", I don't see how this applies to certain prominent conspiracy theories. It is easy to verify that a pa

If a blik is an "unfalsifiable but meaningful worldviews", I don't see how this applies to certain prominent conspiracy theories. It is easy to verify that a particular pizza parlor does or doesn't have a basement, for example.

nwah1 5y ago
You cannot prove a negative.
- epgui 5y ago
  Yes you can. [1] Or rather, there are classes of problems for which you can indeed prove a negative. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proving_a_negative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proving_a_negative
mathematically 5y ago
The blik isn't the pizza parlor hiding bad actors in the basement, it's the belief that Hillary Clinton and her friends are the ones orchestrating the operations of the pizza parlor.
User23 5y ago
> It is easy to verify that a particular pizza parlor does or doesn't have a basement, for example Interestingly, this is a good example of the phenomenon. The original pizzagate conspiracy theory was about weird references to "cheese pizza" and "hot dogs" in the wikileaks Podesta email dump[1] and had nothing to do with pizza parlor basement dungeons. Like most conspiracy theories, I'm pretty much agnostic on this one (I try not to confuse gut feelings with actual knowledge). I do find it interesting how hard the media straw-manned it though, to the point where apparently some nutjob felt like shooting a round into the floor at a pizza joint. My gut is that the news was just ratings pandering and a bit of comedy, but as I said I don't see how I'll ever have access to the truth, whatever it may be, so I accept that and don't dwell on it. As for the concept of unfalsifiable, but meaningful, beliefs, there's a philosophically important distinction to be made between those beliefs that are absolutely unfalsifiable, versus those that are merely practicably unfalsifiable. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/5gutu2/wikileaks_reveal_obama_flew_in_65000_worth_of/ https://old.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/5gutu2/wikileak...
thatjoeoverthr 5y ago
Someone did in fact test that. Thankfully when he found no basement, the situation resolved peacefully. I like the story, because it’s a reminder that perfectly logical people can fall down these rabbit holes. If there are children in that basement, of course you should save them, and if you find no basement, of course you need to stop and concede. You’ve messed up. Any one of us can fall down a little “rabbit hole” if something gets past the radar.

nwah1 5y ago

You cannot prove a negative.

epgui 5y ago
Yes you can. [1] Or rather, there are classes of problems for which you can indeed prove a negative. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proving_a_negative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proving_a_negative

mathematically 5y ago

The blik isn't the pizza parlor hiding bad actors in the basement, it's the belief that Hillary Clinton and her friends are the ones orchestrating the operations of the pizza parlor.

User23 5y ago

> It is easy to verify that a particular pizza parlor does or doesn't have a basement, for example Interestingly, this is a good example of the phenomenon. The original pizzagate conspiracy theory was about weird references to "cheese pizza" and "hot dogs" in the wikileaks Podesta email dump[1] and had nothing to do with pizza parlor basement dungeons. Like most conspiracy theories, I'm pretty much agnostic on this one (I try not to confuse gut feelings with actual knowledge). I do find it interesting how hard the media straw-manned it though, to the point where apparently some nutjob felt like shooting a round into the floor at a pizza joint. My gut is that the news was just ratings pandering and a bit of comedy, but as I said I don't see how I'll ever have access to the truth, whatever it may be, so I accept that and don't dwell on it. As for the concept of unfalsifiable, but meaningful, beliefs, there's a philosophically important distinction to be made between those beliefs that are absolutely unfalsifiable, versus those that are merely practicably unfalsifiable. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/5gutu2/wikileaks_reveal_obama_flew_in_65000_worth_of/ https://old.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/5gutu2/wikileak...

thatjoeoverthr 5y ago

Someone did in fact test that. Thankfully when he found no basement, the situation resolved peacefully. I like the story, because it’s a reminder that perfectly logical people can fall down these rabbit holes. If there are children in that basement, of course you should save them, and if you find no basement, of course you need to stop and concede. You’ve messed up. Any one of us can fall down a little “rabbit hole” if something gets past the radar.