Right, and one term one I've heard for this is Overconfident Pessimism [0]. People confidently declare that cancer is "incurable" as a matter of metaphysical p

Right, and one term one I've heard for this is Overconfident Pessimism [0]. People confidently declare that cancer is "incurable" as a matter of metaphysical principle, the reason being that cancer isn't one thing and that it's really hard. The most celebrated example making this declaration that I know of is this comic from PhD comics [1]. I think you can appreciate that cancer is more than one thing, and that "curing" in all it's variations is really hard, without proceeding, punch drunk on enlightened skepticism, to declare that these mean it can't be cured. To me it feels like a frustrating philosophy 101 mistake masquerading as profound wisdom. 0. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gvdYK8sEFqHqHLRqN/overconfident-pessimism https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gvdYK8sEFqHqHLRqN/overconfid... 1. https://phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1162 https://phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1162