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I was put off by the fact that the author apparently has examples, but refuses to share any, because they're "infohazards". Instead they advance an argument by

I was put off by the fact that the author apparently has examples, but refuses to share any, because they're "infohazards". Instead they advance an argument by analogy. If this effect, memetic inoculation, is so prevalent, we should be able to find some ideas that we recognize as good today, but which took far longer than they should have to gain traction because people in the past had memetic inoculation against their simplified variants. I fail to see how that would be an infohazard.

drewcoo 4y ago
> the author apparently has examples, but refuses to share any Evolution. Mic drop . . .
aaron695 4y ago
DangitBobby 4y ago
I assumed the author was talking about politics. It's natural for complex political ideas to be strawmanned by their opponents, and I've heard of strawmanning working as a sort of brain vaccine against better versions of arguments before.
- rexpop 4y ago
  > I've heard of strawmanning working as a sort of brain vaccine Where, and from whom?
  - DangitBobby 4y ago
    There was a paper or article which was shared on HN not too long ago... unfortunately I don't have the link saved and I'm not even sure how to search for it. Edit: found it... Looks like it's just an opinion piece and not some piece of research [1]. 1. https://www.slatestarcodexabridged.com/Weak-Men-Are-Superweapons https://www.slatestarcodexabridged.com/Weak-Men-Are-Superwea...
Manheim 4y ago
I think the author are making a good description of what we all can observe in our times. It's the inclination people have to prefer, or even want, simple answers to anything. Just look at how media is handling the complexity of things. They always look for experts who are willing to give short and simple answers. "complicated ideas take more energy to transmit than simple ones" he writes, and therein lies the problem. The article is itself is a simple explanation to a complex mechanism in human society where people establish truths that are tangible but not (necessarily) true. This is what fuels opinions and even cause actions. The simpler the explanation the faster it spreads. And it spreads among those of us who are too lazy to get acquainted with a complex issue on topics we do not know much or even are ignorant about. I say “us” because even though I feel I am quite well informed and have a high endurance when it comes to acquire information, I know I am still totally ignorant on many topics that are outside my interest and competence, or doesn’t show up in my daily information flow. I think we all are, and that we therefore carry a lot of “stupid cousins” in our mind that we even might be spreading around without thinking about it. The world and our society is complicated and it is very easy to simplify to try to understand why things are as they are. Within this simplification process we obscure the reality more than we enlighten it, and even establish totally wrong ideas of the state of things. When someone who really knows the complexity of the horse tries to explain to us that we haven’t got the whole picture and therefore have gotten it wrong, we do not listen. We all know how “the horse” looks like, why listen to experts who have actually knowledge about horses? This unwillingness to listen to experts is best seen in politics, and best in highly polarized societies. But it’s really everywhere.

drewcoo 4y ago

> the author apparently has examples, but refuses to share any Evolution. Mic drop . . .

aaron695 4y ago

DangitBobby 4y ago

I assumed the author was talking about politics. It's natural for complex political ideas to be strawmanned by their opponents, and I've heard of strawmanning working as a sort of brain vaccine against better versions of arguments before.

rexpop 4y ago
> I've heard of strawmanning working as a sort of brain vaccine Where, and from whom?
- DangitBobby 4y ago
  There was a paper or article which was shared on HN not too long ago... unfortunately I don't have the link saved and I'm not even sure how to search for it. Edit: found it... Looks like it's just an opinion piece and not some piece of research [1]. 1. https://www.slatestarcodexabridged.com/Weak-Men-Are-Superweapons https://www.slatestarcodexabridged.com/Weak-Men-Are-Superwea...

Manheim 4y ago

I think the author are making a good description of what we all can observe in our times. It's the inclination people have to prefer, or even want, simple answers to anything. Just look at how media is handling the complexity of things. They always look for experts who are willing to give short and simple answers. "complicated ideas take more energy to transmit than simple ones" he writes, and therein lies the problem. The article is itself is a simple explanation to a complex mechanism in human society where people establish truths that are tangible but not (necessarily) true. This is what fuels opinions and even cause actions. The simpler the explanation the faster it spreads. And it spreads among those of us who are too lazy to get acquainted with a complex issue on topics we do not know much or even are ignorant about. I say “us” because even though I feel I am quite well informed and have a high endurance when it comes to acquire information, I know I am still totally ignorant on many topics that are outside my interest and competence, or doesn’t show up in my daily information flow. I think we all are, and that we therefore carry a lot of “stupid cousins” in our mind that we even might be spreading around without thinking about it. The world and our society is complicated and it is very easy to simplify to try to understand why things are as they are. Within this simplification process we obscure the reality more than we enlighten it, and even establish totally wrong ideas of the state of things. When someone who really knows the complexity of the horse tries to explain to us that we haven’t got the whole picture and therefore have gotten it wrong, we do not listen. We all know how “the horse” looks like, why listen to experts who have actually knowledge about horses? This unwillingness to listen to experts is best seen in politics, and best in highly polarized societies. But it’s really everywhere.