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> It's not logical to assume that it goes both ways. One could say only 1% of our biases are unsuited for modern times and as a result of this not even worth co
by jraph 4y ago
> It's not logical to assume that it goes both ways. One could say only 1% of our biases are unsuited for modern times and as a result of this not even worth considering as a general fact. This is a real possibility.
Yes, but we don't know, right? That's what I was saying when I was saying it goes both ways "then". On this basis, if I cannot defend my side against biases, you can't argue for biases neither.
Okay, I think I get your point, I'm not sure we are speaking about the same things. I would not put "emotionally invested" for instance in the category of biases I was referring to.
By being emotionally invested in a subject, I'll be motivated to dig deeper. I wont dig into a subject I don't care about. I might also have some biases that make me want the truth to be one side or another. That is a bias I should be careful about / could take advantage of (by being all the more careful about arguments that validate "my" side for instance). There are the cognitive biases that might make me do errors of logic, them I want to avoid too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases says:
> "Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm and/or rationality in judgment"
I want to avoid these biases if I want rationality or emit judgment. Those are the biases I'm speaking about.
Of course, in the situation you expose, truth is all of a sudden not a priority anymore and I'll seek survival instead, but that's not a normal situation. Obviously I'll do whatever I can to avoid danger and will probably be in very fast thinking mode in case of immediate danger. But most of the time this is not a situation I'm into.
And if I need to believe in flat world to avoid dying, unfortunately I'll probably die. I'd prefer not to but, if I can lie, I don't know a solid way of forgetting facts at will.
> It seems, part of your identity is invested in "truth seeking" so for me to say you're not biased can in itself trigger another bias in you [...] It's also possible that you might get defensive over what I'm saying
My identity is kept small, but thanks for worrying. I'm happy to be proven wrong any time.
> I don't even take pride in "truth seeking" that most science believers like you believe in
There we are. "science believers". Science is not belief. It's shared knowledge, obtained with shared and agreed upon methods and protocols (the reality is definitely flawed, and of course knowledge always has some level of uncertainty except maybe mathematics, but that's the best we have), and shared known unknowns too. If you are not into this, we'll definitely have to stop discussing because we'll go nowhere together. There is no way one will be able to change the mind of the other so continuing to discuss is pointless since readers of this discussion probably also have their mind set.
By the way, you can't state that anything is proven or unproven if you think science is belief. That's either meaningless or dishonest. Because science is the only way anything could possibly be proven or proven wrong and you'll reject this as belief into which you apparently don't buy. This also makes our entire discussion quite irrelevant, since its premise that you set is that the goodness or badness of biases in the modern world is unproven. I should have asked you if you took science as belief earlier.
And I don't "take pride in 'truth seeking'". You really do make a lot of assumptions about me in this discussion.
I think I've said everything anyway. No hard feelings :-) I guess thanks for the ride.
I'll probably stop replying here. My absence of further answers cannot be interpreted in any way.
- deltasevennine 4y ago>There we are. "science believers". I'm a scientist. I know more about the nature of science and it's flaws more then most people. But there are a large cohort of popular science readers who don't truly understand what science is. They sort of worship the results of scientific endeavors as reported by popular science but they don't truly grasp what science is. You're part of that cohort. >Because science is the only way anything could possibly be proven or proven wrong and you'll reject this as belief into which you apparently don't buy. Most people don't understand the true nature of science. Even people who worship the concept of empirical testing and the scientific method. There is a huge flaw in science in the fact that NOTHING can be proven in science it is fundamentally impossible. Things can only be falsified in science, nothing can be proven. It's in fact a core tenet of science. To quote Einstein: “No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.” The logic behind why this is the case is not understandable to most people. >And I don't "take pride in 'truth seeking'". You really do make a lot of assumptions about me in this discussion. I think you do. Most people take pride in themselves being more "unbiased" then other people. It's normal. By probability you're the same as everyone else. It's cliche. >My identity is kept small, but thanks for worrying. I'm happy to be proven wrong any time. I'm not worrying. I'm anticipating your response, and making you aware of of cliche behavior so you don't fall into the trap. But you decided to "stop replying" indicating you are biased and emotionally invested. I mean if you're happy to be proven wrong, why don't you just continue to engage with me or admit you're wrong?