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I used to think <person> was smart. Then I discovered that he disagrees with me about <political issue>, and I realized he couldn't be, because no one who disag

I used to think <person> was smart. Then I discovered that he disagrees with me about <political issue>, and I realized he couldn't be, because no one who disagrees with me about <political issue> could be smart. - relevant PG quote

rasz 4y ago
wow this is a garbage fire, Im leaving - another relevant PG quote
mindslight 4y ago
Adjusting for our political reality - I used to think <person> was smart. Then I discovered that he thinks <basic fact> is a political issue, and seems unable to discuss it rationally.
- kzrdude 4y ago
  Musk seems to express "the ends justify the means". “My cause is important enought that I can use X, it is justified”, for arbitrary X. Seeing how he bulldozes ahead made me reflect over other instances of this, also among my acquaintances. Some think their take own take on politics is so lucid and important for the world that they justify telling people to their face that they are deranged, a threat to the world ahead and so on. Can we really justify this? It's not easy to deal with a polarized world, but these people seem to be the ones meeting violence with violence and so on, and it's not looking like it makes anything better more than to entrench the culture war and similar things. For myself I can't justify behaving like this.
  - mindslight 4y ago
    I've always endeavored to be correct rather than accepted. I've also never accepted how people default to action instead of thinking. It seems that the tendency is to keep building more towers of complexity by forward-following implications, rather than looking at the overall qualities of what has been built. I do recognize that this seems to be the vast majority of society though. And I guess it makes sense because deduction/determinism is much easier than induction/nondeterminism. Due to this overarching dynamic, it's my ever present lament that whenever a topic I care about gets the limelight it inevitably goes sideways/backwards rather than forwards. Presently, concerns about free speech and critiques of the US empire are at all time highs. There's a store selling burritos in every neighborhood, and cryptocurrency is a thing. Me from decades past should be elated, right?

rasz 4y ago

wow this is a garbage fire, Im leaving - another relevant PG quote

mindslight 4y ago

Adjusting for our political reality - I used to think <person> was smart. Then I discovered that he thinks <basic fact> is a political issue, and seems unable to discuss it rationally.

kzrdude 4y ago
Musk seems to express "the ends justify the means". “My cause is important enought that I can use X, it is justified”, for arbitrary X. Seeing how he bulldozes ahead made me reflect over other instances of this, also among my acquaintances. Some think their take own take on politics is so lucid and important for the world that they justify telling people to their face that they are deranged, a threat to the world ahead and so on. Can we really justify this? It's not easy to deal with a polarized world, but these people seem to be the ones meeting violence with violence and so on, and it's not looking like it makes anything better more than to entrench the culture war and similar things. For myself I can't justify behaving like this.
- mindslight 4y ago
  I've always endeavored to be correct rather than accepted. I've also never accepted how people default to action instead of thinking. It seems that the tendency is to keep building more towers of complexity by forward-following implications, rather than looking at the overall qualities of what has been built. I do recognize that this seems to be the vast majority of society though. And I guess it makes sense because deduction/determinism is much easier than induction/nondeterminism. Due to this overarching dynamic, it's my ever present lament that whenever a topic I care about gets the limelight it inevitably goes sideways/backwards rather than forwards. Presently, concerns about free speech and critiques of the US empire are at all time highs. There's a store selling burritos in every neighborhood, and cryptocurrency is a thing. Me from decades past should be elated, right?