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Hmm. Laurence Krauss is a "hack physicist"? That doesn't seem very consistent with his career achievements [1]. Surely we can disagree with someone without mak

Hmm. Laurence Krauss is a "hack physicist"? That doesn't seem very consistent with his career achievements [1]. Surely we can disagree with someone without making inaccurate personal attacks? [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Krauss https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Krauss

technothrasher 4y ago
The entire thing read as a bit of an ad hominem. Skeptics can be tribal like anybody else, and they can get things wrong or not investigate things that should be. Ok, that's all true but not particularly insightful. Picking one thing that the Skeptical community seems to accept and then focusing on it with good arguments and evidence instead of attacking "Skeptics" would have been more useful and likely better received.
- civilized 4y ago
  There is a type of criticism where the author seems to expect respect for their outsider status and anti-tribal attitude, which they see as increasing their objectivity, and this seems to liberate them to criticize viewpoints labeled "tribal" without sufficient substance. It's the substance of a criticism that validates it, not a self-assessed position as an objective outsider.
ZeroGravitas 4y ago
Never heard of him before but his whole life is apparently science focused: > In 2011, Krauss defended his association with Epstein, saying "As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I've never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people
- johnwalkr 4y ago
  That's a pretty typical attitude in the community at that time ("allegations aren't evidence"). Krauss' behavior was an open secret in the skeptic community for a long time and it was no surprise when he got metoo'd.[1] [1]https://philosophytorres.medium.com/here-are-what-some-folks-are-saying-about-the-recent-allegations-against-lawrence-krauss-e4c444b2d715 https://philosophytorres.medium.com/here-are-what-some-folks...

technothrasher 4y ago

The entire thing read as a bit of an ad hominem. Skeptics can be tribal like anybody else, and they can get things wrong or not investigate things that should be. Ok, that's all true but not particularly insightful. Picking one thing that the Skeptical community seems to accept and then focusing on it with good arguments and evidence instead of attacking "Skeptics" would have been more useful and likely better received.

civilized 4y ago
There is a type of criticism where the author seems to expect respect for their outsider status and anti-tribal attitude, which they see as increasing their objectivity, and this seems to liberate them to criticize viewpoints labeled "tribal" without sufficient substance. It's the substance of a criticism that validates it, not a self-assessed position as an objective outsider.

ZeroGravitas 4y ago

Never heard of him before but his whole life is apparently science focused: > In 2011, Krauss defended his association with Epstein, saying "As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I've never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people

johnwalkr 4y ago
That's a pretty typical attitude in the community at that time ("allegations aren't evidence"). Krauss' behavior was an open secret in the skeptic community for a long time and it was no surprise when he got metoo'd.[1] [1]https://philosophytorres.medium.com/here-are-what-some-folks-are-saying-about-the-recent-allegations-against-lawrence-krauss-e4c444b2d715 https://philosophytorres.medium.com/here-are-what-some-folks...