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You can "tolerate" aliens? Alien life has a very high chance of existing - according to many scientists, more likely than it not existing. Alien intelligence le

You can "tolerate" aliens? Alien life has a very high chance of existing - according to many scientists, more likely than it not existing. Alien intelligence less so, but still quite likely to exist. I find your take on people who believe in Astrology condescending. I know intelligent and accomplished people who believe in Astrology. The explanation is very simple: they simply didn't think it through and keep checking Astrology predictions because they find them entertaining.

pedrosorio 3y ago
> find them entertaining I also find them entertaining. That doesn’t mean I believe them. > The explanation is very simple: they simply didn't think it through Something I rely on to predict the future is the kind of thing I would want to think through. That’s particularly hard to believe of “intelligent people” when checking that it’s nonsense takes very little effort. There may be an education-intelligence gap that explains why astrology is not evidently false to those people though.
- glimshe 3y ago
  Intelligence is multi faceted. You can be an excellent lawyer yet not stop to think about whether Astrology is falsifiable and what were the results of experiments that tested it. It can be fun in the sense that it appears useful and uplifting. Not every intelligent and capable person is a rationalist. I'd say that normal people reflect little about truths, instead relying on feelings and word of mouth. It got us to survive all the way to 2023, it's not such a terrible approach.
  - vacuity 3y ago
    In the US: Pizzagate? Jan 6 Capitol riot? I'm not sure the whole "go with your gut, bro" thing is working out. Tribalism, confirmation bias, fundamental attribution error, etc. are real obstacles to understanding each other and having a big world of content people.
- yadingus 3y ago
  I'd not be surprised if people who are extremely intolerant of astrology have much lower emotional intelligence than people who believe in astrology. Astrology's biggest role is drawing a map of how people relate to each other, it's not primarily about making claims of the physical world.
RetpolineDrama 3y ago
I find it offensive to conflate the very real possibly and serious topic of Alien life existing with Astrology.
machina_ex_deus 3y ago
The current state with aliens is that we don't know. Some give 100% prior, some give 0% prior, and I can have an intelligent discussion about it. Regardless of our discussion, in the end, we still don't know and can't know (yet?). But I can tolerate people who have strong conviction either way. I put it as opposed to astrology where we clearly know it's wrong, and the even worse part is that we had no reason to think it was true in the first place. It's just nonsense that came out of nothing, without even an attempt to ground itself with a reasonable connection to reality. And yes, I am condenscending. If you go around believing random stuff and "simply doesn't think it through", that is precisely my problem with you. I'd rather a person who tries thinking and reaches the wrong conclusion than someone who "doesn't think it through". Such a person who doesn't even think should be more ashamed of himself than even the person who thinks wrongly.

pedrosorio 3y ago

> find them entertaining I also find them entertaining. That doesn’t mean I believe them. > The explanation is very simple: they simply didn't think it through Something I rely on to predict the future is the kind of thing I would want to think through. That’s particularly hard to believe of “intelligent people” when checking that it’s nonsense takes very little effort. There may be an education-intelligence gap that explains why astrology is not evidently false to those people though.

glimshe 3y ago
Intelligence is multi faceted. You can be an excellent lawyer yet not stop to think about whether Astrology is falsifiable and what were the results of experiments that tested it. It can be fun in the sense that it appears useful and uplifting. Not every intelligent and capable person is a rationalist. I'd say that normal people reflect little about truths, instead relying on feelings and word of mouth. It got us to survive all the way to 2023, it's not such a terrible approach.
- vacuity 3y ago
  In the US: Pizzagate? Jan 6 Capitol riot? I'm not sure the whole "go with your gut, bro" thing is working out. Tribalism, confirmation bias, fundamental attribution error, etc. are real obstacles to understanding each other and having a big world of content people.
yadingus 3y ago
I'd not be surprised if people who are extremely intolerant of astrology have much lower emotional intelligence than people who believe in astrology. Astrology's biggest role is drawing a map of how people relate to each other, it's not primarily about making claims of the physical world.

RetpolineDrama 3y ago

I find it offensive to conflate the very real possibly and serious topic of Alien life existing with Astrology.

machina_ex_deus 3y ago

The current state with aliens is that we don't know. Some give 100% prior, some give 0% prior, and I can have an intelligent discussion about it. Regardless of our discussion, in the end, we still don't know and can't know (yet?). But I can tolerate people who have strong conviction either way. I put it as opposed to astrology where we clearly know it's wrong, and the even worse part is that we had no reason to think it was true in the first place. It's just nonsense that came out of nothing, without even an attempt to ground itself with a reasonable connection to reality. And yes, I am condenscending. If you go around believing random stuff and "simply doesn't think it through", that is precisely my problem with you. I'd rather a person who tries thinking and reaches the wrong conclusion than someone who "doesn't think it through". Such a person who doesn't even think should be more ashamed of himself than even the person who thinks wrongly.