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When people are surprised they don’t put the information through their usual bullshit filters. So people are willing to hear stuff that’s possibly utter garbag

When people are surprised they don’t put the information through their usual bullshit filters. So people are willing to hear stuff that’s possibly utter garbage when it’s new and surprising. The brain has to be open to novelty without dismissing it as untrue based on previous experiences. So you can say things like “cut out everything that’s not surprising”, and because it’s new and surprising, your brain gives it a free pass: “hey that’s a new concept, could be good, let’s not put that through the bullshit filters just yet”. A little more careful thought might reveal that the speaker is talking a pile of rubbish. This explains why people love to go to conferences and rah rah events because they’re going to be fed new concepts they can latch onto without critical thinking.

Karellen 3y ago
> When people are surprised they don’t put the information through their usual bullshit filters. Huh. When I see information that's surprising, that's when my critical analysis and bullshit filters naturally spring into life. Something surprising is something I either hadn't thought about before, or had thought about but come to a different conclusion with. Something surprising is ripe to be considered from a bunch of different angles. How does it fit in with the things I already know? It is plausible? Does it actually contradict my current model of the world? Might it complement my current model of the world? Anything that isn't surprising is what gets the free pass on my bullshit filters. Yay, confirmation bias!