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The power of science is to find evidence to the best explanations, not to get people to believe something. If the learner does not or cannot connect explanati
by _wire_ 2y ago
The power of science is to find evidence to the best explanations, not to get people to believe something.
If the learner does not or cannot connect explanations to his lived world, the method is irrelevant as it is dogma. To copy dogma is robotic.
All of us routinely depend on systems we can't explain, nor is there any point to trying to explain everything.
What's valuable is that the systems can be explained by their maintainers and adventurers, and that systems of explanation are federated to permit those who wants to know to participate constructively.
As to pedagogy, society has an interest in public education, to ensure that wide sectors do not become organized around bullshit. As we all largely depend on systems no individual can be expected to completely understand, hygiene of knowledge is important because knowledge is scarce relative to the total societal system, demanding conservation.
Due to scale and complexity of society, narrowly localized and unmediated communities of knowledge may work as cults. The balance is achieved through federation and sharing of responsibilities which ensure that explanations are locally relevant.
The service space of the community determines the natural scope of knowledge.
A decent society will encourage exploration and contribution to the larger commons, and accept dissent as a rigorous part of collaboration and maintenance of the commons.
The greatest immediate hazard of AI is the replacement of the commonwealth of knowledge with proprietary, mediated and transduced explanatory templates which even the maintainers of services follow but do not understand, leading to a breakdown in the social fabric of knowledge and the submission of people to the status of robots. This might lead to society tearing apart b in a way that destroys the largesse which every wealthy person unconsciously presumes as his entitlement.
"Do not make machines in the likeness of the human mind."
- lisper 2y ago> What's valuable is that the systems can be explained by their maintainers and adventurers, and that systems of explanation are federated to permit those who wants to know to participate constructively. Yes, I agree. But I think it's also important that the ability to recognize people who actually understand the systems, to distinguish actual experts from skilled charlatans, be much more widely distributed than it currently is.
- sitkack 2y agoSounds like you would like to help people activate their BS detectors. You would need to show them easy to detect examples and then break it down. With each iteration getting more and more abstract in the BS cataloged.
- lisper 2y ago> Sounds like you would like to help people activate their BS detectors. Yes, exactly. > You would need to show them easy to detect examples and then break it down. This is the problem. There is no such thing as an easy-to-detect example for someone who does not already have a well-developed BS detector. You might want to read this: https://flownet.com/ron/TIKN/ch1.txt https://flownet.com/ron/TIKN/ch1.txt That is the introductory chapter to a previous attempt at tackling this project. It might help put some things in perspective.
- sitkack 2y agoYeah, the problem is hard. But it is the hardest problem and cannot be solved quickly. But through constant and deliberate exposure to the right kinds of BS, we can inoculate and strengthen those that might succumb to its effects. Frankfurt, Harry. "On Bullshit" (1986) A Reading by AristotleWalks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH-xzi6xBgs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH-xzi6xBgs All the books from https://almossawi.com/ https://almossawi.com/ An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments https://bookofbadarguments.com/?view=flipbook https://bookofbadarguments.com/?view=flipbook An Illustrated Book of Loaded Language https://bookofbadarguments.com/loaded-language/ https://bookofbadarguments.com/loaded-language/ https://www.amazon.com/Books-Ali-Almossawi/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AAli+Almossawi https://www.amazon.com/Books-Ali-Almossawi/s?rh=n%3A283155%2...
- lisper 2y agoThanks for the pointers!