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> We know this as science progressing one dead person at a time > We have deep flaws as a species. Speak for yourself. 'We' doesn't know anything or have any
by verisimi 2y ago
> We know this as science progressing one dead person at a time
> We have deep flaws as a species.
Speak for yourself. 'We' doesn't know anything or have anything. The perceived collective consensus view on whatever, is actually just a projection - it is not really there. 'Facts' are consensus opinion, deferral to expert opinion - the term (defined by the royal society) has authority and hierarchy baked in. https://www.etymonline.com/word/fact https://www.etymonline.com/word/fact
With regards to science, the scientific method applied personally, should count with oneself - if one understands oneself to be a rational thinker the method is great. If one is rational, able to change one's mind as one verifies (or fails to verify) this-or-that then great. If one prefers to read articles on science sites and believes one now 'knows' something (without personal verification) one is choosing to believe one knows. This is not actual knowing - to call a 'belief' -> 'knowledge' is a subversion of the meaning of the term.
Ultimately knowing facts is a subjective endeavour, objectivity is not possible. One cannot take oneself out of the experience, no matter how hard one pretends to be objective. One can pretend one is a 'we' (psychotic behaviour) and that 'we know this or that' when we merely read an article or watch a video somewhere. If you ask me, this is to be so deluded and disassociated from reality, that it is like being in the middle of the ocean and thinking one is climbing a hill as one is lifted by a wave.
- foxglacier 2y agoThe collective consensus which you call "not really there" is actually the belief of the people who have the power to influence the society. I think that's why people are so interested in it - because it matters for government policy, who people vote for, etc. which affects everyone. When the collective consensus said that infant formula was as good as breast milk, it led to a lot of babies being fed that. Then the collective consensus reversed and a lot of babies got breast milk instead. Those babies grew up to be people like you and me with all the possible lifelong good or harm that might have come from whatever the collective consensus at the time was. People like mothers and nurses who implemented it did so even if they didn't really believe it. That's the power of collective consensus - to influence just about everyone. Denial is punished socially so people conform rather than act on their own beliefs, however well informed.
- verisimi 2y agoYes. Beliefs/stories are real, in so far as individuals do have them, and will act on them. But characterising a 'fact' as 'true', believing it, saying it is so, does not make it actually true. It is in this sense that I meant "not really there" - there is no verifiable reality to the thing that one can confirm.
- foxglacier 2y agoOh, for sure. I misunderstood, sorry.