4 ms·

> When I read something in a textbook I blindly believe it, depending on the broader context and the textbook in question. Is that a bad thing? It is if what y

> When I read something in a textbook I blindly believe it, depending on the broader context and the textbook in question. Is that a bad thing? It is if what you read is factually incorrect, yes. For example, I have read in a textbook that the tongue has very specific regions for taste. This is patently false. > Keep in mind that research scientists need to keep abreast of far more developments than any human could possibly study in detail. Also that 50% of people are below average at their job. So, we should probably just discount half of what we read from research scientists as "bad at their job" and not pay much attention to it? Which half? Why are you defending corruption?

cyberax 8mo ago
The problem is that you can't just verify everything yourself. You likely have your own deadlines, and/or you want to do something more interesting than replicating statistical tests from a random paper.
- irishcoffee 8mo ago
  > The problem is that you can't just verify everything yourself. So the problem is reduced to "I believe what I want! This person said it and so I think it's true!" Sounds like politics in a nutshell.
  - cyberax 8mo ago
    No, it's not. It's reduced to "I trust people from a respectable scientific journal with 150 years of history". > Sounds like politics in a nutshell. Again, no. It sounds like the division of labor. The thing that made modern human societies possible.
    - irishcoffee 8mo ago
      Division of labor. Dividing labor between the "i'll pay you to work" and "I'm paid to work" The jokes write themselves,
      - cyberax 8mo ago
        Yes? What is exactly funny here? This is literally how the civilization works. I'm paid to do my work, and I pay others to do their work. Do you grow your own food and sew your own clothes? Also, did you personally etch the microprocessor that runs your computer? The division of labor inherently means trusting others. So when I buy a bag of M4 screws, I'm not going to measure each screw with a micrometer, and I'm not taking X-ray spectra to verify their material composition. The academic world also used to trust large publishers to take care to actually review papers. It appears that this trust is now misplaced. But I don't think it was somehow stupid.
- qsera 8mo ago
  >The problem is that you can't just verify everything yourself.. But one should be free to reject (in the sense that they should be free not to depend on it, or take decisions based on it) things that they did not themselves verify. But today if you do that, you become "anti-science"...and in-fact the people who wants others to "believe" science is anti-science.. The joke times we live in..
fc417fc802 8mo ago
You don't seem to be engaging in good faith.

cyberax 8mo ago

The problem is that you can't just verify everything yourself. You likely have your own deadlines, and/or you want to do something more interesting than replicating statistical tests from a random paper.

irishcoffee 8mo ago
> The problem is that you can't just verify everything yourself. So the problem is reduced to "I believe what I want! This person said it and so I think it's true!" Sounds like politics in a nutshell.
- cyberax 8mo ago
  No, it's not. It's reduced to "I trust people from a respectable scientific journal with 150 years of history". > Sounds like politics in a nutshell. Again, no. It sounds like the division of labor. The thing that made modern human societies possible.
  - irishcoffee 8mo ago
    Division of labor. Dividing labor between the "i'll pay you to work" and "I'm paid to work" The jokes write themselves,
    - cyberax 8mo ago
      Yes? What is exactly funny here? This is literally how the civilization works. I'm paid to do my work, and I pay others to do their work. Do you grow your own food and sew your own clothes? Also, did you personally etch the microprocessor that runs your computer? The division of labor inherently means trusting others. So when I buy a bag of M4 screws, I'm not going to measure each screw with a micrometer, and I'm not taking X-ray spectra to verify their material composition. The academic world also used to trust large publishers to take care to actually review papers. It appears that this trust is now misplaced. But I don't think it was somehow stupid.
qsera 8mo ago
>The problem is that you can't just verify everything yourself.. But one should be free to reject (in the sense that they should be free not to depend on it, or take decisions based on it) things that they did not themselves verify. But today if you do that, you become "anti-science"...and in-fact the people who wants others to "believe" science is anti-science.. The joke times we live in..

fc417fc802 8mo ago

You don't seem to be engaging in good faith.