4 ms·

If someone tells you they are a pronatalist, odds are they are actually a eugenicist. And they probably espouse other tech bro oddball philosophies and pseudosc

by Zigurd 7mo ago

If someone tells you they are a pronatalist, odds are they are actually a eugenicist. And they probably espouse other tech bro oddball philosophies and pseudoscientific beliefs. How did we get to this place where a small number of strange white men have soured an industry that used to give us marvels that expanded our freedom and made our lives better?

ben_w 7mo ago
Basically all of human history can be described in similar terms, and it's not melanin-specific. If you can name a historical figure, they were probably some flavour of non-standard mental processing and beliefs. Even just coming up with "marvels that expanded our freedom and made our lives better" is inherently a non-standard position relative to how most people live and think.
- Zigurd 7mo ago
  What you're saying amounts to: ambitious assholes know they need better PR than people who just get the job done. In principle this is an approach open to anyone, but in modern America, it is just a clique of strange white men.
  - ben_w 7mo ago
    No, I'm saying oddball philosophies and pseudoscientific beliefs are the default. Even coming up with the scientific method took millennia, and actually trying to take that seriously is still really unusual in the human species. It may happen to be a clique of strange mostly white men in the USA, but it would be wrong in both directions to label this under "modern America": the founding fathers of the USA were, by both modern and contemporary standards, more than a bit odd. And that was true at almost every point in US (and indeed world, not just USA) history. And it's not just a uniquely American thing, as anyone who points to, say, the Chinese Great Leap Forward's famine will point out. (And that was just the first example that came to my head, basically everywhere and every-when has something weird to pick up on). Science is hard. Thinking critically and logically is hard. As Feynman said: The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.

by Zigurd 7mo ago

ben_w 7mo ago

Basically all of human history can be described in similar terms, and it's not melanin-specific. If you can name a historical figure, they were probably some flavour of non-standard mental processing and beliefs. Even just coming up with "marvels that expanded our freedom and made our lives better" is inherently a non-standard position relative to how most people live and think.

Zigurd 7mo ago
What you're saying amounts to: ambitious assholes know they need better PR than people who just get the job done. In principle this is an approach open to anyone, but in modern America, it is just a clique of strange white men.
- ben_w 7mo ago
  No, I'm saying oddball philosophies and pseudoscientific beliefs are the default. Even coming up with the scientific method took millennia, and actually trying to take that seriously is still really unusual in the human species. It may happen to be a clique of strange mostly white men in the USA, but it would be wrong in both directions to label this under "modern America": the founding fathers of the USA were, by both modern and contemporary standards, more than a bit odd. And that was true at almost every point in US (and indeed world, not just USA) history. And it's not just a uniquely American thing, as anyone who points to, say, the Chinese Great Leap Forward's famine will point out. (And that was just the first example that came to my head, basically everywhere and every-when has something weird to pick up on). Science is hard. Thinking critically and logically is hard. As Feynman said: The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.