|
I was actually planning on creating a thread along these lines because it's such an important question. I'm told that Anthropogenic Global Warming is overwhelmingly supported by scientific consensus, but as I'm just a guy who hasn't had any higher education beyond a few computer classes, how could I verify that claim. My conclusion is that at a certain point, you just have to find an information community that you trust. The big question is how to pick the right one. Even if you take a pragmatic stance and say "My trusted sources are generally right 80% of the time and wrong 20% of the time" you'll still be really wrong if you made the unwise choice to trust people who believe in reptilian conspiracies. There are some techniques that I think are useful. Carl Sagan offers the baloney detection kit: http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/saganbd.htm#BALONEY I find it's useful to use advertising as a clue when doing online research or watching TV or listening to the radio. The article will tell you what the author thinks of the subject, but the ads tell you what the author thinks of the audience. There was advice earlier to explicitly write out your reasoning for coming to conclusions. I think that sounds like a good technique to avoid fooling yourself.
|
#
¿
Nov 7, 2014 18:13
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 07:39 |
|