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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social

And I suppose I have been trained - I mean, this is a pretty important part of being a historian - to first check to see if a fact is knowable with a high degree of certainty before trying to instead use inductive reasoning or analogy to arrive at a *probable* result.

may 22, 2025, 5:14 am • 212 6

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John Wallach @jmwallach.bsky.social

The same people will talk about how the academy has given up pursuit of truth because of woke.

may 22, 2025, 5:15 am • 1 0 • view
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dkhunter @dkhunter.bsky.social

This is not exclusive to people on the right. I wish it was.

may 22, 2025, 5:16 am • 10 0 • view
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John Wallach @jmwallach.bsky.social

Fair, I probably ignore it from others...

may 22, 2025, 5:17 am • 1 0 • view
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Phil Goyette @mrgoyette.bsky.social

But I sound smarter if I argue with vibes (Also, vibes are more immediately compelling to our fundamentally ape brains, but that's a discussion for a different thread I think)

may 22, 2025, 7:50 am • 3 0 • view
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Andrew S. @shoutingboy.bsky.social

“Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is... maybe he didn't?”

may 22, 2025, 5:33 am • 1 0 • view
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Alex F @arramol.bsky.social

I look at what true, genuine geniuses in ancient Greece came up with using those methods--Euclid believing that the eye projected radar-like rays, for example--and quickly realize I should probably stick to relying on empiricism, because I doubt I'm drastically smarter than Euclid.

may 22, 2025, 12:00 pm • 8 0 • view
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the frass and the furious @apophis426.bsky.social

i think this is the biggest difference most people are *not* trained and google is not by any means guaranteed to give any given Joe Dunning-Kruger Public the actually most reliable source rather than some crank with an axe to grind (which may be a very well-funded org with great SEO)

may 24, 2025, 6:44 pm • 0 0 • view
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Christopher W. Jones @cwjones.bsky.social

The belief that there are a limited amount of good things in the world, and therefore one individual or group's gains must come at the expense of someone else, is a deep-seated cultural belief. Not surprised it resists empirical evidence.

may 22, 2025, 9:46 am • 18 0 • view
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the frass and the furious @apophis426.bsky.social

on the one hand, nearly all of our modern non-zero-sum value had been dug out of the earth at great *environmental* cost on the other, we can definitely be making better use of that stuff if we stop treating it as zero-sum *against each other*

may 24, 2025, 6:47 pm • 1 0 • view
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Christopher W. Jones @cwjones.bsky.social

sites.nd.edu/world-politi...

may 22, 2025, 9:49 am • 8 0 • view
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Ranamar @ranamar.bsky.social

That paper title has me thinking about how this tracks with people's feeling that their life is becoming more peasant-like. (Yes, it's mostly vibes, and also the source of the feeling is too long to fit in the second half of this.)

may 22, 2025, 11:59 am • 4 0 • view
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Ranamar @ranamar.bsky.social

It's vibes, and I'm not quite sure which parts of it contribute most, but I'm pretty sure the feeling of peasantification has something to do with highly-visible people at the top of apparently untouchable orgs making incomprehensible decisions.

may 22, 2025, 12:23 pm • 3 0 • view
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greenclock.bsky.social @greenclock.bsky.social

I dont think its entirely vibes tbh. Atleast Part of it is changes to the terms of highly central aspects of live (employment, education, housing, especially the latter two).

may 22, 2025, 1:47 pm • 0 0 • view