[FRIAM] Oooh ... That got me fired up.

[Russ Abbott]

Good Nautilus article. How can it be otherwise? There are so many things to
know that the only way to form opinions about the world is to build on what
people we trust say.  How, otherwise, would one know that the world is not
flat, or that E = MC^2, or that we have more bacteria in our biomes than
cells in our bodies
<https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/human-microbiome/> and more
viruses than bacteria
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/viruses-can-help-us-as-well-as-harm-us/#:~:text=Biologists%20estimate%20that%20380%20trillion,many%20simply%20coexist%20with%20you.>,
or that Amazon and Walmart are the two of the largest employers in the
country
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_in_the_United_States_by_revenue>,
or that US federal spending is divided as in this chart
<https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/styles/report_386_high_dpi/public/atoms/files/4-14-08taxf.png?itok=H0exP0S9>,
etc.?

-- Russ Abbott
Professor, Computer Science
California State University, Los Angeles


On Fri, Jun 25, 2021 at 12:37 AM Pieter Steenekamp <
pieters at randcontrols.co.za> wrote:

> Very good article, I resonate with the gist of it.
>
> Let me quote from a book I'm reading now, "Making Sense of World History",
> by Rick Szostak (page 84 in the Kindle version):
> " Humans have an incredible capacity for self-deception. Our subconscious
> thoughts can guide us to act in ways that are cowardly, malicious, or
> jealous even if we would consciously disdain cowardice, malice, and
> jealousy. Why did mental capacity for self-deception evolve in humans? One
> theory is that self-deception aids us in other-deception. Humans have been
> selected for cooperation, and therefore selected to give and observe cues
> regarding dishonesty. As discussed above, we will feel guilty for lying
> (that is, violating a cultural value favouring honesty), and display this
> guilt physically."
> "We might then lie to ourselves that our selfish acts are actually in the
> interest of others".
>
>
>
> On Thu, 24 Jun 2021 at 22:56, uǝlƃ ☤>$ <gepropella at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Of course. That's the *purpose* of postmodernism, in general, and
>> critical race theory, in particular: to understand the past such that the
>> future can be better. The trick is when you choose to "read through" the
>> text and when you choose to treat the text as naturfact.
>>
>> But the deeper issue is that of trust. Here's an excellent lay out:
>>
>>
>> https://nautil.us/issue/100/outsiders/why-misinformation-is-about-who-you-trust-not-what-you-think-rp
>> "O’Connor: Younger people are more savvy about identifying fake news,
>> able to look at different aspects of some website and say, Oh, this
>> probably isn’t real, and so are less likely to share it."
>>
>> Yet another reason old people must die.
>>
>> On 6/24/21 12:08 PM, Pieter Steenekamp wrote:
>> > I listened to the clip and I agree with what the general said -
>> understanding different views is very important.
>> >
>> > The bigger issue is of course the basis of all this and it goes beyond
>> the borders of the US; it's racism and history. My personal view is not to
>> ignore it, but to put less emphasis on the past and more emphasis on what
>> we can do right now to make it better in the future.
>>
>>
>> --
>> ☤>$ uǝlƃ
>>
>> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .
>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
>> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6  bit.ly/virtualfriam
>> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
>> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
>>
> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6  bit.ly/virtualfriam
> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20210625/969f0895/attachment.html>