

The Attack on Truth - petethomas
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Attack-on-Truth/230631/

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ccvannorman
TL;DR: "Humans (across the population) are incredibly, incredibly stupid, and
refuse to change their (emotional) minds in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Being/acting/living smart is a choice that an alarming percentage of people
fail to make."

Sounds like this article could have been written any year after language was
invented.

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vanderZwan
I think the key point is:

> _" There is simple ignorance and there is willful ignorance, which is simple
> ignorance coupled with the decision to remain ignorant."_

I'm not so sure if being _willfully_ ignorant really was an option for many
people up until recently.

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c_i_v
Willful ignorance has always been an option, and there is no reason to believe
there has been significant change in the last millennia with respect to
individuals.

Willful ignorance implies knowledge that is available, but disregarded since
it isn't desired; and, the knowledge someone holds is not dependent on its
validity.

What has changed is the availability of different ways of thinking and the
increased number of ways they go unchallenged in public discourse. With the
addition of the internet/mass communication, the memes that self reinforce the
strongest allow their carriers "know" with more "evidence backed" certainty
than ever (albeit with more competing ways to doubt them too).

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13thLetter
There's a sad note of "it was okay when _we_ were doing it" which suffuses the
article. A good lesson why scientists should rely on argument and evidence
instead of memetic weapons that don't care what direction they're being
pointed in.

~~~
eli_gottlieb
>A good lesson why scientists should rely on argument and evidence instead of
memetic weapons that don't care what direction they're being pointed in.

It's a poor fact-stopping argument that doesn't point both ways?

