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So, this isn’t news, nor is it science, per se. But I wanted to share here because I was one of those kids from about 2 to 4. As mentioned in the story, it of course all faded thereafter, but I could talk at length about my life in Texas even though I had never been. My parents found it odd but not entirely outside expectations.

  • jarfil@beehaw.orgEnglish
    3·
    6 months ago

    The problem with the expression “open minded”, is that it gets used as a way to bypass any scrutiny, by people who are scammers, believers with a mind so open that their brains fall out, or both (scammers who believe the scam). At this point, I’d rather avoid it.

    From my experiences, there is nothing that some Occam’s razor can’t reduce to scientific explanations. Every time I managed to set up a scientifically sound test, they failed completely. I’ve encountered many scammers, believers, and scammer+believers claiming plenty of stuff they couldn’t even set a test for. One sentence I will never forget from a scammer+believer criticizing another one is: “they are too scientific” 🤦

    Like, no, one can not be “too scientific”.

    Sure, the scientific method is a “human tool”, but so far it’s the only tool humans have that can provide any useful information. Non-scientific data, is like isolated data points or clusters with no way to relate them to anything, no way to use them to predict something other than themselves, and basically useless.

    So far, the only experiences I’ve encountered that don’t have any possible scientific explanation, are 2nd hand accounts from people without a scientific mindset. Since they didn’t run any data gathering at the time, and the experiences are not repeatable, they’re just isolated tales without any reference to anything real. Maybe they did happen, maybe they didn’t, maybe who knows what. Useless. (and it’s a pity, since they could’ve been really interesting if true)

    • Chris Remington@beehaw.orgMEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      Yeah, critical thinking is an important skill to have. Sadly, there is a very low percentage of people (specifically, in the USA) that have it.

      I’m approximating that around 98% of the news media, here in the USA, are biased and/or propaganda. The first year of my university education taught me how to separate fact from opinion. What if you don’t go to university? How do you learn critical thinking? I have a college friend that I’ve known for almost thirty years. He has a masters degree in finance and he is a certified public accountant. However, when it comes to USA politics, he has been completely brainwashed by the media. He is one of those MAGA nut-jobs.

      Having second hand accounts of anything is, certainly, unreliable. I wish more people could have, at least, one experience that fell outside of what we know from science. Unbelievably, I’ve had several of these. I’d say about five that I cannot explain using the best of our scientific knowledge.