the Eternal Progress narrative requires not just quantifiable technological progress, but moral progress; one needs to believe they're better than their predecessors for holding their enlightened beliefs
discussing the hermeneutics of the scientific priesthood disrupts this view
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RT @owenbroadcast
i have finished arguing with the science people. solid way to spend waiting room time. i was, unsurprisingly, totally correct, + now i…
https://twitter.com/owenbroadcast/status/1413266511167377410
most don't tolerate uncertainty, needing a foundation for their epistemics but unwilling to build it themselves; the scientific priesthoods air of legitimacy allows them to adopt the proffered one w/o too much questioning
poking at it is seen as violence
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RT @pee_zombie
binary thinking is the refuge of those who cannot tolerate ambiguity, and the mark of maturity is accepting that the world can be naught but gray. without spiritual…
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1327110854752481285
and really, they don't need to; for the vast majority of the typical life is not improved for a better intellectual grounding. beliefs are tools your mind uses to help achieve your goals, and consistency is typically not particularly instrumental here
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RT @pee_zombie
much of human behavior is made legible when examined through the lens of materialist computationalism, namely the fact that information processing has a real physical c…
https://twitter.com/pee_zombie/status/1360720737594732548
but the fact remains that Pop Science is a folk religion, one involving just as much faith as other common belief systems
those who value intellectual honesty for its own sake readily admit this, and either accept it or seek to shore up their foundations
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RT @acmills237
@owenbroadcast You’ve gone this far and haven’t mentioned this clip once… https://youtu.be/b0e-omnsukM
https://twitter.com/acmills237/status/1413271544583831555
so unless you want to be seen as a Stupid Science Bitch, either accept that your inherited worldview does not make you morally superior to those with another, or work to take ownership of your epistemics and connect your beliefs to the evidence of your senses
given that the egoic needs of most people require them to occupy a morally defensible position, it becomes understandable why they'd accept the arms they're handed down and close ranks, in an attempt to avoid complicity with the ideological outgroup's perceived misdeeds