What is the newest installment of 'Random Thoughts' on Physics Forums?

[WWGD]

Really? Who would have thought so?

Conspiracy theorists lack critical thinking skills: New study​

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/science/2021/07/25/conspiracy-theorists-lack-critical-thinking/

I see it as an issue of circular reasoning. Conspiracy theories cannot be falsified.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Really? Who would have thought so?

Conspiracy theorists lack critical thinking skills: New study​

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/science/2021/07/25/conspiracy-theorists-lack-critical-thinking/

I see it as an issue of circular reasoning. Conspiracy theories cannot be falsified.

That's why I hate using polar coordinates. It's all circular reasoning.

 

[fresh_42]

That's why I hate using polar coordinates. It's all circular reasoning.

Yep, me, too. I use bipolar coordinates.

 

[WWGD]

I see these ads by banks encouraging people to use their online accou

That's why I hate using polar coordinates. It's all circular reasoning.

But you can't avoid singularities at some point. ( Stretching analogy to a breaking point).

 

[Jarvis323]

Really? Who would have thought so?

Conspiracy theorists lack critical thinking skills: New study​

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/science/2021/07/25/conspiracy-theorists-lack-critical-thinking/

In the discussion they emphasize a crucial aspect to the study. The title should reflect that for accuracy in my opinion. As it stands, the statement "Conspiracy theorists lack critical thinking skills", is technically fallacious. "Unfounded belief is correlated with lack of critical thinking skills", is a little too obvious I guess. Or the title could be "People who are bad at conspiracy theory tend to lack critical thinking skills". I also wouldn't be surprised if people who were bad at math tended to do poorly in math tests.

One example is the capacity to exercise
critical thinking ability to distinguish bogus conspiracy theories from
genuine conspiracies (Bale, 2007), leading us to question when critical
thinking ability could be used to support this adaptive function. Some-
times, it is not unreasonable to think that a form of rationality would
help to facilitate the detection of dangerous coalitions (van Prooijen &
Van Vugt, 2018). In that respect, Stojanov and Halberstadt (2019)
recently introduced a distinction between irrational versus rational
suspicion. Although the former focuses on the general tendency to
believe in any conspiracy theories, the later focus on higher sensitivity
to deception or corruption, which is defined as “healthy skepticism.
These two aspects of suspicion can now be handled simultaneously
thanks to a new scale developed by Stojanov and Halberstadt (2019).
In our study, we found that critical thinking ability was associated with
lower unfounded belief in conspiracy theories, but this does not
answer the question as to whether critical thinking ability can be help-
ful for the detection of true conspiracies. Future studies could use this
new measurement to address this specific question.
”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/acp.3790

 

[WWGD]

Auto correct: Aswan Dam = Ass One Damn!

 

[WWGD]

It gets tiresome at times to hear the whole " Children are good and pure. Adults ruin them as they grow older". This leads to an infinite regress. Just how did an adult get ruined at some point? It was because of other adults, which, themselves, were ruined by others, etc. It just seems like a very lazy statement. to make.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It gets tiresome at times to hear the whole " Children are good and pure. Adults ruin them as they grow older". This leads to an infinite regress. Just how did an adult get ruined at some point? It was because of other adults, which, themselves, were ruined by others, etc. It just seems like a very lazy statement. to make.

Who says that?

 

[WWGD]

Who says that?

I have heard it, read it many times in different media.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I have heard it, read it many times in different media.

Well there's your problem.

 

[WWGD]

Well there's your problem.

??

 

[Ivan Seeking]

??

I strongly suggest you use only me as a valid source of information.

 

[WWGD]

Whatever the case, I have heard it said a few times. As enlightened as the likes of " Pie (sic) contains all novels ever written".

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Whatever the case, I have heard it said a few times. As enlightened as the likes of " Pie (sic) contains all novels ever written".

Well any good ex-Catholic like me knows children are born evil. That's why you have to dunk them in water - to wash away the evil.

They can even be so dangerous that you have to do it like this

 

[BillTre]

It gets tiresome at times to hear the whole " Children are good and pure. Adults ruin them as they grow older". This leads to an infinite regress. Just how did an adult get ruined at some point? It was because of other adults, which, themselves, were ruined by others, etc. It just seems like a very lazy statement. to make.

I'll bet your were "good and pure" once.

 

[kyphysics]

I shall never live in Florida if I can help it. Videos of alligators/crocodiles in people's yards and even in their homes freaks me out.

 

[WWGD]

I shall never live in Florida if I can help it. Videos of alligators/crocodiles in people's yards and even in their homes freaks me out.

Then avoid Australia too. Maybe even worse in terms of animals that can kill you. Or try the Florida panhandle; I think it's better in that regard.

 

[WWGD]

Just read about Google's " I feel lucky". After clicking, saw an image of Clint: " Well, do you, punk?".

 

[Ivan Seeking]

In my review of information regarding the concept of consciousness, and especially in the musings of scientists and philosophers about quantum teleportation and Star Trek style transporters, a disturbing possibility emerged. One of the concepts of the self involves a constant stream of consciousness. If for example you are transported but your consciousness ceases to exist, and then suddenly appears somewhere else, is that still you? That argument is, no, it is not you. It is a different consciousnesses. The problem is, the same thing happens when you sleep. So we get the idea that the person who wakes up in the morning is not the same person who went to sleep last night. That person is dead.

That reminds me, I've been having trouble getting to sleep...

 

[BillTre]

So we get the idea that the person who wakes up in the morning is not the same person who went to sleep last night.

However, that persons' memories (which are physically present in the brain) lead them to think they are the same person.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

However, that persons' memories (which are physically present in the brain) lead them to think they are the same person.

Exactly, which is the same conundrum that we get into when considering teleportation. We don't know we aren't the original. We don't know that person died.

 

[WWGD]

I remember seeing my prof's leg floating around randomly. His teleportation experiment had not quite worked as expected.

 

[BillTre]

Each iteration of conscious experience could be considered a new version of the previous one, or a modification of it.

This leads to the classic ancient Greek guy boat problem (Ship of Theseus) which is the basis of this conundrum (which seems to be at the base of this):

The ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus’ paradox, is a thought experiment that raises the question of whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object. The paradox is most notably recorded by Plutarch in Life of Theseus from the late first century. Plutarch asked whether a ship that had been restored by replacing every single wooden part remained the same ship.The paradox had been discussed by other ancient philosophers such as Heraclitus and Plato prior to Plutarch’s writings, and more recently by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Several variants are known, including the grandfather’s axe, which has had both head and handle replaced.

It can be made even worse if after each piece is removed and replaced, the original parts are reassembled into a copy (or the original?) of the ship.
This would be simillar to transporting someone, but also keeping the original.

 

[WWGD]

Each iteration of conscious experience could be considered a new version of the previous one, or a modification of it.

This leads to the classic ancient Greek guy boat problem (Ship of Theseus) which is the basis of this conundrum (which seems to be at the base of this):

It can be made even worse if after each piece is removed and replaced, the original parts are reassembled into a copy (or the original?) of the ship.
This would be simillar to transporting someone, but also keeping the original.

How about the structure of the boat , i.e., how the parts fit together? Ratios, which parts as fit together, etc. I understand , though I know very little about it, this is also used in teleportation: the description of the structure is used to " reassemble" the person at the receiving end.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I remember seeing my prof's leg floating around randomly. His teleportation experiment had not quite worked as expected.

That reminds me of the short story "Shottle Bop", by Theordore Sturgeon.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Interesting Reading: Inflation-Theory Implications for Extraterrestrial Visitation
JBIS, Vol. 58, pp. 43-50, 2005

 

[LCSphysicist]

I went to a first family party after Covid. In this party was said to me:

"Is the cat dead or alive? (It was asked about 20 times)
What about the particle that is a wave at the same time?
Calculate the cake speed.
Calculate the time i take to make a drink.
Why do i got drunk?
What about to do a time travel machine?
He can't play cards with us because he will calc all the possibilities and will win.
Just need to go faster than light !
What if the light go faster than light?
You already seem crazy.
Why do i don't feel that the car is at 100 km/h?
Sheldon!
Multiverse?
What is heaviest? One kg of cotton or steel?"

That happens with you guys too?

 

[fresh_42]

That happens with you guys too?

Nope. They fear the answer!

 

[gmax137]

This leads to the classic ancient Greek guy boat problem (Ship of Theseus)

This reminds me of the comedian (Steven Wright)

“Last night somebody broke into my apartment and replaced everything with exact duplicates... When I pointed it out to my roommate, he said, "Do I know you?”​

 

[WWGD]

This reminds me of the comedian (Steven Wright)

“Last night somebody broke into my apartment and replaced everything with exact duplicates... When I pointed it out to my roommate, he said, "Do I know you?”​

Wright is the one who talked about wanting a 1:1 -scale map of the world.