Principles of Curiosity

The sceptical aversion to being fooled or being wrong about a particular subject. Is a source of endless fascination for me.
Lucky for me I have a great deal of personal experience in both.

Perhaps the correct skeptical position isn't an aversion to being fooled, but an acknowledgment that it is entirely normal to get fooled?

Perhaps the correct skeptical position isn't an aversion to being fooled, but an acknowledgment that it is entirely normal to get fooled?

"Easy" rather than "normal," I'd prefer.

I guess you can answer that yourself if you watch it. I must admit that I am reluctant to watch it because I'm averse to someone assuming I can't think critically because of what I am prepared to consider and what they are not.  I'm so used to people setting themselves apart as "rationalists" and "free thinkers" and "brights" and, of course "critical thinkers" that the aversion has become deep seated. But perhaps I should steel myself and watch anyway.

One can consider anything. The trick though, is not to talk yourself into thinking one has derived an accurate conclusion necessarily.

Perhaps the correct skeptical position isn't an aversion to being fooled, but an acknowledgment that it is entirely normal to get fooled?

To paraphrase Richard Feynman: Don't be a fool and the easiest person to fool is yourself.

I have a sneaking suspicion that malf is actually BRIAN DUNNING!!!!

Lol. I think he's a very clever closet proponent.

To paraphrase Richard Feynman: Don't be a fool and the easiest person to fool is yourself.

You just don't get irony do you?

To paraphrase Richard Feynman: Don't be a fool and the easiest person to fool is yourself.

Good to see you, Steve.

Just got this message from Brian Dunning after I set him up for an interview with Alex for Skeptiko. I wonder if it will ever make it to air:

Just finished the interview. I'm afraid it won't be very interesting. All he wanted to do was rail against Randi and Richard Wiseman and call them liars and how could I ever be friends with such horrible people. I told him I don't judge my friends based on the worst things said about them by people who don't like them. It was basically that over & over again for an hour.

Production quality- excellent

Information value- not bad, if you are talking to a high school student and trying to show them that lots of ads and much of what's on the internet needs to be carefully considered before believed.

I turned it off at his suggestion to the viewer about what to believe was: always trust the experts, the professionals.

This is a terrible thing to do automatically, because the experts can be as dogmatic as anyone. The only difference is: they have a ton of evidence that (of course) supports their position.

We deal with this scenario every day when talking about psi.

I would say that any highschooler might benefit from watching this, but I think it would be a HUGE mistake for a fully formed adult to use this approach as their base information gathering and decision-making process.