Why Critical Thinking is Dying

[Gunnar]

I agree that more critical thinking is a good thing and it isn't just for MAGA. It should be for the enlightened posters here as well. Most of the posts here moaning about MAGA seem to violate a lot of logical fallacies . . .

What does violating logical fallacies mean exactly? Did you mean to say they commit logical fallacies?

Just because someone here quotes a Trumpster as anecdotal evidence casually does not mean they view that as a substitute for a preponderance of the evidence.

And merely calling out someone for having committed a logical fallacy or repeatedly lying about something that is demonstrably false or contradictory to what they previously claimed, is neither equivalent to censorship nor a violation of their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech.

[Some Schmo]

Well that's fun, waking up to our resident conspiracy theorist suggesting others should start thinking critically.

Can't make this crap up, folks. Hilarious.

[Some Schmo]

Which democrats did what, and when, in the attempt to "outlaw free speech?"

Look up the Twitter files.

I always love it when someone tells someone else to go hunting for their references to prove the dubious proposition they're trying to push.

Amusingly dumb.

[Chap]

Which democrats did what, and when, in the attempt to "outlaw free speech?"

[...] Perhaps read something else besides the Guardian. [...]

Is it OK if I read the Washington Post? Because I do that.

Or do I need to watch Fox News? Or watch endless videos of 'some guy on the internet'?

Or what?

[Gunnar]

One of the biggest reasons why critical thinking is dying is because Trump Hates Science, and so do the three main groups that make up the MAGA movement: Right Wing Christians, big business billionaires and the authoritarian movement, because science competes with them as a source of truth.

One of the first things conservative groups (especially MAGA) want to cut, to "save money" is education and grants for scientific research. The extreme stupidity of this is that investments in education and basic science research are among the few government expenditures that always return much more in economic benefits dollarwise than what is invested in them. The money invested in the sciences since the1940's, in particular, is estimated to be 85% of the reason that our country has become the richest, most powerful country in history. And is not just the money. Science is what enabled us to develop nuclear weapons, before Germany and Japan (who were both working on that) could develop them. NIH is the world's largest and most effective medical science research organization, which has contributed to enormous medical advances that benefit the entire world, yet is one of the agencies Trump and Musk were most eager to cut. The NOAA and the Weather service predicted the weather conditions and firestorms that recently ravaged Southern California, and their recommendations for preparing for the emergency and evacuation plans almost certainly saved thousands of lives, yet the very scientists who worked hard to understand and prepare for what was coming were among those dismissed by DOGE's recommendations. In fact, many of the scientists directing the most important scientific organizations in government were replaced by administrative specialists and political hacks with little or no scientific experience or training and virtually no qualifications other than unwavering loyalty to Trump.

Some of my favorite comments on the video:

The irony of Elon Musk violently eviscerating American science institutions when he got rich by hiring the engineers and programmers that such institutions produced.

I’m a scientist in Australia, and our colleagues in the US that we have joint projects with have been fired, temporarily reinstated, and are expecting to be fired again. This has far reaching effects, and I’m heartbroken for my colleagues. You don’t become a scientist because you want to get loaded, it’s usually very average pay. You do it because you love and care about your country and people. So to be treated this way is a huge slap in the face.

Correction for the millionth time. ELON MUSK IS NOT AN ENGINEER. He only has a business degree and is NOT a Credited Engineer. Get that through your brain America!!!

Science is a method at arriving at answers. To say you "don't believe in science" is like saying you don't believe the highway that connects your town to the next will get you to your destination in that town. People get hung up on the falsifiability of science and think its a weakness science can be wrong, but its actually among its greatest strengths. It means that when new information comes along we get closer to understanding how something works and how we can apply that knowledge. Its a shame that so few people understand that in the USA now. Being wrong is okay, it takes some trial and error to find the truth and even then you may not have the whole picture.

In my Earth and Enviromental class the kids from previous years used interactive maps of powerplants and articles about legislation from the EPA's website. Now whenever my class goes to those things it all shows up as 404 not found. This stuff is directly affecting my generation's education about the environment.

What's particularly stupid about being a self proclaimed "business man" and then impeding scientific research is that a lot of that research can become a huge money maker for someone. He's indirectly stalling business innovation along with science.

This is why he loves the uneducated and wants to shut down the Department of Education. It's also why he caters to the Evangelicals and religious. . They will believe and do what they're told without any proof whatsoever.

I really wish if you had mentioned Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia. One of the most textbook anti-science and anti-intellectualist authoritarian movements

USDA, USGS, Forestry Service, National Park Service, etc. are also having scientists fired.
A lot of government agencies employ scientists. And it gets really apocalyptically bad when you consider all the "frozen" grants. Universities are just canceling graduate student admissions in the sciences because those students usually get their funding through those grants. We're losing an entire cohort of scientists... This will take at least a generation to come back from, if we ever do.

thank you so much for talking about national weather service. god, im gonna cry. im a weather forecaster in the air force and EVERYTHING you're saying is so, so accurate. NWS is INDESPENSIBLE to the safety of the people of this country. god, now im ACTUALLY crying, bc people love to crap on weather forecasters as "getting paid to be right half the time" but its grueling work, extremely technical, requiring leaps of faith in combination with science, with the end goal of disrupting peoples lives as little as possible while also ensuring everyone is safe. its thankless, and you thanked us. words cannot express how appreciative i am. the NWS is so so important to make sure evacuation orders arent locked behind a paywall. thank you, so, so much. not enough people are talking about this. also, im glad you got to fly with the hurricane hunters. theyre an incredible crew

Those opposed to acknowledging the reality and the potential of man caused climate change often stupidly accuse climate scientists of "just being in it for the money!" Who do you think is paying them to lie about the reality and danger of climate change? Petroleum geologists working for fossil fuel companies earn much more than climate scientists! The only climate scientists who make big money are the dishonest ones who shill for big oil by dismissing the reality, like Willie Wei-Hock Soon.

Willie Soon and The Fraser Institute
Willie Soon has written for the Fraser Institute and was formerly listed on its website as an author. The Fraser Institute received at least $120,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998, according to ExxonSecrets. According to archived data from the Conservative Transparency project, combined with original 990 research, the Fraser Institute has also received over $1.4 million from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, and at least $225,000 form the Sarah Scaife Foundation.10 11

[Kishkumen]

And merely calling out someone for having committed a logical fallacy or repeatedly lying about something that is demonstrably false or contradictory to what they previously claimed, is neither equivalent to censorship nor a violation of their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech.

That we now live in a dictatorship is largely thanks to so many people's inability to reason and make prudent decisions.

[Kishkumen]

One of the biggest reasons why critical thinking is dying is because Trump Hates Science, and so do the three main groups that make up the MAGA movement: Right Wing Christians, big business billionaires and the authoritarian movement, because science competes with them as a source of truth.

One of the first things conservative groups (especially MAGA) want to cut, to "save money" is education and grants for scientific research. The extreme stupidity of this is that investments in education and basic science research are among the few government expenditures that always return much more in economic benefits dollarwise than what is invested in them. The money invested in the sciences since the1940's, in particular, is estimated to be 85% of the reason that our country has become the richest, most powerful country in history. And is not just the money. Science is what enabled us to develop nuclear weapons, before Germany and Japan (who were both working on that) could develop them. NIH is the world's largest and most effective medical science research organization, which has contributed to enormous medical advances that benefit the entire world, yet is one of the agencies Trump and Musk were most eager to cut. The NOAA and the Weather service predicted the weather conditions and firestorms that recently ravaged Southern California, and their recommendations for preparing for the emergency and evacuation plans almost certainly saved thousands of lives, yet the very scientists who worked hard to understand and prepare for what was coming were among those dismissed by DOGE's recommendations. In fact, many of the scientists directing the most important scientific organizations in government were replaced by administrative specialists and political hacks with little or no scientific experience or training and virtually no qualifications other than unwavering loyalty to Trump.

Some of my favorite comments on the video:

The irony of Elon Musk violently eviscerating American science institutions when he got rich by hiring the engineers and programmers that such institutions produced.

I’m a scientist in Australia, and our colleagues in the US that we have joint projects with have been fired, temporarily reinstated, and are expecting to be fired again. This has far reaching effects, and I’m heartbroken for my colleagues. You don’t become a scientist because you want to get loaded, it’s usually very average pay. You do it because you love and care about your country and people. So to be treated this way is a huge slap in the face.

Correction for the millionth time. ELON MUSK IS NOT AN ENGINEER. He only has a business degree and is NOT a Credited Engineer. Get that through your brain America!!!

Science is a method at arriving at answers. To say you "don't believe in science" is like saying you don't believe the highway that connects your town to the next will get you to your destination in that town. People get hung up on the falsifiability of science and think its a weakness science can be wrong, but its actually among its greatest strengths. It means that when new information comes along we get closer to understanding how something works and how we can apply that knowledge. Its a shame that so few people understand that in the USA now. Being wrong is okay, it takes some trial and error to find the truth and even then you may not have the whole picture.

In my Earth and Enviromental class the kids from previous years used interactive maps of powerplants and articles about legislation from the EPA's website. Now whenever my class goes to those things it all shows up as 404 not found. This stuff is directly affecting my generation's education about the environment.

What's particularly stupid about being a self proclaimed "business man" and then impeding scientific research is that a lot of that research can become a huge money maker for someone. He's indirectly stalling business innovation along with science.

This is why he loves the uneducated and wants to shut down the Department of Education. It's also why he caters to the Evangelicals and religious. . They will believe and do what they're told without any proof whatsoever.

I really wish if you had mentioned Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia. One of the most textbook anti-science and anti-intellectualist authoritarian movements

USDA, USGS, Forestry Service, National Park Service, etc. are also having scientists fired.
A lot of government agencies employ scientists. And it gets really apocalyptically bad when you consider all the "frozen" grants. Universities are just canceling graduate student admissions in the sciences because those students usually get their funding through those grants. We're losing an entire cohort of scientists... This will take at least a generation to come back from, if we ever do.

thank you so much for talking about national weather service. god, im gonna cry. im a weather forecaster in the air force and EVERYTHING you're saying is so, so accurate. NWS is INDESPENSIBLE to the safety of the people of this country. god, now im ACTUALLY crying, bc people love to crap on weather forecasters as "getting paid to be right half the time" but its grueling work, extremely technical, requiring leaps of faith in combination with science, with the end goal of disrupting peoples lives as little as possible while also ensuring everyone is safe. its thankless, and you thanked us. words cannot express how appreciative i am. the NWS is so so important to make sure evacuation orders arent locked behind a paywall. thank you, so, so much. not enough people are talking about this. also, im glad you got to fly with the hurricane hunters. theyre an incredible crew

Those opposed to acknowledging the reality and the potential of man caused climate change often stupidly accuse climate scientists of "just being in it for the money!" Who do you think is paying them to lie about the reality and danger of climate change? Petroleum geologists working for fossil fuel companies earn much more than climate scientists! The only climate scientists who make big money are the dishonest ones who shill for big oil by dismissing the reality, like Willie Wei-Hock Soon.

Willie Soon and The Fraser Institute
Willie Soon has written for the Fraser Institute and was formerly listed on its website as an author. The Fraser Institute received at least $120,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998, according to ExxonSecrets. According to archived data from the Conservative Transparency project, combined with original 990 research, the Fraser Institute has also received over $1.4 million from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, and at least $225,000 form the Sarah Scaife Foundation.10 11

Excellent post, Gunnar. You are a treasure. Please keep up the good work.

[Gunnar]

Excellent post, Gunnar. You are a treasure. Please keep up the good work.

Thank you! Your encouragement means an awful lot to me! But you are the real treasure, not I! I do not come close to matching your depth of knowledge and understanding about so many things! You frequently inspire me! I am just an ordinary layman trying to improve my understanding of how the world works. I have no advanced degrees or notable accomplishments.

[¥akaSteelhead]

https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/tr ... y-farms/

The level of stupid is alarming.

[Dr Exiled]

Everyone here is supposedly incredibly smart, at least that's what the echo chamber says, with othering to assuage the beast. Perhaps that's where you all are being duped? A narrative enforcing an ideology with a bogeyman to look down on and don't forget his minions. Golly, they are so stupid. Glad we are not like them. Meanwhile, those in power push the former lefties into endless war. But, yeah, disagreement with the narrative is definitely wacko. Professor Asch would be interested in what goes on here.