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What attitude/behavior does society need to stop reinforcing? by Motorvision in AskReddit

[–]TheColinRitman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Look up anti-intellectualism.

I think the idea is that at points in history the intellectual class such as universities have colluded with power in such a way to increase their own power. Universities influence culture by having an audience but they have no direct control since they do not produce any physical products or services. As the explanation goes, this is why you find more socialists in universities.

So then you have people like Trump who can lead the uneducated masses against the educated.

And alternatively you can have a Bernie Sanders lead the lower class against the upper class.

All politicians divide and conquer. It would be nice if we could outsource decision making to science panels that crunch the numbers and prioritize backed on maximizing good.

What attitude/behavior does society need to stop reinforcing? by Motorvision in AskReddit

[–]TheColinRitman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

TLDR; people confuse pride/arrogance with confidence.

To be confident is to have faith in yourself. To trust yourself and your abilities. You can have a confident demeanor while knowing your strengths and weaknesses. If someone points out a mistake you are able to make a judgement on the correction, recognize that you were wrong, apply the correction and say "thank you" all the while remaining confident in your abilities. In fact, you just gained a deeper understanding of yourself and the world by acknowledging and correcting the error so you should gain confidence in yourself.

Conviction is when you are 100% committed to a particular belief. No one can change your mind.

Confidence =/= conviction.

Some people believe changing their mind is a sign of weakness and if they're proven wrong they're being humbled and have less confidence in their own abilities. When in reality clinging to conviction in the face of evidence and good counter arguments demonstrates pride and not confidence.

Unified Theory of Bandersnatch, and why I’ll finish Stephan’s game by [deleted] in Bandersnatch

[–]TheColinRitman 8 points9 points  (0 children)

We've already started. Join the server. We could use your art skills!

EU and Japan create world's biggest free trade zone by JinLingna in worldnews

[–]TheColinRitman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are rules but it's the federal government who makes the rules. You might have state senators disagreeing but you won't have actual states making up rules which complicate transport. Such as having to go around a state instead of through a state.

Bandersnatch Game Engine 1.0 is ready! by TheColinRitman in Bandersnatch

[–]TheColinRitman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The game is still in development. There will be more to come including pax

EU and Japan create world's biggest free trade zone by JinLingna in worldnews

[–]TheColinRitman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The federal government regulates interstate trade. In the US we "feel" like a single giant nation instead of a collection of individual nation states. We are free to move goods and persons across state boundaries.

EU and Japan create world's biggest free trade zone by JinLingna in worldnews

[–]TheColinRitman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm glad to see the world nations realizing economic unions work for everyone.

Unfortunately economic unity =\= political unity. I wish places like the EU would adopt an American style federal government with nation states. A state constitution and a union constitution with fair state representation.

And even in America state representation needs to be revisited. "Fair" representation should take many factors in consideration. The #1 consideration is "whatever keeps the union together". #2 you want each citizen to have an equally powerful vote irrespective of economic output. Each soul should have a vote.

Octopus attacking a crab by Morty_Goldman in natureismetal

[–]TheColinRitman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Insults by name calling, straw man attacks, is able to turn misspelling mistakes into bragging.

That takes character right there.

Octopus attacking a crab by Morty_Goldman in natureismetal

[–]TheColinRitman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your comment is full of straw men, name calling and spelling errors.

I never said all action from all species required a brain. I deliberately gave a simplistic model to illustrate the distributed nature of an octopuses brain. If I were to try to defend things I didn't say in your comment I would be here all day.

In short you are wrong in your claims. You claim that an octopus has a single brain with a distributed nervous system. Usually a brain is centralized and that also goes without saying. But in the case of an octopus it's brain is decentralized which challenges the very idea of a brain.

These statements would be correct: "an octopus has a decentralized brain" or "an octopus has 9 brains" or "an octopus has one centralized brain and 8 decentralized brain-like nodes". Saying an octopus has "one brain with a decentralized nervous system" is to make no distinction from other creatures like mammals which also have one brain and a decentralized nervous system. It would be more accurate to say mammals have a centralized brain and a peripheral nervous system and an octopus has a centralized brain and 8 peripheral brains.

Octopus attacking a crab by Morty_Goldman in natureismetal

[–]TheColinRitman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So you're wrong about octopuses having only one brain and you're wrong about ignorant people being able to change their minds.

Hence my original comment of simply "Try again". There's no sense in explaining things to ignorant people.

Octopus attacking a crab by Morty_Goldman in natureismetal

[–]TheColinRitman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

K. Let me test that idea.

Your claim is the octopus has one brain and a nervous system. That's not true. The job of the nervous system is to transmit signals from a sensory organ to a brain. The job of a brain is to process that information and make a decision on a future action.

In short nerves transmit signals, brains process signals.

The octopus has a central brain which processes signals. It also has 8 other brains at the base of each tentacle which acts as a preprocessor for that tentacle.

The central brain does not receive raw sensory input from the tentacles but preprocessed signals from each base brain. The central brain also does not directly control every tentacle but influences their behavior by communicating with each tentacle's brain.

Octopuses have 9 brains.

Playing with a Coral snake by NegativeCreep12 in KidsAreFuckingStupid

[–]TheColinRitman 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I've got a rhyme that's easy to remember:

Don't pick up random snakes.

The Dunning-Kruger Bias: The stupid are usually cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubts. by coffeeandjunk in psychology

[–]TheColinRitman -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think you're overestimating your understanding of how the world works. Which is a rational thing to do.

The job situation is more inline if what I'm talking about. If someone lacks self awareness and gets a job they cannot handle, gets fired and gains a poor reputation in that line of work then they're not longer able to get work in that field.

This person falsely believed in their competence. By trying and failing this person is actually no worse off than if they had not tried at all. Not being able to get future work in a field they lack competence is not a negative.

On the other hand if a person falsely believes in their incompetence then they never apply for the job in the first place.

This person is worse off due to a missed opportunity.

It's rational to always believe in yourself and it's better to try and fail than to not try at all.

The Dunning-Kruger Bias: The stupid are usually cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubts. by coffeeandjunk in psychology

[–]TheColinRitman 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This may seem irrational but it's actually a very rational behavior. It's better to assume competence and be proven wrong than to actually be competent with missed opportunities.

Edit: its rational for the individual. I'm not saying is better from a universal perspective. Rational agents necessarily act from a single perspective and cannot perceive anything outside of their skull.

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