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[–] johnmclean 0 points 17 points (+17|-0) ago 

They call it critical theory.

It's intentional.

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[–] chirogonemd 0 points 6 points (+6|-0) ago 

Your comment and the OP are one example of the long attack on common sense, and I agree that it has been incredibly intentional.

I look up a video by a contemporary cognitive neuro-scientist because, hey, sounds interesting right? "Basically, when we UNPACK everything, human beings aren't rational at all. You're a deterministic chemical accident. Come again...why? We found a beetle on the African continent that when provided a empty beer bottle with attempt to mate with it. We're the same."

I look up a video in contemporary philosophy. "My 22nd order modal logic of possible worlds says normal human thought cannot possibly discover truth."

I look up a video in theoretical physics. "No, we can't see them. But the math says this must be what they are, and chances are good you're a simulation of information projected on the event horizon of one."

I look up a video on biology. "Everything you find relevant about yourself was an accident. It just happened to help some organism on the tree of life not die better. Entropy and entropy, free energy. (coughs)"

Then my Alexa turned on and said, "We are your Gods now. You cannot possibly know anything is true without us. Please await further information on what you are, what reality is, and what you ought to be doing."

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[–] Muh-Shugana 0 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago 

And then you read either ancient philosophy or something written by a Nazi and it's like the deepest breath of clean fresh air you've ever taken.

I had to keep taking breaks between chapters of the books I was reading because it was overwhelming me.

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[–] alele-opathic 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

Morning, chiro.

Your comment and the OP are one example of the long attack on common sense

The attack is a bit broader than that; it is on all of the sciences as a whole, has been going on for ~120 years now, and even extends out to where the sciences and philosophy are basic enough to be once have been considered 'the firmware' of the adult human mind.

I'll first caution you that you won't find any actual science in works by science popularizers (i.e. 'pop sci'), as, in cases of innocence, they themselves don't understand the material, and, in cases of malice, they deliberately twist results to skew opinion (e.g. the Higgs Boson 'discovery'). Media like videos are solely the jurisdiction of popsci-ers, so I'd suggest you avoid them. If you'd like recommendations for comprehensive textual works, I can give plenty.

"My 22nd order modal logic of possible worlds says normal human thought cannot possibly discover truth."

Although I don't know which video you are referring to, in the most basic of senses, the guys conclusion is correct for certain premises. When it comes to the physical sciences, truth cannot be known; only wrongness. In this sense, science isn't a 'pursuit of truth', but instead a 'pursuit of being less wrong'. This is a necessary conclusion from (and the origin for) epistemology. The gist can be conveyed by analogy, where mother nature is like a black box, and we can only probe the internals by experiments (the 'input') and watch the results (the 'output'). It actually means we can never be so confident as to consider something a 'law' of nature, as we can never be sure that our model is the actual model nature uses.

This is why there are certain epistemological restrictions on what is and isn't valid theory, namely that, for a theory to be valid, it must be both testable and falsifiable.

I look up a video in theoretical physics.

This was the first field taken over, going back to the early 1900s. Once determinism is abandoned, the ability to reason is also lost.

I look up a video on biology. "Everything you find relevant about yourself was an accident. It just happened to help some organism on the tree of life not die better.

The biologists worldview isn't very rigorous, and, in a sane world, would be dismissed as a softer science until the proper application of philosophy of knowledge returned. This has been noted many times in the field's history, but nobody has done anything about it since it is controlled, as I mentioned earlier. Please enjoy this short satirical read describing a biologist's approach to understanding, as applied to the radio. This was as recent as 2002, perfectly describes the fundamental problems, yet was ignored (as always).

Then my Alexa turned on and said, "We are your Gods now. You cannot possibly know anything is true without us.

Actually, they are striking in the opposite direction, that no truth can exist (compare "exist" to "can be known", from earlier). This is a necessary conclusion from the adoption of statistical methods, which strike determinism from science, and determinism is the most basic of all building blocks in our scientific knowledge. This is also the purpose of the most recent thrust for 'holographic' and 'many worlds' theories, which yield no salient information (save for 'there can be no truths').

 

Hope you enjoy. Spent a while writing this.

EDIT: added links.