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The Einstein effect: People trust nonsense more if they think a scientist said it


Still Waters

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"Luckily, scientists and science in general encourage a good dose of skepticism when grand claims are made."

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Good ol' Sir Isaac... 

Quote
Nullius in verba
 
The Royal Society's motto 'Nullius in verba' is taken to mean 'take nobody's word for it'. It is an expression of the determination of Fellows to withstand the domination of authority and to verify all statements by an appeal to facts determined by experiment.

~

 

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49 minutes ago, onlookerofmayhem said:

"Luckily, scientists and science in general encourage a good dose of skepticism when grand claims are made."

When does that happen? Especially around here.

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3 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

When does that happen? Especially around here.

When does skepticism of grand claims happen around here?

All the time. Pretty much everytime a grand/extraordinary claim is made.

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Just now, onlookerofmayhem said:

When does skepticism of grand claims happen around here?

All the time. Pretty much everytime a grand/extraordinary claim is made.

So a nonstop yelling match about who's right and who shouldn't have an opinion. 

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1 hour ago, Still Waters said:

Discontinuity is the antithesis of inspiration. The complexity of the present time seems to demand an unveiling of our hopes if we are going to survive. This life is nothing short of a blossoming osmosis of mythic understanding. Sounds like bull****? That's because it is. 

These statements were generated using the New Age bull**** Generator, an algorithm that combines new-age buzzwords and seemingly intellectual wording to create phrases that sound profound. 

An international team of researchers recently presented people with some 'pseudo-profound bull****' created by the generator to see if they found the statements more credible if they came from a scientist or a spiritual guru. 

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-einstein-effect-people-trust-nonsense-from-scientists-more-than-spiritual-gurus

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01273-8

So with General Relativity who thinks its correct?

If you look at the equations then the closer two objects get the stronger the gravity. So at a finitely small distance apart gravity is finitely strong. Yet when we drop a ball onto the ground it doesnt explode itself and the Earth during the collision. Yet even pointing out an obvious flaw like that will attract people who claim its correct.

Just watch.

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1 minute ago, XenoFish said:

So a nonstop yelling match about who's right and who shouldn't have an opinion. 

If that's how you see it. I don't see it that way.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. 

And in turn everyone else can have an opinion about that opinion. That's how a discussion forum works.

What do expect besides conflicting viewpoints?

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2 minutes ago, onlookerofmayhem said:

What do expect besides conflicting viewpoints?

Nothing as nothing changes. You have either dogmatism or skepticism. With some I see more dogmatism. Others skepticism to a degree. What's the point of claiming to be open minded if one is not really willing to think?

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1 minute ago, XenoFish said:

Nothing as nothing changes.

Then why waste your time here whining and complaining about what occurs here? Simply solution : Don't waste your time here if you think it's always the same and never going to change.

 

3 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

You have either dogmatism or skepticism. With some I see more dogmatism. Others skepticism to a degree.

You don't see any open minded posters here?

4 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

What's the point of claiming to be open minded if one is not really willing to think?

You'd have to ask whomever you think that applies to.

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1 minute ago, onlookerofmayhem said:

Then why waste your time here whining and complaining about what occurs here? Simply solution : Don't waste your time here if you think it's always the same and never going to change.

Timer is ticking down on that.

You don't see any open minded posters here?

Are they?

You'd have to ask whomever you think that applies to.

That's a lot of people to ask. 

When most of the threads go in the same direction what is there to expect. Same people, same opinions. Took me nearly 10 years to come to my own conclusions, so don't expect much of me. I'll probably be gone for some times. As I stated that timer is ticking. There is very little to nothing of intellectual value here. 

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4 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

When most of the threads go in the same direction what is there to expect. Same people, same opinions. Took me nearly 10 years to come to my own conclusions, so don't expect much of me. I'll probably be gone for some times. As I stated that timer is ticking. There is very little to nothing of intellectual value here. 

Cool. Best wishes. Seriously. Not having a go at you.

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Appropriate name for the effect as Einstein had great support in the press.

Most of his 'ideas' were taken and lifted directly from other's work, including his own wife, all published years, even decades  before him.  Only those  never gained traction in the press, so when he published and was lauded by the media of his day, he skyrocketed to stardom on it.

 

So, yea... media influence is the new truth for folks without critical thinking skills, or a desire to penetrate a topic beneath what is spoon fed to them in simple, short bites.  Hear it, read it and just accept it as true without engaging or investigating at all.

C'est la vie.

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2 hours ago, quiXilver said:

Appropriate name for the effect as Einstein had great support in the press.

Most of his 'ideas' were taken and lifted directly from other's work, including his own wife, all published years, even decades  before him.  Only those  never gained traction in the press, so when he published and was lauded by the media of his day, he skyrocketed to stardom on it.

 

So, yea... media influence is the new truth for folks without critical thinking skills, or a desire to penetrate a topic beneath what is spoon fed to them in simple, short bites.  Hear it, read it and just accept it as true without engaging or investigating at all.

C'est la vie.

It was only a load of theories, anyway.

At least Newton invented something useful. Where would we be without gravity?

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I love this thread.

So a scientist says people believe anything they think a scientist said, even when it's nonsense? 

Mind you, the pro jab brigade in here are a great example 

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People will believe anything that reinforces their prejudices and/or favored narrative. In the US, all you have to do is look at the rise of fascism and our Covid response.
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4 hours ago, The Silver Shroud said:

It was only a load of theories, anyway.

At least Newton invented something useful. Where would we be without gravity?

For a start who would even know that apples fell from trees?

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6 hours ago, XenoFish said:

When most of the threads go in the same direction what is there to expect. Same people, same opinions. Took me nearly 10 years to come to my own conclusions, so don't expect much of me. I'll probably be gone for some times. As I stated that timer is ticking. There is very little to nothing of intellectual value here. 

I hope you stick around I enjoyed reading your views just then 

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6 hours ago, Cookie Monster said:

So with General Relativity who thinks its correct?

If you look at the equations then the closer two objects get the stronger the gravity. So at a finitely small distance apart gravity is finitely strong. Yet when we drop a ball onto the ground it doesnt explode itself and the Earth during the collision. Yet even pointing out an obvious flaw like that will attract people who claim its correct.

Just watch.

Please, tell me this is a quote from that New Age B******t Generator and not something you actually believe

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There isn't anything wrong with this forum.  It's made up of real people.  The truth is people gravitate to views that enhance their own personal narrative...i.e. their beliefs.  Nothing non-intellectual about that...it's just human nature.   The rest of the truth is that propaganda works, because the  propagandizers know how people will already react most of the time.  It doesn't get any easier from here on.  When what you think, what you believe, what you say, what you read, what you type is already mined into a meta-data base, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the manipulation of society is a key tool in powerful people and powerful organization keeping that power and profiting from it.

Which is why I personally have chosen to believe nothing...but know things.  Knowledge has nothing to do with belief.  

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6 hours ago, quiXilver said:

Appropriate name for the effect as Einstein had great support in the press.

Most of his 'ideas' were taken and lifted directly from other's work, including his own wife, all published years, even decades  before him.  Only those  never gained traction in the press, so when he published and was lauded by the media of his day, he skyrocketed to stardom on it.

 

So, yea... media influence is the new truth for folks without critical thinking skills, or a desire to penetrate a topic beneath what is spoon fed to them in simple, short bites.  Hear it, read it and just accept it as true without engaging or investigating at all.

C'est la vie.

Why bother investigating further when nowdays we have New Age B******t Generated Fact-checkers to do it for us?

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2 minutes ago, joc said:

There isn't anything wrong with this forum.  It's made up of real people.  The truth is people gravitate to views that enhance their own personal narrative...i.e. their beliefs.  Nothing non-intellectual about that...it's just human nature.   The rest of the truth is that propaganda works, because the  propagandizers know how people will already react most of the time.  It doesn't get any easier from here on.  When what you think, what you believe, what you say, what you read, what you type is already mined into a meta-data base, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the manipulation of society is a key tool in powerful people and powerful organization keeping that power and profiting from it.

Which is why I personally have chosen to believe nothing...but know things.  Knowledge has nothing to do with belief.  

Well said. 

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3 minutes ago, taniwha said:

Please, tell me this is a quote from that New Age B******t Generator and not something you actually believe

You clearly dont know about physics beyond high-school lmao!!!!

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13 minutes ago, joc said:

There isn't anything wrong with this forum.  It's made up of real people.  The truth is people gravitate to views that enhance their own personal narrative...i.e. their beliefs.  Nothing non-intellectual about that...it's just human nature.   The rest of the truth is that propaganda works, because the  propagandizers know how people will already react most of the time.  It doesn't get any easier from here on.  When what you think, what you believe, what you say, what you read, what you type is already mined into a meta-data base, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the manipulation of society is a key tool in powerful people and powerful organization keeping that power and profiting from it.

Which is why I personally have chosen to believe nothing...but know things.  Knowledge has nothing to do with belief.  

Its the lack of knowledge about a topic, combined with the status of people talking about a topic.

Two many people dont question and criticise what they hear, and lack the information to do that too.

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