Links and Minifeatures 03 28 Wednesday

Carnival of Credit Report Stories

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A 9/13 Republican explains how Liberals think



"Rejecting rational thought as a hate crime"



Wow. It's 50 minutes long. And worth every second 100 times over.



I've been thinking about it for a couple hours now, and I have not yet found a contradiction between this and observed fact. I'd like to. If this man's theory is correct, the remedy for the problem is far more difficult than anything previously considered. As long as you have a rational being on the other side of the discussion, as I have long assumed, you have the elements for finding a solution fairly easily. If he is correct, dealing with this problem will take at least a century.



If you can offer something that better explains it, please do. But the alternative explanation will have to withstand examination by evidence at least as well as this one.



Every once in a while, someone has a critical insight which changes the way in which we view the world, and in hindsight, it then becomes so obvious the one thing we cannot understand is how we didn't figure it out earlier. This could be one of them. You can watch the evidence accumulate. You can watch him assembling the elements which led to his realization. And after you have done so, you want to hit your head against the wall for not seeing it earlier.



I don't know that he's right. It takes a lot longer to examine big ticket intellectual items like this. But the correct response is not to reject it out of hand, by demonization, by satire, or just with biting sarcasm. The correct response is to take this conjecture out of its plastic wrapping with an audience that was more than a little predisposed to believe it, and test it with evidence. Does it assist in predicting the results in the real world, or does it hinder? Are there alternative less complex explanations? If this conjecture becomes broken in prolonged contact with the real world, then it is not a useful hypothesis, and should be disregarded. And if, like Darwin's Theory or General Relativity, we do go for an extended period of time without contradiction, then we must consider the likelihood that this is a true statement, no matter how much we would wish otherwise.



Good theories are the ones that don't fail to describe or predict the world after a large number of tests. It's impossible to prove them true, which is why Evolution and General Relativity remain theories more than a century after their first publications, despite millions of tests. A trillion experiments cannot prove them right - but one can prove them wrong, and when you get to the point where enough people have tried proving this one wrong and failed, then and only then does the hypothesis begin attaining a certain degree of credibility.



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There will be a new article tomorrow. This has been one of those weeks. If I hadn't had to wait around for somebody to do something, I would never have had the time to watch that video above.



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I am a member of the human race and a citizen of the United States. It is not acceptable to consider only short term benefit to myself. It is necessary to consider the effects my actions will have upon the country and the world when my children and their children are grown. It is not acceptable to compromise with evil or those who would destroy our civilization. It is necessary to win the incremental victories, for civilizations can fall quickly, but advance only slowly in the most important ways. I may be mistaken, but I will not lie to myself or others, or allow lies and falsehoods to remain unchallenged. Even if I am ignored, I will not remain silent in the face of lies, injustice, or evil. I will not allow myself to be intimidated. Free open debate where all ideas are heard and fully examined and judged upon their merits and disadvantages is the keystone of freedom, but even freedom has its base in the ability and willingness to use force in its own defense. Differing opinions are necessary, but a free society and its members must be able to act even in the face of dissent.