Fellowship of the Flurks

Mental Shortcut for Normies:

It's best to choose your beliefs based on what you know.

Some people base their beliefs on what other people say instead, and they are easily fooled. Those people will always exist.

They say things like "it's the news - why would they lie?" or "you agree with Alex Jones? You must be stupid because he is stupid!"

They never have thoughts like "do I know this is true/false?" and they always have thoughts like "does it make me look good to agree with this source?"

If you are one of those people, and you want to graduate to a higher level of thinking, try this:

Whenever you hear an important idea or bit of information that people are disagreeing about - like news items for example - think to yourself: "which one of these sources cares more about me? which one actually wants good things to happen to me?"

The answer isn't always going to be the source that's most correct, but this extra step will train you to notice when someone's giving you bad information in order to fool you.

Some examples:

"My father says mass immigration is bad, but all of my cool friends and professors say it's good."

Who really wants the best for you here? Who is it actually smarter to trust?

"This stripper I've been handing wads of $1 and $5 bills to all night says that she likes me, but all my friends say she's just trying to get more of my money. WHY WOULD SHE LIE?"

Which of these conflicting opinions is coming from someone who has proven that they support you? Which one is coming from someone who can benefit at your expense?

One more:

"The man from the government went on TV to say that the new, untested medical treatment is safe and effective, even though it is not possible to know this without testing. My friend says he doubts this, and is not willing to accept the treatment. Why is he too stupid to trust government and TV?"

Think hard about which one of these parties has lied to you before and covered it up. Which one has something to gain? Which one has something to lose? Has one of these parties - TV, government, friend - tricked you before?

So there you have it.

One simple mental trick can make you a lot less likely to be fooled again. Whenever the truth is not clear and people are arguing, ask yourself: "which of these people would fool me for gain, and which ones would suffer loss to protect me?"

It'll make the answer a little more clear.

@FlurkFellows

www.group-telegram.com/ms/flurkfellows.com/38226

67 views­Flurk#3012 ­, Dec 23 at 23:03

Mental Shortcut for Normies:

It's best to choose your beliefs based on what you know.

Some people base their beliefs on what other people say instead, and they are easily fooled. Those people will always exist.

They say things like "it's the news - why would they lie?" or "you agree with Alex Jones? You must be stupid because he is stupid!"

They never have thoughts like "do I know this is true/false?" and they always have thoughts like "does it make me look good to agree with this source?"

If you are one of those people, and you want to graduate to a higher level of thinking, try this:

Whenever you hear an important idea or bit of information that people are disagreeing about - like news items for example - think to yourself: "which one of these sources cares more about me? which one actually wants good things to happen to me?"

The answer isn't always going to be the source that's most correct, but this extra step will train you to notice when someone's giving you bad information in order to fool you.

Some examples:

"My father says mass immigration is bad, but all of my cool friends and professors say it's good."

Who really wants the best for you here? Who is it actually smarter to trust?

"This stripper I've been handing wads of $1 and $5 bills to all night says that she likes me, but all my friends say she's just trying to get more of my money. WHY WOULD SHE LIE?"

Which of these conflicting opinions is coming from someone who has proven that they support you? Which one is coming from someone who can benefit at your expense?

One more:

"The man from the government went on TV to say that the new, untested medical treatment is safe and effective, even though it is not possible to know this without testing. My friend says he doubts this, and is not willing to accept the treatment. Why is he too stupid to trust government and TV?"

Think hard about which one of these parties has lied to you before and covered it up. Which one has something to gain? Which one has something to lose? Has one of these parties - TV, government, friend - tricked you before?

So there you have it.

One simple mental trick can make you a lot less likely to be fooled again. Whenever the truth is not clear and people are arguing, ask yourself: "which of these people would fool me for gain, and which ones would suffer loss to protect me?"

It'll make the answer a little more clear.

@FlurkFellows

BY Fellowship of the Flurks