Some Thoughts on Anti-Intellectualism as a Red Queen Problem

[tacit]

"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else - if you ran very fast for a long time, as we’ve been doing

Comments

Decentralized knowing: a great problem to have

[sylvar]

I'm thrilled to be living in an age when the sum of all human knowledge is greater than the capacity of a human brain, and when human knowledge is changing at a rate greater than the bandwidth of a human brain.

We outsourced remembering-stuff to dead trees a long time ago. It's not unreasonable to outsource knowing-the-latest to other humans.

(And here I thought the Red Queen Problem was going to refer to a scientist with a time machine and a textbook translated into ancient Greek.)

[peristaltor]

On top of everything you've noted, there might be another problem here: the lack of programming that adequately explains the process of science as self-correcting over time. As you point out, yes, learn some science in one era and it is obsolete once new evidence is introduced. Keeping up is a bitch, true dat.

But many science shows focus on the new findings without delving into the many upsets along the way. And as far as I know, there is no show yet that promotes scientific skepticism-one of the tags you've flag this entry of yours, after all-a component of scientific evaluation.

Then again, how could such a show get on the air? Hear me out.

When one watches many commercials, one often watches a mini-drama aimed to deliver not the most accurate data in a short amount of time, but the most effective sales pitch. Sales pitches favor social cues to woo the viewer into purchases. Show attractive men and women using the product, for example, and sales increase; people insert themselves into the role of the attractive actors

[tacit]

I'm not actually suggesting that all liberals oppose GMOs but rather that (nearly) all opponents to GMOs are politically liberal. Unfortunately, in some places (including Portland), opposition to GMOs on really dubious grounds is becoming a liberal identity marker, kind of like opposition to nuclear power was in the 80s.

[peristaltor]

That is really confusing to me. Farmers tend to be a conservative lot. The objections I hold to GMO have nothing to do with the supposed dangers as food and everything to do with how farmers should be treated, which is Not Monsanto's Way.

Being an outlier sucks, sometimes.

[tacit]

Farmers, by and large, tend not to be opposed to GMOs, at least in my experience. Quite the opposite--GMOs often make their lives easier and more profitable. Fewer pest problems plus greater yields generally equals a win, regardless of things like higher seed costs.

'the good old days'

[terryo]

Part of that not wanting to 'keep up with the red queen is expressed as hankering for 'the good old days'.

[awfulhorrid]

Tammy Faye Bakker [...] once remarked "it's possible to educate yourself right out of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."

I absolute agree with her! The difference is that she saw that as a negative thing.

[peristaltor]

My thought exactly. At least there is one bon mot from Tammy that I don't mind quoting.

Anti-Intellectualism as a Red Queen Problem

[edm]

So science, then, becomes a kind of trust game, not that much different from the priesthood.

As Science (tm) is portrayed to the general public, it's basically Expert Opinion (tm) -- which is functionally what a priesthood is too. If your Expert keeps saying "I don't know" maybe they're not as much of an expert as you hoped. If they're often disagreeing with other Experts, who are you to believe anyway?!

Thanks for the comparison to the Red Queen Problem -- it crystallises something that I'd tried in the past to explain to friends -- ie, that for most people it's "Expert Opinion" all the way down, no matter what "Experts" they are listening to.

While I agree with sylvar that having the sum of all human knowledge be greater than a single human brain is a great problem to have... it's still a problem. Decentralised knowing almost inherently means deferring to other's greater knowledge (at least in some areas), which means Expert Opinions. And who wouldn't want an expert that projects confidence in all their answers, right?

Ewen

PS: