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Neoliberal Feudalism's avatar

Nice post, Todd.

You write: " I mean, do we really have the time to check everything? Well, now I think we have to make the time, and, of course, not everything is important enough to require vetting it for truth."

Yes, unfortunately every institution is corrupted and so are all public-facing experts. I think you will like Roosh's take on this point: https://www.rooshv.com/why-do-i-need-to-know-everything

You also write: "What I am talking about here is when you know something and do not deny it, but simply rationalize it away with a statement like “they must have a good reason for doing that,” or similarly, “maybe we don’t know all that there is to know about that.” Which is often followed with, “and I don’t have the time, (inclination, care, interest, curiosity, ability, intelligence, etc.) to look into it further.”

This is the Gell-Mann amnesia effect as explained by Michael Crichton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmnesiaEffect

Curtis Yarvin argues that the Gel-Mann Amnesia effect is rational because the costs of generalized dissidence is too high for most people. He states, “Given Conquest’s law—‘everyone is reactionary on the subjects they understand’—many adopt a craven, but all too human, corollary. After taking a bold stance in their own specialty, they have no stomach for any other fight. Reactionary enlightenment in one field should cast Bayesian doubt on other fields. Instead, local enlightenment reinforces global ignorance. Logically, the specialist should reason that if his own field, which he knows closely, is corrupt, other fields which he cannot examine in detail may be corrupt as well. But emotionally, the cost of a general dissidence far exceeds the value of extending the inference. The sweet spot is general compliance, local dissidence.”

Lastly, I would ask the extent that most people have *any thoughts at all*. The concept is astonishing, but according to a 2007 University of Nevada Department of Psychology study on college students, regarding the frequency of common phenomena of inner experience (inner speech, inner seeing (aka images), unsymbolized thinking, feeling, and sensory awareness), only between *22% to 34% of the individuals studied had frequent internal dialogues*: http://hurlburt.faculty.unlv.edu/heavey-hurlburt-2008.pdf

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barbaraburrows's avatar

A dear friend and 9/11 scholar died yesterday. He did manage to finish a remarkable book just a few weeks ago. I will post it shortly if I can find it. It illuminates so much of the despicable CIA corruption! Great post Todd!

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