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Calling bullshit

callingbullshit.org

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Re: Calling bullshit

#21

Post by soneca »

natural_capital wrote: post #11

I really like this idea, though struggle to understand the effectiveness. My guess is that the type of person who falls victim to 'bullshit' theory or messages is not the kind of person who is willing to dedicate time to an online course about learning to be more critical in thought. 'Bullshit' thinking has been largely successful because its an effortless pathway to establishing an opinion on something (queue System…

Nobody is immune to accept bullshit. And to be able to identify and articulate why something is bullshit is a very useful skill.

Re: Calling bullshit

#22

Post by Cafey »

curiousgal wrote: post #20

Isn't this just a collection of things to read rather than a course?

In the disclaimer (bottom of page) it says it is indeed not yet a real course but will eventually be offered at the university of washington.

Re: Calling bullshit

#23

Post by kingkawn »

It isn't about identifying bullshit so much as coming up with a subjective preference set to carry out and seek out that leads to a better world regardless of the circumstances.

Re: Calling bullshit

#24

Post by FabHK »

t_g wrote: post #14

Reminds me of a good book I read in my ethics classes: https://www.amazon.com/Bullshit-Harry-G-Frankfurt/dp/0691122...

Not surprisingly, that's also one of Calling bullshit's sources:

http://callingbullshit.org/syllabus.html#Introduction

(Funny little story, btw: The NYT reviewed that book, without being able to ever mention its title or, well, subject :-)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/14/books/between-truth-and-li...

Re: Calling bullshit

#25

Post by jankotek »

I am not sure I like this site. It uses strong language, but avoids anything controversial and provided case studies are pretty shallow.

Nothing like some Youtube channels, where presenter spends one hour deconstructing some study, to its sources and sources of the sources.

Re: Calling bullshit

#26

Post by placebo »

ThomPete wrote: post #16
kornakiewicz wrote: post #6

I wish this kind of courses were mandatory for all undergraduates in our post-truth era.

Can we stop with the claims about a post-truth era? It's not like people suddenly decided to disregard truth and not believe in actual truths. It's that we have just realized that interpretation is not the same as truth and have now been made aware that there are other interpretations of the facts than our own. We don't live in a post-truth world, we live in a world were the truth is confused with difference of opini…

The fact that you are right about the possibility of taking other interpretations as non truth, does not mean that no opinions are simply misguided and not based on truth. In addition, there have been many articles that are simply made up, which has nothing to do with difference of opinion.

Re: Calling bullshit

#27

Post by sfifs »

This is a really good effort! In analytics and data science world where I work, it's difficult to train our junior people to think through all the reasons their conclusions might be misleading. The cases are likely to be very helpful to get the thinking process started.

Re: Calling bullshit

#28

Post by SFJulie »

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Re: Calling bullshit

#29

Post by matwood »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #19
natural_capital wrote: post #11

I really like this idea, though struggle to understand the effectiveness. My guess is that the type of person who falls victim to 'bullshit' theory or messages is not the kind of person who is willing to dedicate time to an online course about learning to be more critical in thought. 'Bullshit' thinking has been largely successful because its an effortless pathway to establishing an opinion on something (queue System…

I think everyone, engaged and skeptical or otherwise can miss falsehoods if it aligns with their values/beliefs already. Taking something like this should, in theory, give you tools to make sure that even if you really want to believe what you are reading/hearing because it aligns with your world view (or worse, comes from a source you respect and trust) then you can still determine how honest or accurate it is.

The latest SGU (Skeptics Guide to the Universe) podcast touched on your point, and how everyone is susceptible to false hoods particularly when those opinions make up a persons identity. Someone who identifies as 'liberal' or 'conservative' is more likely to fight facts that go against their beliefs. One possible solution presented, was to always attempt to self identify as a skeptic who is okay changing opinions as new facts come in. It is not an easy thing to do because 1) it's a lot of work and 2) you're outside of most of the big popular groups.
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