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Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

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Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#221

Post by jon_richards »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #217
sporkologist wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can set up positive or negative cases for each of these. I call bullshit. There are plenty of bullshit "profound" statements that abound in everyday culture ("Look before you leap" vs. "He who hesitates is lost".... which one is right? It depends!).

Well for the non-BS ones, and even the ones you mentioned, they can at least be assigned a truth value. They take A point of view, leaving aside the question of whether that view is right/wrong - like a falsifiable theory. in real life, it will likely apply to some situations but not others. The BS ones on the other hand are totally meaningless (to me , atleast) like - "The hidden meaning transforms the abstract beau…

Is that not just a complicated way of saying meaning (intentional or not) is important in art?

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#222

Post by staticautomatic »

ak39 wrote: post #27
duopixel wrote: post #19

A simple self-experiment if you haven't read the paper, find which of these sentences are bullshit. Answer in order without reading further ahead, and don't go back to change your answers (as to replicate experimental conditions). * 1. A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power but it's persistence. 2. The hidden meaning transforms the abstract beauty. 3. The future elucidates irrational facts for the seek…

No 10. sounds just like something Slavoj Zizek would say.

He's a rather big fan of Lacan, so that should already be setting off the bullshit alarms.

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#223

Post by bena »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #25

Scientists! I offer my services as an author of better bullshit than you can create by feeding a parody generator with marketing materials. Observe! - The unknown flees from the implausible. - Unheard elephants are never green. - Although many people seek apples, few seek the road. - Judgement is like chewing on expensive rubber. - A circle is a square with intention.

Inspirobot?

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#224

Post by dhimes »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #217
sporkologist wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can set up positive or negative cases for each of these. I call bullshit. There are plenty of bullshit "profound" statements that abound in everyday culture ("Look before you leap" vs. "He who hesitates is lost".... which one is right? It depends!).

Well for the non-BS ones, and even the ones you mentioned, they can at least be assigned a truth value. They take A point of view, leaving aside the question of whether that view is right/wrong - like a falsifiable theory. in real life, it will likely apply to some situations but not others. The BS ones on the other hand are totally meaningless (to me , atleast) like - "The hidden meaning transforms the abstract beau…

It's like #3: You see things differently once you see the pattern.

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#225

Post by null000 »

duopixel wrote: post #19

A simple self-experiment if you haven't read the paper, find which of these sentences are bullshit. Answer in order without reading further ahead, and don't go back to change your answers (as to replicate experimental conditions). * 1. A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power but it's persistence. 2. The hidden meaning transforms the abstract beauty. 3. The future elucidates irrational facts for the seek…

ITT: People who maybe got one or two wrong, but really really don't want to have been wrong.

Come on people, this is just loosely correlated with donating time and money to charity in a study that has decent odds of having primarily been done to grab headlines - don't take it too personally, and maybe go donate if you're really that concerned. Don't feel too defined by a 13 question true/false quiz.

(Disclaimer: I fall in the "1 wrong" group)

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#226

Post by dhimes »

mirimir wrote: post #205
mds wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should be “Others’”

But it's "others" (no "'") in the link ;)

Either way, it's not a universal truth. Some of us work hard on this (probably because we came across Confucius in our youth).

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#227

Post by westoncb »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #217
sporkologist wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can set up positive or negative cases for each of these. I call bullshit. There are plenty of bullshit "profound" statements that abound in everyday culture ("Look before you leap" vs. "He who hesitates is lost".... which one is right? It depends!).

Well for the non-BS ones, and even the ones you mentioned, they can at least be assigned a truth value. They take A point of view, leaving aside the question of whether that view is right/wrong - like a falsifiable theory. in real life, it will likely apply to some situations but not others. The BS ones on the other hand are totally meaningless (to me , atleast) like - "The hidden meaning transforms the abstract beau…

Interestingly, that was the only one I categorized differently from the authors—I could find a meaning for it. It's not an aphorism in the same way as the others (I'm not clear on whether that was the point, or just whether the statement had to be meaningful in general)—but it could be interpreted as follows:

Something has 'abstract beauty' (as opposed to concrete, surface beauty) through some conceptual significance it contains; however, once you look more, there is a deeper hidden meaning to the concepts, which changes the beauty into something else.

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#228

Post by uRreading2slow »

anewone wrote: post #202
methodover wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 6. We have other flaws before our eyes, but our own flaws behind our back. There has to be a typo here, right? I marked this as “bullshit” because it doesn’t make sense. But the link says it’s not bullshit...

It's saying that it's easier to see flaws in other people than in ourselves.

True, but it's not outright impossible to see some of one's own flaws. At the same time, another person might perceive a flaw "false positive" where they just don't know the full story. So it's a bit of a simplification at least.

But I think the key isn't so much if you fully agree, but rather if it's bullshit or a coherent statement, correct or not.

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#229

Post by anewone »

dhimes wrote: post #226
mirimir wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it's "others" (no "'") in the link ;)

Either way, it's not a universal truth. Some of us work hard on this (probably because we came across Confucius in our youth).

Isn't the fact that it needed hard work an indication that the statement is useful for the average person?

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#230

Post by hesk »

asteli wrote: post #187
duopixel wrote: post #19

A simple self-experiment if you haven't read the paper, find which of these sentences are bullshit. Answer in order without reading further ahead, and don't go back to change your answers (as to replicate experimental conditions). * 1. A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power but it's persistence. 2. The hidden meaning transforms the abstract beauty. 3. The future elucidates irrational facts for the seek…

> 8. Your movement transforms universal observations. I interpreted this one as referencing doppler shift of light emitted by celestial objects due to relative motion, but apparently I was overthinking this.

Aren't all observations subjective, hence not universal?
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