All that's changed is the bar for creativity.
There are claims which have no proof or disproof on the web.
You have to be more creative in 2015.
The Fine Art of Bullshit, Killed by Google
21–30 of 122 posts
Re: The Fine Art of Bullshit, Killed by Google
#22If he wants to engage people he should switch to trolling.
Re: The Fine Art of Bullshit, Killed by Google
#23I have a rule I always follow, and have convinced many friends of too -- no Googling/Wikipedia-ing in social settings. If nobody knows something (trivia-like), it's almost always a lot more fun to continue not knowing. Sure, look it up when you get home. But a little group self-discipline goes far in keeping the fine art of bullshitting alive. (And it's not just the answer that kills the conversation, but also the fa…
I disagree. The conversation is so much more interesting when there are more connections, more tangents to explore than one mind can contain. Facts build on facts, and you can chase down endless rabbit holes when you're not limited to what one wrinkly lump of cholesterol can scrape out of its interconnected canyons.
Re: The Fine Art of Bullshit, Killed by Google
#24The bullshit didn't even have to be believable: "Marilyn Manson was the kid that played Paul from the Wonder Years. Also, he had a rib removed so he could perform autofellatio." Kids everywhere believed that. Hilarious.
Right, like "Vaccines cause autism" and "Homeopathy is something you should say without laughing". Also hilarious.
There's a dark side to bullshit. There's a side which creates endless pain for no good reason, because things 'sound good' or are 'too good to check' and nobody likes a party-pooper, do they? Especially when the party-pooper is pointing out how this little piece of bullshit could kill someone.
No. Go along to get along. Don't be so serious all the time. Don't imagine you know better. It's rude.
Re: The Fine Art of Bullshit, Killed by Google
#25If he wants to engage people he should switch to trolling.
Yes, because attacking people and bullying them is a wonderful way to make friends and influence people.
Re: The Fine Art of Bullshit, Killed by Google
#26Comedian Pete Holmes' take on this from a few years ago: http://youtu.be/PQ4o1N4ksyQ
"It's like having a drunk know-it-all in your pocket."
Hilarious. We're not quite there yet, but soon though. Just wait until we go from predictive search to preemptive search.
Re: The Fine Art of Bullshit, Killed by Google
#27I have a rule I always follow, and have convinced many friends of too -- no Googling/Wikipedia-ing in social settings. If nobody knows something (trivia-like), it's almost always a lot more fun to continue not knowing. Sure, look it up when you get home. But a little group self-discipline goes far in keeping the fine art of bullshitting alive. (And it's not just the answer that kills the conversation, but also the fa…
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Re: The Fine Art of Bullshit, Killed by Google
#28This is stupid, you're all stupid.
Re: The Fine Art of Bullshit, Killed by Google
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point is that uncertainty about some things creates social engagement.
Well, there are still things to be uncertain about that aren't useless trivia, factoids, or urban legends. Hopefully the new BS free era will trickle down to the lower classes, gradually eroding their ignorance and prejudices, at least about one-liner facts.
Hopefully this new era will also gradually mitigate lazy generalizations and atavistic class distinctions.
Re: The Fine Art of Bullshit, Killed by Google
#30I have a rule I always follow, and have convinced many friends of too -- no Googling/Wikipedia-ing in social settings. If nobody knows something (trivia-like), it's almost always a lot more fun to continue not knowing. Sure, look it up when you get home. But a little group self-discipline goes far in keeping the fine art of bullshitting alive. (And it's not just the answer that kills the conversation, but also the fa…
Sure, because what fun are facts? What have facts ever done for us? Other than cured disease, ended hunger, doubled lifespan. But lately, I mean!
Why anyone would ever choose bullshit over facts is beyond me. Facts are interesting. Facts are fun. Bullshit is just the unrestrained spew of the ignorant ego. There's no point to it other than mate competition, and making what amount to factual claims that are known to be false so you can score is what created a vast amount of human misery for untold thousands of years, and continues to do so in the less enlightened parts of the world (philosophy departments, for example...)
I'd much rather find out the facts and discuss them--and there is always something for anyone who isn't completely brain-dead to discuss--than listen to some egotistical ignoramous spew nonsense, and then have to argue against them knowing that in the absence of facts the standard of proof is "what just makes sense", which only an idiot would take as an interesting guide to reality, because reality, in the absence of facts, does not make sense.
Quantum mechanics? Totally incoherent.
Evolution? Pull the other one.
The Earth moves in an elliptical path around the sun and the wandering stars are huge balls of gas and rock? Ridiculous!
In a world before we invented the discipline of publicly testing ideas by systematic observation, controlled experiment and Bayesian inference--that is, science--people based their ideas on the "game" you are describing. If you're a member of SCA I guess it might be fun to continue it, but from an epistemologist's point of view it looks about as civilized as cat mauling as a means of social entertainment.
Such things are best left in the Middle Ages, where they belong.