Stop Ridiculing Ideas
jamescun.com
Stop Ridiculing Ideas
1–10 of 20 posts
Re: Stop Ridiculing Ideas
#2Yes and no. While mocking shouldn't be encouraged, there's value in criticizing an idea; finding good answers to the problems raised by critics is indispensable.
The important thing is that you should approach it with a constructive mindset, picking it apart without disregarding it outright.
Re: Stop Ridiculing Ideas
#3Yes and no. While mocking shouldn't be encouraged, there's value in criticizing an idea; finding good answers to the problems raised by critics is indispensable. The important thing is that you should approach it with a constructive mindset, picking it apart without disregarding it outright.
He did say 'stop ridiculing' and not 'stop criticizing'.
It's impossible to have a discussion on perpetual motion or cold fusion because people who don't even understand the basics will jump in and start mocking everyone. These are extreme examples, but the same thing happens to any idea that someone thinks is impossible, naive, or bad.
(I'm not saying I think they are possible. I'm saying it should be possible to have a discussion about them... Because I'm also not saying they're impossible.)
Re: Stop Ridiculing Ideas
#4Yes and no. While mocking shouldn't be encouraged, there's value in criticizing an idea; finding good answers to the problems raised by critics is indispensable. The important thing is that you should approach it with a constructive mindset, picking it apart without disregarding it outright.
He did say 'stop ridiculing' and not 'stop criticizing'. It's impossible to have a discussion on perpetual motion or cold fusion because people who don't even understand the basics will jump in and start mocking everyone. These are extreme examples, but the same thing happens to any idea that someone thinks is impossible, naive, or bad. (I'm not saying I think they are possible. I'm saying it should be possible to ha…
Perpetual motion is physically impossible. It fully deserves ridicule. Cold fusion will stop being ridiculed once there's a reproducible experiment.
Pseudoscience deserves absolutely no respect. Quite the opposite. The same goes for any variety of bullshit.
Re: Stop Ridiculing Ideas
#5I think the problem is more general and it's not the culture. It's just much easier to find arguments for how the idea could fail rather than ones supporting it or proving it might work.
Re: Stop Ridiculing Ideas
#6It reminds me of the awesome "failure" scene in Meet the Robinsons. We should ask what experiments have been run on the idea, what has been proven or disproven.
Re: Stop Ridiculing Ideas
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
He did say 'stop ridiculing' and not 'stop criticizing'. It's impossible to have a discussion on perpetual motion or cold fusion because people who don't even understand the basics will jump in and start mocking everyone. These are extreme examples, but the same thing happens to any idea that someone thinks is impossible, naive, or bad. (I'm not saying I think they are possible. I'm saying it should be possible to ha…
Perpetual motion is physically impossible. It fully deserves ridicule. Cold fusion will stop being ridiculed once there's a reproducible experiment. Pseudoscience deserves absolutely no respect. Quite the opposite. The same goes for any variety of bullshit.
Taking ideas seriously is the only way to test them. If scientists hadn't once upon a time took the idea of perpetual motion machines and ESP, etc. very seriously, we could not be so certain today that they are not true.
Instead of mocking someone who espouses one of these notions (which I have never found to be an effective method of convincing them that the notion is false), I wonder if encouraging them to take it more seriously (e.g., look up experiments, actually run them, etc.) would be much better t convincing them its wrong.
Re: Stop Ridiculing Ideas
#8Ridiculing serves as an information overload protection, it shuts the inventor up and prevents ones brain to explore the idea in more depth.
One has to respect that people don't want to be bombarded with information. They have a life, too.
Re: Stop Ridiculing Ideas
#9Most people criticise out of envy. They don't want to think that somebody else has a better idea than them, by pointing out flaws they assert their own ego.
Re: Stop Ridiculing Ideas
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
He did say 'stop ridiculing' and not 'stop criticizing'. It's impossible to have a discussion on perpetual motion or cold fusion because people who don't even understand the basics will jump in and start mocking everyone. These are extreme examples, but the same thing happens to any idea that someone thinks is impossible, naive, or bad. (I'm not saying I think they are possible. I'm saying it should be possible to ha…
Perpetual motion is physically impossible. It fully deserves ridicule. Cold fusion will stop being ridiculed once there's a reproducible experiment. Pseudoscience deserves absolutely no respect. Quite the opposite. The same goes for any variety of bullshit.
This is exactly the kind of thinking that he's talking about... No idea deserves ridicule, only an open mind and constructive criticism - after all, cold fusion and other things would have a better chance at becoming a reproducible experiment if people wouldn't mock everyone who comes up with a new idea in the field, no matter how ridiculous it sounds.