this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2022
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A great explanation of how flat earthers are a direct byproduct of a failed education system (danboykis.com)
submitted 2 years ago by yogthos@lemmy.ml to c/usa@lemmy.ml
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[–] DPUGT2@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm not one to defend the public education system, which makes this feel strange: they aren't the result of a failed educational system at all.

If that is your measure for failure, then no hypothetical education system could ever hope to succeed, no matter how well-funded or well-regarded, no matter which genius experts you put in charge of it, no matter what philosophy it operates under.

Humans number in the billions. When there are billions of them (indeed, a large fraction of a billion in the United States, where I believe the flat-earthers are the most prominent), it is inevitable that some tiny percentage harbor contrarian and anti-authoritarian personalities of the sort and degree that will gravitate to nonsense like this. They cannot be educated out of it, indeed, education may actually backfire as they learn just enough logic to misapply it to science and dream up absurdities like Flat Earth^TM.

This percentage will be very tiny, but when you're dealing with a third of a billion people, even a tiny percentage ends up being something like hundreds or low thousands of people. In the year 2022, with nearly 3 decades of widespread internet use and the pervasive communication it enables, those people were bound to discover each other and reinforce their bizarre pseudoscientific beliefs.

Humans are monkeys. Monkeys aren't consistently or continuously rational. The level of and reliability of their rationality varies considerably. This cannot be changed to any significant degree.

There exists this one peculiar piece of magical thinking, of which the link is a great example. The idea that education can solve every human failing. Sometimes when people are educated, rather than making them more intelligent or more rational, you're actually only making them a more sophisticated kind of imbecile.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Only somebody subjected to the American school system could've written this drivel. Thanks for proving the point the article is making.

[–] DPUGT2@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Let's look at your response:

  1. Starts with an insult.
  2. Doesn't counter any of my arguments, which are well-worded and well-reasoned.
  3. Gives no indication of why you disagree.

Yes, I am a product of the American school system. One wonders why you think yours was any better.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This is a perfect example of the Brandolini's law. People like you are just noise generators. You're ignorant, and instead of spending time to educate yourself, you just post nonsense opinions online, and then you expect other people to waste their time refuting them as if they had some merit.

The reason you wonder is rooted in your ignorance. Here's something you can chew on. Russia consistently dominates programming competitions. It's a relatively small country of around 100 million people. If education was the same everywhere then why do you think it's able to consistently beat a billion people who got their education in western countries.

[–] DPUGT2@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

and then you expect other people to waste their time refuting them as if they had some merit.

That's rich.

Look at your response. You expect to be able to shoot down all counter opinions with merely "this doesn't reach my standards for reply".

Nothing I've said is bullshit. Let's take a look at it again:

it is inevitable that some tiny percentage harbor contrarian and anti-authoritarian personalities of the sort and degree that will gravitate to nonsense like this. They cannot be educated out of it, indeed, education may actually backfire as they learn just enough logic to misapply it to science and dream up absurdities like Flat Earth^TM.

What here is the bullshit? That humans number in the billions? Or that personality also follow a normal distribution, such that there will always be some people who simply refuse to exit their (delusional) belief systems?

From this it follows that no educational system, even an ideal one, could hope to dissuade such people.

The reason you wonder is rooted in your ignorance.

I'm not sure you know what "ignorance" means. Generally, the word is used to indicate that someone is unaware of a fact or set of facts established outside of their perception.

Which facts are those, exactly?

Here’s something you can chew on. Russia consistently dominates programming competitions. It’s a relatively small country of around 100 million people. If education was the same everywhere

Do you know how to formulate an intelligent argument? This is a non sequitur.

Yes, Russia likely dominates those competitions (I will take your word for it). This has little to do with their education system.

  1. Is Russia somehow focusing intensely on programming and computer science in their equivalent of k-12?
  2. If Russia isn't focusing on that, wouldn't we expect them to dominate in all competitions of the academic variety?
  3. If they do focus on those, why did you bother to pick out "programming" instead of mentioning it more generally?
  4. Is Russia somehow immune to the "flat earther" phenomenon? If they are, why did you not mention this which is so much more relevant?

The flaws in your own argument seem to suggest answers to all of these questions, none of which support your bizarrely stupid thesis that "proper education systems can prevent the formation of flat-earther-like conspiracy mythologies".

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

whatever you say

[–] a_Ha@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago

this @yogthos@lemmy.ml is edgy... and sometimes falls in what you describe as : "... a more sophisticated kind of imbecile"
When this happen to me, it will be hard for me to know.