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Why do most people refuse to accept that they are wrong (feddit.ch)

submitted 1 year ago by Cannizzaro@feddit.ch to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I have come across a lot's of people like these. like 99% of them. Sometimes it makes me think twice if what i am saying is wrong? What's wrong with them. Is it so hard to swallow your pride and acknowledge that the other person is speaking facts? When they come to know they are wrong they proceed to insult/make fun of others to save their ass. Just why?

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[-] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The problem with this is the quiet nihilism baked into it, which is the same reason so many people believe that widely supported science could be wrong.
In the absolute sense, it is true. Though things like "the sky is blue" is more about linguistics, but for a layperson it's kind of inconsequential either way. While there is a small possibility that scientific consensus could be wrong, there is orders of magnitude bigger chance that unwarranted skepticism is dangerous. Reality does exist, regardless of how much epistemology you choose to wave away.

[-] theherk@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I don’t think so, and he and I have discussed this in epistemological terms several times over the years. “Sky is blue” example was probably bad as would have been “earth is round” etc. The point isn’t that anything can be wrong, though strictly speaking, I guess it can. What we mean is precisely that our minds have the ability to mislead us and powerfully so. But part of the drive to minimize that is to understand the value of consensus in both scientific communities and wider communities.

To have the best ratio of things about which were correct vs incorrect, being confident in things like the outcome of refereed science is helpful.

this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2023

114 points (91.3% liked)

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