- Mar 14, 2023
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On Logical Causation, and Conspiracy Theories
---------- ----------
Note that there are common trends in American society, that
tend to raise our gullibility to Conspiracy Theories. Such as...
1 All those nature videos, that show videos of animal behavior,
and "explain" it as if the animals were human beings, making the
best rational choices that any human being could make.
Much of this animal behavior, is presented as much more intelligent than
the behavior of most human beings.
The "explanations" of this animal behavior, is often VERY specific to the
behavior that is being filmed. BUT, while this explanation may fulfill the
concept of Modus Ponens, it does not explore all alternate animal behaviors, in the
same situation, in which other outcomes happen. The Modus Tollens test of
animal behavior "rules" is not examined. And so, the behavior is not logically
being proven to follow logical causality.
2 We know that there are hundreds of characteristics that an individual human
being can have. And yet, it is common in many situations (such as news stories),
to act as if only a very limited list of possible characteristics are determining the
outcome of the story. And this limited list is VERY biased: race, sex, culture, and
"minority" or "majority" group membership.
This is like dictating that only a few facts, can be used in the Assumptions
part of a proof. This is a serious misunderstanding of the complexity of
our shared reality.
3 There is a trend that given a specific action by someone, they MUST have had
a very specific motivation/purpose. In reality, for a single action, there could
potentially be hundreds of individual motivations possible. This is another
misunderstanding of CAUSALITY.
4 Note that those doing the "explaining" in American society, often
ARBITRARILY change their assumed list of relevant characteristics, or
short list of possible causes of an event, or their assumed motivation
that is imputed to someone doing an action.
These modern "explanations" of why someone did something, often is
more like a Conspiracy Theory, than a logical presentation of the complexity
of human behavior.
---------- ----------
As an exercise, go to the Google news page, and read multiple news
stories about the same event, from different news sources (this is
how the Google news site is organized). Do the descriptions of the
event match each other? Do the writers about the same event, think
that the relevant topics associated with the event are the same? With
a lot of these stories, you may think that they are trying to describe
different events? Do the authors of these stories, explain what their
own interests are, in promoting?
---------- ----------
In contrast to the Google news page, think about how the Bible
presents our shared reality...
1 We all live in the same shared reality
2 bearing false witness about this shared reality, is called "lying"
3 Lying is a very serious sin, in Christianity
4 Lying, in Christianity, can keep us out of the kingdom of heaven.
Consider how the Christian definition of lying, requires a view of our shared reality
that is VERY different than the modern American approach of creating some
"Explanation" that is emotionally appealing, includes arbitrary aspects of reality,
and is cut free of a rigorous justification of assertions that form the "explanation".
Note how the Christian concept of lying, is much more compatible with the
formal logic approach of trying to justify a personal opinion (using our
shared reality), than are the spinners of Conspiracy Theories.
Note that the Christian moral-ethical model is MUCH more interested in
determining real logical CAUSALITY, than is the modern culture of
Conspiracy Theories.
---------- ----------
Note that there are common trends in American society, that
tend to raise our gullibility to Conspiracy Theories. Such as...
1 All those nature videos, that show videos of animal behavior,
and "explain" it as if the animals were human beings, making the
best rational choices that any human being could make.
Much of this animal behavior, is presented as much more intelligent than
the behavior of most human beings.
The "explanations" of this animal behavior, is often VERY specific to the
behavior that is being filmed. BUT, while this explanation may fulfill the
concept of Modus Ponens, it does not explore all alternate animal behaviors, in the
same situation, in which other outcomes happen. The Modus Tollens test of
animal behavior "rules" is not examined. And so, the behavior is not logically
being proven to follow logical causality.
2 We know that there are hundreds of characteristics that an individual human
being can have. And yet, it is common in many situations (such as news stories),
to act as if only a very limited list of possible characteristics are determining the
outcome of the story. And this limited list is VERY biased: race, sex, culture, and
"minority" or "majority" group membership.
This is like dictating that only a few facts, can be used in the Assumptions
part of a proof. This is a serious misunderstanding of the complexity of
our shared reality.
3 There is a trend that given a specific action by someone, they MUST have had
a very specific motivation/purpose. In reality, for a single action, there could
potentially be hundreds of individual motivations possible. This is another
misunderstanding of CAUSALITY.
4 Note that those doing the "explaining" in American society, often
ARBITRARILY change their assumed list of relevant characteristics, or
short list of possible causes of an event, or their assumed motivation
that is imputed to someone doing an action.
These modern "explanations" of why someone did something, often is
more like a Conspiracy Theory, than a logical presentation of the complexity
of human behavior.
---------- ----------
As an exercise, go to the Google news page, and read multiple news
stories about the same event, from different news sources (this is
how the Google news site is organized). Do the descriptions of the
event match each other? Do the writers about the same event, think
that the relevant topics associated with the event are the same? With
a lot of these stories, you may think that they are trying to describe
different events? Do the authors of these stories, explain what their
own interests are, in promoting?
---------- ----------
In contrast to the Google news page, think about how the Bible
presents our shared reality...
1 We all live in the same shared reality
2 bearing false witness about this shared reality, is called "lying"
3 Lying is a very serious sin, in Christianity
4 Lying, in Christianity, can keep us out of the kingdom of heaven.
Consider how the Christian definition of lying, requires a view of our shared reality
that is VERY different than the modern American approach of creating some
"Explanation" that is emotionally appealing, includes arbitrary aspects of reality,
and is cut free of a rigorous justification of assertions that form the "explanation".
Note how the Christian concept of lying, is much more compatible with the
formal logic approach of trying to justify a personal opinion (using our
shared reality), than are the spinners of Conspiracy Theories.
Note that the Christian moral-ethical model is MUCH more interested in
determining real logical CAUSALITY, than is the modern culture of
Conspiracy Theories.
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