It turns out that people's beliefs are more influenced by their sense of self identity than facts and information. This article by Maria Konnikova of The New Yorker discusses some research conducted which led to these rather unfortunate conclusions. Nobody is safe from their pre-existing biases, so whether you're liberal or conservative, global warming believer or denier, black or white, this is worth a read and some self reflection.
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Why People Believe Things that Aren't True
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(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @12:22AM
soylent news is people. Why do all accept beta and not leave slashdot in favor of soylent. I like the /dev/random dice joke.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @01:47AM
Slashdot Classic is still a thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @09:27AM
Well, the name isn't very catchy...
It's better than GIMP though; which and I use so I'm hoping to get used to this as well.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday May 21 2014, @12:23AM
If you're a black guy who frequently gets beat up by White people, or a White person who frequently gets beat up by Asians, both without cause an as examples, you're gonna hate the people who are beating your ass no matter what liberal weenies from Tumblr or Reddit tell you is the "proper" way to believe.
The people who can pontificate from behind their trust-funds and comfy coddled upper-middle-class lives here in the Western world should be rounded up and airdropped smack-dab in the middle of raging sectarian violence in some third-world shithole halfway across the world. Then they can say with a straight face that humans are warm and fuzzy and always get along and people who don't agree are jerks as they're forced to pick a side under the barrel of a gun.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday May 21 2014, @01:05AM
You can notice these brutal tendencies in good normal people too if you learn to decode subtle behavioral cues. And a species that "just does what those above tells me" can't sustain moral behaviour at large. We all got brains but one has to make the point of using it even if it's hard.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday May 21 2014, @01:11AM
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @03:52AM
Stereotyping can be a rational and useful response. Only if the stereotype you use is inaccurate and/or the false positives are too costly then it becomes less useful and thus stupid/irrational to use.
For example, if you see a lion or grizzly roaming about your neighborhood, do you not use stereotyping and "profiling" and try to avoid it? Perhaps it may turn out that particular lion was safe and harmless and you hurt his feelings, but too bad so sad. As long as most lions/grizzlies are dangerous AND it's hard to tell the difference between the dangerous and safe ones, it's best to err on the safe side.
If your stereotype was too broad (e.g. vs all mammals with canines) then it's not useful. Similarly trying to avoid all black people on the street is unlikely to be a good idea. But avoiding young black males, acting in certain ways and wearing certain styles of clothes is likely to be useful.
The problem apparently is in some places a black not dressed like a "black gangsta" would increase his odds of being beaten up and harassed by blacks, so the reduction in being beaten up and harassed by cops might not be worth it. So a lot of the blame goes to the blacks themselves - for creating and glorifying such negative cultures. Blacks who pick the "gangsta" culture deserve the prejudice they get. It's not about "acting white", it's about not being a thug and glorifying thuggishness.
The whites have their own negative cultures and associated stereotypes- "white trash", "evil white banker" etc.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 21 2014, @05:41PM
Bullshit, your own biases are showing, and like many, yours is based on fear and ignorance. It isn't young black men dressing and acting a certain way, it's young POOR people acting in a certain way (and not just young men, women get violent too). Here's a clue for you: poor white people are no different than poor black people. I know them personally. Some of the most dangerous people I know are white, some of them having spent time in prison; I drink in a redneck bar in the middle of the ghetto. All kinds of people drink there, white, black, Hispanic, rich, middle class, and poor (there aren't many Asians in this part of town).
I will say, however, if I were a poor young black man I'd be wary of the cops, too; DWB has been documented many times.
For the record, my ancestors are mostly Irish. And I agree with Irish writer Oscar Wilde, who said "work is the curse of the drinking class."
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by Angry Jesus on Wednesday May 21 2014, @01:28AM
> If you're a black guy who frequently gets beat up by White people, or a White person who frequently
> gets beat up by Asians, both without cause an as examples, you're gonna hate the people who are
> beating your ass no matter what liberal weenies from Tumblr or Reddit tell you is the "proper" way to believe.
And what if you are a white guy who frequently gets beat up by white people?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @01:44AM
Court-ordered anger-management. Because white guys are too privileged to have anything to be angry about.
(Score: 2) by bugamn on Wednesday May 21 2014, @02:42PM
You will identify what makes them different from you and hate that. Maybe they speak French and you speak German?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @03:06PM
And of course, as soon as you have "identified" the cause, confirmation bias will make sure that you'll find the correlation to be near universal.
Compare with the attitude of some (and I explicitly emphasize: some, not all) logged-in individuals here when it comes to AC posts.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 21 2014, @05:44PM
Compare with the attitude of some (and I explicitly emphasize: some, not all) logged-in individuals here when it comes to AC posts.
I doubt a statistical study of the worthiness of AC comments would surprise me. Once in a while I'll see a good anonymous comment, but ACs more often troll than make good comments.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday May 21 2014, @08:34PM
All those racists also don't believe that the results of a study about the behaviour of members of different races would surprise them.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @01:58AM
Yeah, the people who are actually beating you up. The particular white people who beat up our black guy, or the particular Asians who beat up our white guy, not white people as a whole, or Asian people as a whole. Nothing wrong with hating those specific people who do you harm, what is wrong is generalising from those specific wicked people to a particular racial or sectarian label to which those bad eggs just happen to belong. People ought to be judged by what they do or personally believe, and generalisations, while sometimes useful, ought to be considered suspect, most especially when dealing with individuals.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday May 21 2014, @08:12AM
The situation is that if X people have a 2% higher probability for violent behaviour than Y people. It will be beneficial to avoid all people of X. You just don't get any benefits to counter the negative in the general case where you don't know the people.
Any kind of quick look visual pre-judgment doesn't require high mental capacity. So in an environment where other factors have much higher importance. Only people with experience and high cognitive capability will be able filter out people with high risk probability.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by BasilBrush on Wednesday May 21 2014, @06:21PM
Men have more than 2% higher probability for violent behaviour than women. So it follows from your argument that it will benefit your life to avoid all men. Now, how are you going to earn a living, other than in a women's beauty parlour? How are you going to go out and socialise anywhere except in a women's group?
Now do you see how stupid your excuse for racism is?
Hurrah! Quoting works now!
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday May 21 2014, @06:49PM
Only be in touch with men that offer income opportunities? the rest carries risk, too little gain.
It's not dumb. It's brutal.
(Score: 2) by BasilBrush on Wednesday May 21 2014, @07:17PM
It's not dumb or brutal. It's moronic.
Hurrah! Quoting works now!
(Score: 5, Funny) by Tork on Wednesday May 21 2014, @02:59AM
Jeepers. On the green site this was about iOS vs. Android!
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 21 2014, @05:49PM
The guy you responded to had such a bad karma at the green site his posts started at -1 if he logged in. He's a troll, ignore him.
On the green site you also had stories about the superbowl that had nothing whatever to do with science or engineering.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 21 2014, @05:29PM
Well done, moderators, that was indeed flamebait. Knock him down again.
The way to end racism is act like a human being and that goes for everyone, regardless of race. Hate only leads to hate, violence always leads to more violence.
Here's a treatise I wrote about racism 9 years ago: Racism on Martin Luther King's Birthday [mcgrewbooks.com] (from The Paxil Diaries)
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 4, Funny) by jasassin on Wednesday May 21 2014, @12:41AM
It turns out that people's beliefs are more influenced by their sense of self identity than facts and information.
I don't believe that!
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0x663EB663D1E7F223
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @01:10AM
You just believe that you don't believe that because of who you are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @01:04AM
My chance will come.
I believe in America.
I follow the rules.
Everybody has got their own hard times, these days.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday May 21 2014, @03:19AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @03:39PM
Actually, the winner is: "If everyone tries to maximize his own profit, the result is the best for everyone."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 23 2014, @05:44AM
More win: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" will lead to a state-less class-less society by way of a fundamental human transformation.
(Score: 5, Funny) by jelizondo on Wednesday May 21 2014, @02:11AM
After RTFA, I did reflect on it and decided that, perhaps I'm wrong, and should go back to /. because beta might not be that bad.
With this new attitude, I think I might even learn to love Windows 8, the poor, misunderstood thing :-)
It's good to question one's own beliefs and accept relevant, so called, facts and information. But if I don't trust the source, the facts and information will appear to me slanted or downright false. If I don't trust the government, for example, leaflets from the CDC about vaccinations will reinforce my belief that the fscking government wants to infect my child's mind.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @02:39AM
+1 Funny. Wish I had mod points!
Win 8.2 is going to be AWESOME!
(Score: 1) by RaffArundel on Wednesday May 21 2014, @01:35PM
Taken in the way intended, but too good to pass. Soapbox ready, clear the throat...
First, I gotta recommend Shermer's Why People believe Weird Things which was the first time I got my lovely little image of "people confronted with good information will use it" utterly destroyed. Hey, it was very early internet! The other book recommendation is How We Know what isn't So, which while on my bookshelf at home, I had to look up the author: Thomas Gilovich.
It depends on WHY you left, and if upon reflection those were valid reasons. I'm here for the fresh start, to see if this little experiment is going to work. If I had left because that is what all the cool kids are doing, then yeah, I'd hope that I would be mature enough to say "eh, okay, hooplah over".
Actually, I like Win8.1 on my Surface Pro 2. It fits right in between a tablet and laptop very nicely. I can jump to the desktop as necessary or I can poke at the big buttons. YMMV. I wouldn't want the interface on my desktop, which is (not the only reason, but) why I don't have it, but it works for what I use it for.
Driving to work this morning I heard a piece on doctors changing from pap smears to HPV testing to find cervical cancer. In a study, they found that most (within a high degree of confidence) cervical cancers were caused by HPV. Unfortunately, my kneejerk reaction was "garbage study" because it was sponsored by a drug company. I'm not familiar with the arguments on both sides, but I definitely have my prejudices. That is a bad thing, especially if they are actually right and I had dismissed it.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday May 21 2014, @02:39AM
So if you assume that most people are easily lied to and misled then it's safe to also assume that you will not be misled if you refuse to believe what others believe. While believing something different doesn't make it true, at least it opens your mind to a universe that might include the truth. The hard part is how to figure out if what you believe is actually true or just a different fantasy.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday May 21 2014, @03:25AM
Might be something to what you say...
The older I get the more carefully I evaluate so called Scientific Pronouncements, especially those appearing in the mainstream press.
Half of what I along the way had to be relearned and unlearned.
Yet so much new stuff comes down the pike that you always have to keep your mind open.
And I send all my friends to Snopes.com the minute they try to tell me bullshit, because I'm tired of correcting their crackpot ideas and looking like the bad guy.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 21 2014, @05:57PM
The older I get the more carefully I evaluate so called Scientific Pronouncements, especially those appearing in the mainstream press.
There are two reasons for that. One is, most journalists don't know jack about what they're writing about, and it isn't just science.
The second is, scientists are prone to prejudices, too, and sometimes unproven hypotheses are taken as "truth"; Cosmos covered this last Sunday, you can get it on Hulu Plus or The Pirate Bay.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Wednesday May 21 2014, @03:28AM
No, it's not safe at all.
The only "safe" option is: you need to be able to check and actually check by yourself.
Any other option involve risks (mind you, I'm not saying you should strive to be foolproof safe; it's not like whatever you believe or think will spare you of death certainty).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 21 2014, @06:02PM
When I was very young I was told a bit of wisdom by my elders: Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Wednesday May 21 2014, @08:39PM
Given that they told it to you, I conclude you heard it. Therefore taking their advice means not believing it. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by anubi on Wednesday May 21 2014, @03:41AM
Another axiom resulting from this goes down the line of " the acorn does not fall far from the tree".
Its why kids tend to hold to their parent's religion and why churches try to get the kids when they are young. Get your stuff into the kid first, and anything coming in later now has to replace the existing paradigm. Its the difference between moving onto a piece of land no-one owns, and moving onto a piece of land someone else already claims.
I have had my share of taking things as fact only because of the trust I had for the person who told me, only later to find out I was simply being taken for a patsy. Number one culprit: salesmen. Includes financial advisors, management leadership types, and religious leaders. People who make their money not by doing anything but finding ways of goading me into doing it for them.
Learn how the mousetrap works. For the mouse, its a little catch onto the bait holder. For people, 99% of the time it involves getting your signature on their piece of paper. You may have to forego the peanut butter, but you will later see someone else who did not know how the trap works all hung up in it.
You may recognize crap, however apparently most of us by far do not have our filters set up properly and we give way too much authority over us to anyone who wants to take it. I will cite "Obedience to Authority" ( more Google links ) [google.com] by Stanley Milgram as my case. I only hope I would have reacted as the engineer in Stanley's study did and have nothing to do with it when put up against no-good. That engineer was definitely no "team player" when it came to blindly taking orders, but I bet he had a clean conscience.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by albert on Wednesday May 21 2014, @06:11AM
You KNOW that info is coming from people with ulterior motives. They may be people who want to sell drugs, who want to sell "clean energy" stuff, who want to help others (people, countries, businesses, whatever) at your expense, and so on.
You DO NOT have a trustworthy source of information that you can truly verify for yourself at reasonable cost. You're forced to believe somebody. You do at least have a choice of untrustworthy people to believe.
Well, you might as well flip a coin.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Wednesday May 21 2014, @10:51AM
mod up that comment.
As a scientist (!), believing is a lot more flexible than some might suppose. The real subtlety is adapting ones perception of the world to match the (reproducible) evidence. Unfortunately, most religions teach the opposite, "our version is true" dogma.
As a general rule, anyone telling you to accept ANYTHING on trust(faith), ask what they get out of it...
Let's start with movies....;-)
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @11:39AM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by marcello_dl on Wednesday May 21 2014, @12:57PM
They made a study using a vaccination campaign, really? If somebody changed idea after having got information from the *same system* that he thinks have done nothing when bad vaccines were sold, then he's not rational, he is dumb. Fool me once...
Now, had the study made people witness, say, a couple thousand kids of an entire school getting vaccinated, and developing no illness nor side effect after a couple years, and nobody changed idea about those vaccines, THEN we'd have something.