I think this is the first post by Taleb on the IYI:
The illusion of free will - Sam Harris
- Thread starter Jeremy F Kreuz
- Start date
Yep,
Brilliantly disconnected from reality, it is shocking though I suppose it's also a wake up call to anyone who tends to trust their own thinking a bit much. I just started on The Master and his emissary's last chapter today and he beings to describe what the world of the left hemisphere would look like, and it struck me like it would look like exactly like the world we have today.
And Sam Harris being so "intelligent" is like at the very tip of the spear of people who push in that direction, overtly sure of himself, and sincerely convinced that he is correct because he has somehow convinced himself of the flawlessness of his thought.
And from there to totalitarian regimes imposed in order to control that reality doesn't get in, isn't really that many steps, only a few in fact, particularly if there's no resistance.
It's hard to analyze these guys thoughts, because they are riddled with hypocrisy, paradoxes, and double speak. Basically they mean, we can have free will but you can't. But they package it up, saying there is no such thing as free will. Of course, it is complicated, but that is the simple explanation from how I see it.I’m speaking out of my depth or out of my pay grade as the saying goes, but I wonder if his arguments for free will being non existent are basically true from his perspective as he may have forfeited much of his free will in favor of more or less being a bot. His unhinged rant certainly leads me to believe that he is incapable of simple thought but whatever program he is running can sure take up hours of pseudo intelligent ramblings.
I don't think it's difficult to imagine how these people think, one has just to imagine a robot from outer space (or a killer klown..). As for Harris, it would be fun to see how his ancient buddies of the so-called intellectual dark web (Peterson, the Weinsteins, etc.) will react. Bret Weinstein some months ago basically described him as a traitor or something (I don't recall why) and Gad Saad has already published this: .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUfPFLtn2XA
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I think this is the first post by Taleb on the IYI:
“Typically, the IYI get the first order logic right, but not second-order (or higher) effects making him totally incompetent in complex domains.”(Taleb)
Nicely put, and it reflects the simplistic limited 2-3 density thinking. As we move towards 4th density I think those who are paying attention are able to see more and more complexity and conversely as it becomes easier to see it does not feel as complex as it did before.
On the other hand people stuck in modes of limited thinking, as Sam Harris, appear to be cognitively disintegrating. Just the impression I have.
The frustrating thing is that they are also contradictory and all over the place. Sam Harris at times has said that he's "not a stickler for materialism" or that he's not denying free will... Same as Dawkins: they make themselves unattackable by being incoherent, while also creating the illusion around them that their materialist ideology is still good and undefeated. What does that remind one of? Ah yes, the crazy postmodern left!
The New Atheists were always about bashing silly straw men that only the most idiotic fundamentalist religious authoritarians would defend (like why can't you see heaven with the telescope etc.) Part of their appeal however was also that they WERE right in certain respects, as with questioning the bible and its history, or the literal resurrection of Jesus that sadly many denominations still adhere to and so on.
Well, Sam Harris is particularly infuriating with his calm, condescending tone that seems to convey everybody is so stupid except him. Then again, most of his arguments are so silly that I can understand he must use such methods. (/rant)
It's a good expression and I like his books, but he too falls in the IYI camp. After all this time and the data that has come out, he's still pushing the mainstream Covid narrative, and is likewise deluded when it comes to the Ukraine situation.
He also failed the anti-fragile test on the covid issue.
That’s interesting, he is failing to see complexity in these issues. By not being alert to the possibility that he himself could well suffer the same affliction of IYI simply because he too is human. I would recommend to him he needs a feedback network?!
He probably believes himself, in fact... "knows" himself to be above anyone else's feedback, I mean that whole debate he had with Peterson was exhausting to watch because of that exact reason, he was simply not going to consider himself being wrong at all... ever.
I daresay that even if it were pointed out to him, in logical terms, that what he was alluding to was a mass murderer being ignored in the interest of political gain, he'd still stick to his guns and never back down. And even if he did so publicly, I do not think he has the ability to actually internalize the feedback.
He strikes me as someone for whom getting caught in the act is a lesson in how getting caught was what he did wrong.
It would not be at all surprising if such individuals call themselves atheists, but deep down their inner nature is inclined towards the truth. What I can see is that they are most likely programmed by materialism to think like atheists.
And I would not be surprised if he, Sam Harris, would say that transhumans have free will.
Stupid is what stupid does...think, say, do stupid.
Sam Harris continues his utterly pathological ramblings. After his I wouldn't care if Biden's son had dead children in his basement, now it's too bad covid didn't kill children otherwise everybody would be aligned with scientism. The clip is included in this video:
In case someone misses Sam Harris, here he is with Chris Williamson saying that Rogan and JBP are in a "contrarian echo chamber" where "mRNA vaccines are terrifying, Covid was no big deal, January 6 was maybe a non-event, the libtards are trying to ruin everything."