From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Wed Nov 21 2001 - 12:11:09 MST
From: <CurtAdams@aol.com>
> PS While I agree with jon clark on almost everything factual discussed
> I think it's abundantly clear that Samantha is *not* an idiot.
Well, there are two distinct ways to use this word "idiot."
1 : a person affected with idiocy; especially : a feebleminded person having a
mental age not exceeding three years and requiring complete custodial care
2 : a foolish or stupid person
I think John Clark had used the word in the second sense, in the colloquial
sense, to mean that although the offender in question may not actually be a
medically diagnosed and certifiable idiot, nevertheless there was a
frustrating and recurrent refusal to actually *read* what John Clark had
written, so that for all intents and purposes, one might conclude that only an
idiot could fail to learn from the posted messages. Plus, there was a level of
denial of reality in some of these messages that did connote an obstinacy
reminiscent of what one might expect from a certifiable idiot. What makes this
particular debating tactic (i.e., feigned ignorance) so infuriating, is that
it allows recalcitrant debaters to pretend innocence, after wasting a
significant amount of everyone's time. So, it's not so much the mental acuity
of the flame-baiter that justified the ad hominem, but rather the arrogant
negation of cited facts and figures. Anyway, I think a metaphorical
interpretation of the term "blithering idiot" quite apropos as it does rather
well in describing some of the things I read from the offending party. I vote
for making "blithering idiot" a simile for anyone who obstinately refuses to
face facts, for whatever reasons, including allegiance to some failed ideology
(such as socialism).
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment, malevolent AI,
non-sensory experience
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
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