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#ignorance

4 posts4 participants0 posts today

I hate arrogance and ignorance. We seem to be drowning in both right now.
We stopped burning witches at the stake centuries ago, but we still have a way to go.
We are now burning our witches in the media.
medium.com/prismnpen/two-sexes

Prism & Pen · Two Sexes and Only One God. Man’s Endless Arrogance.By Emma Holiday

In a shocking twist worthy of a flat-earth convention, RFK Jr. has bravely decided that the cornerstone of modern health science – germ theory – is merely a figment of our collective imagination. 🦠🚫 Clearly, he's got a PhD in #Ignorance, specializing in "Things Scientists Figured Out Centuries Ago." 🧐🎓
arstechnica.com/health/2025/04 #RFKJr #GermTheory #FlatEarth #HealthScience #HackerNews #ngated

Ars Technica · RFK Jr. rejects cornerstone of health science: Germ theoryBy Beth Mole

> Stupidity isn’t just a lack of #intelligence —it’s the refusal to think critically, and it’s everywhere. In this video, we dive into The Stupidity Epidemic, exploring why people ignore #facts, how #SocialMedia fuels #misinformation, and why Dietrich Bonhoeffer believed #stupidity is more dangerous than evil. From blind groupthink to misplaced confidence, we break down how #ignorance spreads, why it thrives in positions of power, and what we can do about it.

youtube.com/watch?v=LqelpONZvp

In other words, Generative AI and LLMs lack a sound epistemology and that's very problematic...:

"Bullshit and generative AI are not the same. They are similar, however, in the sense that both mix true, false, and ambiguous statements in ways that make it difficult or impossible to distinguish which is which. ChatGPT has been designed to sound convincing, whether right or wrong. As such, current AI is more about rhetoric and persuasiveness than about truth. Current AI is therefore closer to bullshit than it is to truth. This is a problem because it means that AI will produce faulty and ignorant results, even if unintentionally.
(...)
Judging by the available evidence, current AI – which is generative AI based on large language models – entails artificial ignorance more than artificial intelligence. That needs to change for AI to become a trusted and effective tool in science, technology, policy, and management. AI needs criteria for what truth is and what gets to count as truth. It is not enough to sound right, like current AI does. You need to be right. And to be right, you need to know the truth about things, like AI does not. This is a core problem with today's AI: it is surprisingly bad at distinguishing between truth and untruth – exactly like bullshit – producing artificial ignorance as much as artificial intelligence with little ability to discriminate between the two.
(...)
Nevertheless, the perhaps most fundamental question we can ask of AI is that if it succeeds in getting better than humans, as already happens in some areas, like playing AlphaZero, would that represent the advancement of knowledge, even when humans do not understand how the AI works, which is typical? Or would it represent knowledge receding from humans? If the latter, is that desirable and can we afford it?"

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf

papers.ssrn.comAI as Artificial IgnoranceAI and bullshit (in the strong philosophical sense of Harry Frankfurt) are similar in the sense that both prioritize rhetoric over truth. They mix true, false,

#Ivermectin was found to help #COVID patients...

patients with parasites

#Ignorance spread "the cure" without the whole picture

Likewise, #VitaminA was found to help #Measles patients...

patients with vitamin A deficiency

And so, ignorance once again:

"West #Texas children treated for vitamin A toxicity as #medical #disinformation spreads alongside measles outbreak"

People think they know better than #scientists and #doctors, and harm themselves and their children

tpr.org/public-health/2025-03-

TPR · West Texas children treated for vitamin A toxicity as medical disinformation spreads alongside measles outbreakBy David Martin Davies