[extropy-chat] List of silly misconceptions

[BillK]

On Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:44 pm Jef Allbright wrote:
> In my opinion, helping the spread of rational thinking, awareness of
> our selves and our place in the big picture , counts among the most
> extropic and highly leveraged efforts we can make.
>

Very admirable sentiments, but it is a bit like trying to stop the tide
coming in.

Misconceptions are fundamental to humans. It is not called 'Human error'
for nothing.

Name any subject and I guarantee that someone has written a book or
instruction sheet about the common errors encountered.
Ten common faults of Web site design
The twelve most common writing errors.
The top ten mathematical errors.
The top ten management mistakes.
The ten worst dot-com mistakes, and on and on and on.
But nobody pays any attention and the same errors get committed again
and again.

Human life is about people continually making mistake after mistake.
Car crashes, plane crashes, law suits, medical errors, military errors,
political errors, manufacturing errors, software errors, cooking errors,
decorating errors, relationship errors, everything involving humans will
get some damage attached - accidently, of course.

Half the population are making mistakes and the other half are helping
them pick up the pieces.  Then they swop places.

Read some of the skeptics web sites to get some idea of the millions of
people who believe complete and utter rubbish every day of their lives.

Look in your daily paper for the big daily mistakes, then talk to your
friends for the smaller daily mistakes.

Humans are fallible. The best we can hope for is some damage limitation.

And now I'm heading off to create havoc in the kitchen - ;)

BillK