[extropy-chat] Re: Robin Hanson on Cynicism

[Robin Hanson]

At 08:56 AM 9/22/2005, you wrote:
>Robin Hanson writes:
>>I posed the issue in terms of what should the cynic believe about himself,
>>rather than how he should present himself to others.  But yes, the more
>>that the cynic's targets know of his conundrum, the harder for him.  Not
>>that the cynic's motives for criticizing should really matter than much for
>>whether the cynic's criticisms are accepted as true.  But alas for humans,
>>it does matter a great deal.
>
>I find both cynicism and optimism to be unscientific.  They both 
>imply prejudice toward evaluating things good or bad based on 
>motives rather than empirical evidence.
>True scientific method would apply equally to everybody.  Unlike the 
>cynic's conundrum above, the true scientist gladly subjects 
>themselves to the same scrutiny and standards that they subject 
>others to.  Science has no such conundrum.  The more scientists are 
>scrutinized using the same scientific method, the more they should 
>pass with flying colors.

I speak of humans and you speak of scientists.  Humans, and cynics, I 
have seen. Scientists in the sense you describe are much harder to find.


Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323