Writing


After sticking to its claim that my video of A Trip to the Moon with original music violates their copyright, MK2 backed down when YouTube asked them to support the assertion. The video is safely back for the foreseeable future.


Six rules for responding to bad ideas

SciManDan has put up a video which everyone trying to debunk bad ideas should watch. Nominally he’s talking about Flat Earthers. A lot of his videos are on that subject; a friend of mine likes to watch them, so I watch them too. Really, though, the six rules he offers don’t apply just to answering people who think the world is flat. They apply to any bad ideas you’re trying to knock down: socialism, Trumpism, “greedflation” theory, Moon landing hoax claims, whatever.

Watch the video, but I’ll quote his six rules here, substituting “[bad idea]” for “flat earth” to show the generality.
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Commentary on Aaron Ross Powell’s essay

The essay “Surround Yourself With Those Who Are Admirable, and Distance Yourself From Those Who Aren’t,” by Aaron Ross Powell, has me feeling ambivalent. Each time he links to it on Bluesky (and he’s linked to it a lot), I want to say something, but I couldn’t put my concern in a few words. It isn’t obviously wrong, but its focus could encourage readers to cut themselves off from all who disagree with them. In general, I should add, his newsletter is definitely worth reading, and even this piece helped me to clarify my thinking.
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