> It’s often said that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” The phrase was popularized by the astronomer Carl Sagan, who probably did as much as any scientist has done to promote the search for extraterrestrial life. By what’s sometimes referred to as the “Sagan standard,” Loeb’s claim clearly falls short; the best evidence he marshals for his theory that ‘Oumuamua is an alien craft is that the alternative theories are unconvincing. Loeb, though, explicitly rejects the Sagan standard—“It is not obvious to me why extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” he observes—and flips its logic on its head: “Extraordinary conservatism keeps us extraordinarily ignorant.”
Do you think "extraordinary conservatism keeps us extraordinarily ignorant" is a bad take? Religion comes to mind
Not an answer to your question, but a few interesting data points nonetheless:
"From @YouGov poll: among Republican voters, 45% approve of the storming of Capitol, 30% think the perpetrators are 'patriots', 52% think Biden is at least partly to blame for it, and 85% think it would be inappropriate to remove Trump from office after this. This is not a fringe."
https://twitter.com/SMerler/status/1347089854958596098?s=20
"I'm scared that I'll end up like the first 300 people who had all of their info dumped on [anonymity network] Tor, with people going through them, reading everything about their lives and abusing their info for identity thefts."
Also another good reason for people not to seek mental help, on top of being able to own a gun.
And with the recent rush to transition online, I hope this 2018 hack doesn't give the bad guys any ideas.
Do you think "extraordinary conservatism keeps us extraordinarily ignorant" is a bad take? Religion comes to mind