Idiocy only ever applies to other people, yes. It's like sexual perversion and corruption; these things are done only by others, never by me! Why I speak of the need for some fabled 'test' - a bit like Alice drinking from the bottle marked 'drink me'. Alice was no idiot. She had the fundamental human curiosity to "suck it and see" rather than fall back on some safer, less interactive approach. Perhaps idiots lack the curiosity to undergo some experience that will doubtlesly undermine their chosen weltanshauung.
You can call me an idiot if you want but you would be using some other attribution criteria to the ones I am putting forward. Trouble is, if we ever really decided what constituted an idiot, there would soon be no more idiots because then we would have it nailed and could genuinely do something about it. Idiots, however, abound in society. It is more, as Bruno says, some willful act of denying something absurdly; a kind of mendacity. Furthermore, I do not consider someone an idiot who does not agree with me. That's where you have failed to take in the message, Chris. There are always alternatives, and the inability to take stock of them is where idiots reveal themselves. Actually, I don't go in search of agreement or disagreement. I prefer exploration and suspension of judgement. Explorers don't judge the terrain they explore; they create a map. I have changed my views several times over regarding core matters. Actually I find it rather easy to drop one set of ideas for another. For that reason, no one will ever catch me in the act of being certain about anything. Even about who the idiots are. K > On 15 Aug 2015, at 5:39 am, spudboy100 via Everything List > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Chris, when you can think of politicians and actors of your political > preference, who behave "idiotically:" then you'd really be making a succinct > point. The rationale being, "if you agree with my position, thus, you are > wonderful, but if you disagree, you are a moron." On this mailing list > however, it ain't politics that drive the passion, but disagreeing with an > equation, a precis,' a hypothesis. It's like on the show Big Bang, where > blood in nearly, drawn, over whether String or Loop Quantum Gravity have the > best explanation for reality, when as all right thinking people know, it's > all explained by Chaotic Inflation. Easy peasy. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List > <[email protected]> > To: everything-list <[email protected]> > Sent: Fri, Aug 14, 2015 1:42 pm > Subject: Re: Idiot Test > > I am curious.... you seem to speak of "idiots" exclusively in terms of "them" > of some "other" group of individuals. Do you consider yourself to be > potentially an "idiot" or have you managed to achieve existential certainty > that idiocy is something that only ever applies to other people? If you have > achieved this certainty -- e.g. that in no possible way could you ever be an > idiot; that is an amazing feat.... or could it be incontrovertible proof of > your own idiocy? > > Any definition of idiocy that does't -- at least potentially -- include the > "self" within the scope of its embrace is idotic - -IMO! > > P.S. -- I am suspecting that if you respond at all, you'll probably roast me > with scorn, for having had the temerity to suggest that idiocy is something > we are all capable of achieving; and that no one is immune from idiotic mind > modes. > > -chris > > > > On 14 Aug 2015, at 8:21 am, chris peck < [email protected]> wrote: > > > > So, to cut to the chase, when a thread appears claiming the benefit of a > > psychedelic is to work out who the idiots are, when it is suggested that > > the substance be used in such a miserly way, I can't help but feel the > > people suggesting that are the ones who have missed the message.... > > I think Strassman was right. You need a certain substance in your system to > be even able to conceive of thinking without some limiting effect of > consensus. The human mind has a 'native' behaviour and we might refer to this > as 'baseline consciousness'. It is merely a starting point in the enterprise > of exploring the terrain of consciousness. > > The Idiot Test is a cynical exercise, you seemed to have missed that. It's a > cartoon in words designed to focus on something sinister; either a lie or a > form of stupidity. A thought bubble as we say nowadays. Just one grade better > than a silly poster on Facebook. The term 'idiot' is a pejorative, so we do > need another word to cover the concept "the lack of imagination to envisage > alternatives to the one currently held under any scenario" which to my mind > at least, does sound rather mentally deficient. > > But I learnt a lot from Bruno's breakdown of it. Idiocy and Intelligence are > not polar opposites. They walk hand in hand. > > Anyway - at a certain point in the presumably not too distant future, > somebody WILL decide who all the idiots are - using whatever rationale - and > they will all be eliminated. Probably by an AI who worked it out all by > itself. > > So > > 2. Idiots usually end up designing technology that eventually destroys them > and everyone else. > > So, it may be that such people also receive a Darwin Award for performing the > inestimable service to the human race of removing their DNA from the gene > pool. > > > > > K > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+ [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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