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The thermodynamics of bullshit: it takes much more effort to refute a claim than to make it, hence the entropy of guff, bullshit or lies increases 1/n
Hence, it requires much more effort to explain why weather and climate are different, or to explain that race does exist but not in terms of biological variance. Or to explain why PGS are not necessarily the most incisive tool for explaining differences between populations. 2/n
It takes no effort to say homosexuality is not natural, or that lobsters explain male dominated social structures, or that IQ only tests IQ performance 3/n
Or that people of different ethnic or racial backgrounds perform differently in many metrics. But that fact should be the beginning of enquiry not the endpoint. 4/n
. @Painpoint seems to have coined this law: '4th Law of Thermodynamics: The amount of energy required to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude larger than required to create it.'
6/n this was prompted by a couple of things, @ed_hawkins patiently explaining climate change issues to an MP expressing simplistic and erroneous factoids, and my almost continuous engagement with issues about race and genetics.
7/n, it takes time and effort to countermand ignorant assertions, and years to acquire the knowledge to do it.
8/n Changing one mind at a time seems inefficient. It reminds me of the Simpsons ep Homer's Phobia, where he thinks Bart is gay after hanging out with John Waters:
9/n
'"Well, Homer, I won your respect, and all I had to do was save your life," John says. "Now, if every gay man could just do the same, you’d be set."
'"Well, Homer, I won your respect, and all I had to do was save your life," John says. "Now, if every gay man could just do the same, you’d be set."
