Intellectual diversity is good when it comes to things like judgment call opinions, methodological approaches, and points of emphasis. On matters of well-supported fact (is reality real?), or long-established basic ethics (do we really have to treat people as created equal?) — not so much. - ThreadSky

nicholasgrossman.bsky.social • 50 days ago

Intellectual diversity is good when it comes to things like judgment call opinions, methodological approaches, and points of emphasis.

On matters of well-supported fact (is reality real?), or long-established basic ethics (do we really have to treat people as created equal?) — not so much.

Reposted from Don Moynihan

"Vought wants to produce a version of the climate report that includes more “diverse viewpoints.”"

This is why a lot of people distrust "intellectual diversity" - it is being used here to water down scientific facts in order to justify worse policy.

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beckya.bsky.social•50 days ago

Or as Krugman says, “Is the Earth flat? Opinions differ!”

givemeadouble.bsky.social•50 days ago

The thing is Nicholas, American schools have utterly failed in teaching the scientific method to people for decades and we are now paying the price for it all across our society.

trashawaythrow.bsky.social•50 days ago

📌

hilvadvising.bsky.social•50 days ago

Hi, just a work-a-day threat analyst here and you, good sir, are quite correct and highlight an important part of creating accurate models or actionable analysis. Diversity of perspective, even on a single subject, brings nuance and depth to an analysis that improves acc., per., and var.

hilvadvising.bsky.social•50 days ago

(accuracy, precision, and variance handling)

dalbak.bsky.social•50 days ago

Climate change is a science thing. We teach kids that science uses theory, hypothesis, experiment, and empirical results to narrow down possible answers.

More theories? More ways to test them? Great!

Including answers not supported by empirical results?

Not so much.

citizenkryptik.bsky.social•50 days ago

The problem with "intellectual diversity" as it's used here is the idea that it treats empiricism as something that needs to be diversified too. Like...perspectives from across the board ARE important, but only insomuch that it helps improve through empiricism, not softening it.

nicholasgrossman.bsky.social•50 days ago

Another way to put that: it's bad faith.
Not "we'll be collectively stronger with this diversity and better able to achieve our joint goal," but "privilege me and my opinion no matter the merits."

stopitsteve.bsky.social•50 days ago

It’s the same thinking as the BBC’s concept of ‘impartiality’.

donmoyn.bsky.social•50 days ago

very good qualifier!

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