Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All

Monday, May 04, 2009

Well, Isn't That Special?

Checking back at Giulio's blog for the latest episode in our dispute I found this rather marvelous diatribe by one "Dagon" (an occasional commenter here as well) the subject of which is, well, me. Of this diatribe "Dagon" says "I am sure [Dale] will be quoting this, and I can only hope he won’t quote it as selectively." It's nice to see a would-be futurologist for once making a prediction that actually somewhat comes true, although I fear the ellipses in the following indicate selective quoting, after all. Those who want to masticate every single delightful deranged word are encouraged to follow the link and have a look on their own. I freely admit I selected only those bits I personally found most enjoyable.
Dale Carrico is an actual fulblown liar. Not a hypocrite -- his affection is so spiteful and intentionally aggressive I suspect he is someone’s agent provocateur. Either that, or he is a career bully, or a sociopath. I find his motives extremely hard to pidgeonhole. It may be he picks out a somewhat expressive subculture and then proceeds to attack it, strictly as mental exercise and display for his supernatural eloquence. I suspect he gets laid every time he scores a moral victory.

Incidentally -- I send him a really tempting proposal -- but he ignored my email for reasons best not speculated at...

It is frustrating to know that I whereas feel as secure in my h+ist convictions as I can possibly be, and it will take decades to have him eat his shoe. It would be very amusing to have a singularity in 2012, if only to read the comments Dale makes about it...

[H]e is an irredeemable bigot, and he believes he is right, no matter what. He is so good at mixing language, lie and conjecture he has lost selfreflective capacity. He constantly reprograms himself, finds new validations. It is quite amazing how much of a cult figure Dale has become, and how this wheel keeps spinning...

New h+ians and assorted people of comparable *convictions* will fall for the Dale Carrico sideshow act, and he will find validation to keep liberating Jerusalem with every horned, cloven hoof egglaying jew he spots. So ignoring him won’t work, because anyone responding to his posts in stark amazement is yet another ten abusive, ranting, near-hysterical diatribes begging to hatch.

Someone like that won’t last, and that’s almost the last I will say about it. Dale is physically very ill, and needs regular medical treatments for a severe condition. He may be dying. In fact, my prized intuition suggests he won’t last another five years. At some time this tempestuous critic will leave the limelight on a stretcher. Hopefully we will by then have some more quality detractors. Detractors I can actually respect instead of pity.

If its worth anything, I will do my best to put roses on his grave, sans thorns[.]

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL This crank is hilarious! Let's be mean to Dagon this week! :)

jimf said...

> Dale Carrico is an actual fulblown liar. . .
> I suspect he is someone’s agent provocateur.

Dale! Are you working for those lizard aliens who are
trying to prevent the Singularity?

> It would be very amusing to have a singularity in 2012,
> if only to read the comments Dale makes about it...

. . . not to mention the rest of us who have been
Left Behind.

> Someone like that won’t last, and that’s almost the last
> I will say about it.

Famous almost last words. ;->

jimf said...

> It is frustrating to know that I whereas feel as secure
> in my h+ist convictions as I can possibly be, . . . it
> will take decades to have him eat his shoe.

From _On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Wrong_
by Robert A. Burton
http://www.amazon.com/Being-Certain-Believing-Right-Youre/dp/031254152X
Chapter 9 "The Pleasure Of Your Thoughts", p. 96

"In order to pursue long-range thoughts, we must derive sufficient reward
from a line of reasoning to keep at the idea, yet remain flexible and
willing to abandon the idea once there is contrary evidence. But if
the process takes time and a repeated sense of reward develops, the
neural connections binding the thought with the sensation of being
correct will gradually strengthen. Once established, such connections
are difficult to undo. . .

. . .Joseph LeDoux has produced conditioned fear responses in rats that
persisted throughout the rat's lifetime. LeDoux concluded that, once
formed, such networks are indelible, and that an 'emotional memory may
be forever.' Similar results have been seen in addiction experiments. . .

This same argument applies to thoughts. Once firmly established, a
neural network that links a thought and the **feeling of correctness**
is not easily undone. An idea known to be wrong continues to feel
correct. Witness the. . . geologist who accepts the overwhelming
evidence of evolution, yet continues to believe in creationism. . .

I often wonder if an insistence upon being right might have physiological
similarities to other addictions, including possible genetic
predispositions. We all know others (never ourselves) who go out of
their way to prove a point, seem to derive more pleasure from final
answers than ongoing questions, and want definitive one-stop-shopping
resolutions to complex social problems and unambiguous endings to
movies and novels. In being constantly on the lookout for the last
word, they often appear as compelled and driven as the worst addicts.
And perhaps they are. Might the know-it-all personality trait be
seen as an addiction to the pleasure of the **feeling of knowing**?

. . .

I cannot help wondering if an educational system that promotes black
or white and yes or no answers might be affecting how reward systems
develop in our youth. If the fundamental thrust of education is
"being correct" rather than acquiring a thoughtful awareness of
ambiguities, inconsistencies, and underlying paradoxes, it is easy
to see how the brain reward systems might be molded to prefer
certainty over open-mindedness. To the extent that doubt is less
emphasized, there will be far more risk in asking tough questions. . .

Contrast the following two quotes. Do they represent philosophical
differences, or are inherent biological predilections playing a role?

> I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I have
> approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of
> certainty about different things. . . It doesn't frighten me.
>
> -- Nobel laureate Richard Feynman

> Dear Mrs. Burton,
>
> Thanks for giving us a tour of the museum. I was the girl who raised
> my hand all the time and knew all the answers.
>
> -- A thank-you note to my wife from a precocious seven-year-old

The **feeling of knowing** is essential for both confirming our thoughts
and for motivating those thoughts that either haven't yet or can't be
proven. . . If we are to understand why certainty is such a common
state of mind and so difficult to shake, we need to grapple with
several fundamental questions.

What are the biological rewards for pure thought and how are they related
to the **feeling of knowing**? Are there inherent individual differences
in the degree and quality of expression of these rewards, including the
potential for addiction? . . . Are there ways to adjust such systems
to optimize learning and motivate long-range intellectual pursuits without
overshooting the mark and promoting dogmatism and an excessive or
unjustified **sense of conviction**? . . .

The **feeling of knowing**, the reward for both proven and unproven
thoughts, is learning's best friend, and mental flexibility's worst
enemy."

Antonin said...

Maybe Dagon's self-assessment capability is still retrievable. In any case, I'd invite him to view the following:

illusion of superiority :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyOHJa5Vj5Y

And Dagon, just a hint: metacognition equals not spinning all and sundry on the opposite debater.

Robin said...

Wow.

It's like those "good Christians" that seethe angrily knowing they have to wait until Judgment Day to see us all burning in hell.

It's actually *exactly* like that.

jimf said...

> New h+ians and assorted people of comparable *convictions* will
> fall for the Dale Carrico sideshow act, and he will find validation
> to keep liberating Jerusalem with every horned, cloven hoof
> egglaying jew he spots. So ignoring him won’t work, because anyone
> responding to his posts in stark amazement is yet another ten abusive,
> ranting, near-hysterical diatribes begging to hatch. . .
>
> Dale is physically very ill, and needs regular medical treatments for
> a severe condition. He may be dying. . . At some time this tempestuous
> critic will leave the limelight on a stretcher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Schlafly

On August 27, 1974, activist attorney Florynce Kennedy appeared on
CBS radio in Miami to promote ratification of the stalled
Equal Rights Amendment. During the conversation Kennedy denounced
[Phyllis] Schlafly as a "pigocrat. . . I just don't see why some people
don't hit Phyllis Schlafly in the mouth. I don't think she would be
damaged seriously, but I don't think it would hurt if somebody slapped
her. We're arguing with people like Schlafly who obviously aren't
speaking from a rational perspective. Instead of so much argument, people
should slap." Similarly, author Harlan Ellison, another ERA booster,
said that if Schlafly walked into the headlights of his car, he would
"knock her into the next time zone." Ellison proclaimed Schlafly a
"mischievous woman who does terrible things."


Isaac: ... Has anybody read that Nazis are going to march in
New Jersey, you know? I read this in the newspaper. We should go
down there, get some guys together, you know, get some bricks and
baseball bats and really explain things to 'em.

[Man]: There was this devastating satirical piece on that on the op-ed
page of the _Times_. It is devastating.

Isaac: Well, well, a satirical piece in the _Times_ is one thing, but
bricks and baseball bats really get right to the point.

[Woman]: Oh, but really biting satire is always better than physical
force.

Isaac: No, physical force is always better with Nazis. 'Cause
it's hard to satirize a guy with shiny boots.

-- Woody Allen, _Manhattan_

Anonymous said...

Dale, have you read the personal attack against you that someone posted on Wikipedia's Talk:Techno-progressivism page?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Techno-progressivism#Dale_Carrico:_Technocritic.3F