(February 18, 2021 at 10:52 am)Mister Agenda Wrote: The current pandemic is an illustration, some people of the people who have died would still be alive if they hadn't held the false belief that the pandemic is a hoax or that the risk was greatly exaggerated.

As for the pandemic, it seems to me we are all functioning under "false" or "non-true" assumptions—even if some are better approximations than others. We are not seeing the virus as it is, we are seeing the rules of the survival game: Stay six feet apart, Don't stay longer than 15 minutes, Wear a mask, Wash your hands, etc. We are seeing the fitness not the truth.

The survival game in the us, by fitness strategy, isn't actually any of that shit. It's not watching fox news. If I don't watch fox news my relative fitness will increase by an observed amount as adjudicated by mortality rates specific to covid.

Distancing, not lingering, masking, washing your hands...these things are the truth strategy in the covid game. Now...I think that probably works even better than not watching fox - but over a large pool of respondants it won't surprise me if not watching fox is the best pure fitness strategy needing to know nothing about the transmission of disease. If we intentionally handicap a more productive strategy by the construction of our experiment or simulation, then number 2 (assuming FBT is a close no. 2) becomes number 1 - which is exactly what happens in the FBT theory.

At the same time, we'll have no shortage of demonstration of the efficacy of strategy 2, because every creature one tier down in the fbt tree incapable of strategy 1 will be using strategy 2 to replicate the outcomes of strategy 1. Ants, for example..not concerned with their individual survival or the personal efficacy of their efforts. That's not how an ant colony lives or dies. FBT might hold for ants. But does it hold for an organism like us?

(February 18, 2021 at 12:57 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: If I don't watch fox news my relative fitness will increase by an observed amount as adjudicate by relative mortality rates.

Hmm presumably you don't watch Fox News; and yet I'm on record on this forum as arguing for the utility of wearing masks, making homemade ones, and going out to the beach for sunlight during a time when the Surgeon General was advising against it and a few of you (you specifically) opposed me. Perhaps the key isn't avoiding Fox News, its picking up a textbook and reading it.

"If sunlight and saltwater did anything then coastal cities wouldn't be ground zero." -Grand Nudger

Nope, the key is avoiding fox news if the game is avoiding death by covid. Your anecdotal question is irrelevant to the truth of that assesment.

I mean, unless....maybe..... truth in the face of fitness wins...as it does in your anecdotal tale. You were subjected to very fit messaging - but you deferred to truth instead. Here you are alive to bicker with me...which isn't how a significant portion of your fox viewing compatriots ended up.

(February 18, 2021 at 1:28 pm)John 6IX Breezy Wrote:

(February 18, 2021 at 12:57 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: If I don't watch fox news my relative fitness will increase by an observed amount as adjudicate by relative mortality rates.

Hmm presumably you don't watch Fox News; and yet I'm on record on this forum as arguing for the utility of wearing masks, making homemade ones, and going out to the beach for sunlight during a time when the Surgeon General was advising against it and a few of you (you specifically) opposed me. Perhaps the key isn't avoiding Fox News, its picking up a textbook and reading it.

"If sunlight and saltwater did anything then coastal cities wouldn't be ground zero." -Grand Nudger

There's a correlation between being a Fox news viewer and believing things that aren't good for your mortality. Whether there's a causal relationship is a trickier question. The recent events seemed to underscore that people seek out information sources that confirm what they want to believe. When Fox was no longer telling conservatives what they wanted to hear, they sought out sources that would tell them what they wanted to hear. So it's likely less causal than a selection effect. The point remains, however, that there is good evidence that the signal to noise ratio at Fox is lower than at other sources on the left. So subscribing to Fox news is more likely to instill faulty beliefs.

(February 18, 2021 at 1:58 pm)Angrboda Wrote: When Fox was no longer telling conservatives what they wanted to hear, they sought out sources that would tell them what they wanted to hear. [...] So subscribing to Fox news is more likely to instill faulty beliefs.

Notice these two sentences are slightly dissonant. The casual arrow runs one way in the first; but the other way in the second.

Fox viewership presents itself as a comorbidity. Maybe that's wrong, maybe theres some unknown unnown - but all other things being equal.... it seems that the amount of time you spend watching fox strongly correlates with your chances of dying to stupid shit you don't have to die from if you watched msnbc (and not just covid, btw). Consumption of the product is demonstrably harmful. Not entirely unlike smokes. Fox viewers did pick up the same textbooks as non fox viewers, and yet here we are. If there's a difference, that's not it.

There's an objectively fit message making you a less fit organism. You may beat the odds, personally, but those are still the odds.

I don't really care about Fox news; it is a red herring to this conversation. I just wanted to point out the hypocrisy in your statement as well as brag about being right.

Seems like staying sharp, mentally and physically, is an obvious key to staying alive.  But don't let that get in the way of discussion.  I'm just glad I'm not already half dead and in unmitigated contact with trumpkins.

But if I'm on heavens door, why bother knocking?  Why not bust right in?

(February 18, 2021 at 2:29 pm)John 6IX Breezy Wrote: I don't care about Fox news, it is a red herring to this conversation. I just wanted to point out the hypocrisy in your statement; as well as brag about being right.

OFC you do.  Let's not be disingenuous about or biases or commitments.   

Huh?

You are, very obviously..... committed to the truth of your position. Lets not fuck around. But..... does your position rest on the actual facts of the matter? Truth vs fitness/