@GK
Thanks for your post on pseudo-skepticism. Much appreciated.
@prof
No, indeed I'm not trying to insult people.
It's just that my own path may be different than yours...certainly philosophically. Everyone's path is different. And where I might tend to fall back on faith when the going gets a little tough for me, you might choose to fall back on the the things that restore you: your love of science, your love of the scientific method, your love of engineering, equipment, art, philosophy...whatever gets you through - but, my point being it's your Love of it that restores, yes?. I made a proclamation that was in line even with what I feel to be true on high with things that endure with me. The proclamation itself is not on high, just that I tried very hard to make it in line with all that as I know it. Just as you might do the same in the course of your audiophile journey, but according to your own beliefs. I would expect no more and no less. If my putting it in terms of my being a Christian bothers you, then I'm sorry, but being a Christian is not about entitlement and in any case these days we are, if anything, coming under increasing fire from many sides. I do not think that you would have the monopoly on being attacked or marginalized, nor did I see that what I was saying, and still am saying, attacks you. Nor was the fact itself that I am a person of faith my point, but rather that the nature of all that was inherently good as I see it...that I am not out to deal from a position of bad faith simply because I was voicing an objection to some repeated behavior in the forum.
I hurl no insults. I can't always agree with everything going on, but I take some exception to those who insist on making demands...and no, if you're still wondering, a question, or a statement, or a suggestion is not a demand. A demand is a demand and that, and only that, is what truly irks me. A demand neither proves nor disproves, it just gets in the way of the proving or the disproving.
Thanks for your post on pseudo-skepticism. Much appreciated.
@prof
No, indeed I'm not trying to insult people.
"I have voiced some skepticism about tweaks like the fuses, and have given my reasons. But nowhere have I made any close-minded absolutist claims like "they don’t or can’t make a difference," nor have I told anyone to go blind testing whatever they buy, as I don’t do that myself. As I’ve said to each his own. I’ve explained that I come to my skepticism also based on acquaintance with the fallibility of my own perception (as revealed when I’ve done blind tests). Which mirrors the fallibility well documented by scientific studies of human bias. I’m of course willing to drop my doubts with better evidence."Believe me, I'm perfectly fine with that. I have no problem with you or anyone else saying it.
"I’m not selfishly "demanding" anyone do anything. Asking for good evidence for a claim isn’t selfish or a sin (except perhaps in your faith)...in normal life, it’s being sensible and adult, rather than just believing any claim that comes along no matter how much enthusiasm is behind it."Glad to hear it. I see no reason not to accept that premise at face value.
"He painted skeptics as selfish demanding children who bog down conversations with "demands for proof!" and himself and those like him as enlightened and charitable."No! Not True! That would be a rather foolish thing for me, or anyone else I imagine, to seriously say. What I've had trouble with are those that say or act outright that they demand that someone help them, as if somehow they were being violated to the core, if you like. Not all skeptics are this way and, moreover, I don't find it so much a particular set of individuals that need to be labeled and blamed so much as a behavior that ought (in my view) to be avoided. And first and foremost the only real punitive measure I'm suggesting is that their (one) demand be ignored. This is not, nor does it need to be, a blame game. If it is then I will not play it.
It's just that my own path may be different than yours...certainly philosophically. Everyone's path is different. And where I might tend to fall back on faith when the going gets a little tough for me, you might choose to fall back on the the things that restore you: your love of science, your love of the scientific method, your love of engineering, equipment, art, philosophy...whatever gets you through - but, my point being it's your Love of it that restores, yes?. I made a proclamation that was in line even with what I feel to be true on high with things that endure with me. The proclamation itself is not on high, just that I tried very hard to make it in line with all that as I know it. Just as you might do the same in the course of your audiophile journey, but according to your own beliefs. I would expect no more and no less. If my putting it in terms of my being a Christian bothers you, then I'm sorry, but being a Christian is not about entitlement and in any case these days we are, if anything, coming under increasing fire from many sides. I do not think that you would have the monopoly on being attacked or marginalized, nor did I see that what I was saying, and still am saying, attacks you. Nor was the fact itself that I am a person of faith my point, but rather that the nature of all that was inherently good as I see it...that I am not out to deal from a position of bad faith simply because I was voicing an objection to some repeated behavior in the forum.
I hurl no insults. I can't always agree with everything going on, but I take some exception to those who insist on making demands...and no, if you're still wondering, a question, or a statement, or a suggestion is not a demand. A demand is a demand and that, and only that, is what truly irks me. A demand neither proves nor disproves, it just gets in the way of the proving or the disproving.