'Do your own research' and the Dunning-Kruger Effect
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FAQs – I am getting a lot of comments from people who clearly did not listen to the video properly. They seem to imagine I said things I didn’t say. So here are some examples of the most common themes:
@myalterego2878 wrote: “I'm sorry, i don't think I'll ever get past the 'cant question the science, ever thing“
Please listen to the video again. Obviously I did not say ‘Don’t question the science,” because the whole point of science is to question!
@MichaelKrump wrote: “and now we're gonna follow government "science" instead of actualy science?”
Please listen to the video. I never suggested you follow ‘government’ science, whatever that is.
What I said that was that DYOR advocates urge people not to follow the science, but to do their own research. I also said that I follow the science because this is a science channel (it would be a rather odd science channel if I didn’t!) I also said that ‘follow the science’ is what we all do in school, and it’s how the next generation of scientists is trained.
"@Disent0101 wrote: "thats right, dont think for yourself."
Please listen to the video again. I did not say ‘Don’t think for yourself” – I said the complete opposite! Instead of unquestioningly believing claims you see in blogs and videos, I urged people to fact-check the information. i.e. Think for yourself. I’m not sure how some people read that to mean ‘Don’t think for yourself,’ there’s the irony.
“@bobboau7364 wrote: “I shouldn't do my own research?"
In my opinion, no, because that means ignoring science completely and believing whatever some dumb blogger or YouTuber tells you, without questioning it and without bothering to fact-check it. As I said in the video (please, do listen!) I suggested you should properly research and fact-check what you hear from bloggers. In other words, think for yourself,
Again, this is just my opinion, but it was pretty well explained in the video.
@richards6269 wrote: “the implicit assumption that approximates to only experts should be listened to is something I disagree with.”
Me too. I 'listen' to lots of people myself. What I am suggesting is that you fact-check what they say (again, this was all in the video — sigh. ) When you research and fact-check properly, you can usually drive a dump truck through their claims. And instead of only listening to these wannabe scientists, try reading a bit of real science as well.
Please keep these critical comments coming, though. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to persuade conspiracy theorists to listen and write down what was actually said, they are too far gone into a world where facts (including accurate quotations) are whatever they want them to be. But I am getting a great insight into how the DYOR mind works based on what you thought you heard. There is enough material here for another video!
BTW I notice there were around 100 comments on the previous pinned comment. Sorry I haven’t seen any of them, my daily feed only shows ‘most recent’ comments, not ‘top’ comments. So the pinned comment doesn’t show up. It’s still there if you go back a few days. If there are any messages there for me personally, please just post them in a new thread, and I’ll see them in my daily feed.
And yet trying to get someone like this to actually learn anything, you do have to nudge them into finding out themselves, because if you try facts, reason and logic they don't listen, and just dissmiss everything you say.
I find it disheartening how many times I have conversations with people, take their comments verbatim and then debunk them with sources (including direct quotes from their own sources) and then get nothing but personal attacks like: "You are fighting a battle long lost to anyone slightly informed and sensible on this issue."
Sometimes I wonder how you've managed to do it for so long, Potholer.
Another great video, thank you for taking your time to make these
You don't have to become a subject expert to be considered to have done your own research.
For those of us that skipped the covid shot, obviously none of us has gone out and done enough research to obtain an advanced medical degree.
What we did is go out and listen to varying doctors' opinions and found that the doctors who resonate most with us generally agree that most people don't need the shot. That could be for a variety of reasons, but what resonated with me was that the doctors I listen to tend to explain what covid is and what mRNA does at a deeper level that just vomiting the same old "covid shot is safe and effective, safe and effective, safe and effective, bleep bloop".
I recently discovered this channel and i appreciate the content, however my focus of this comment is that whille looking around the channels about description, i seemed to have discovered that in the rules part that it is possible to "disable replies". I do not plan to follow this channel, i just want to know how you can "disable replies" within your own comment on someones channel
This is wonderful, I'm going to share it with some Trumpanzees.
So many mountaineers engaging with your video. It's heartwarming to see.
Well it seems this is really a attempt to keep the climate change by humans MYTH in good standing from enless reports that show the waters are not drowning the earth as globalwarming experts said. Indeed its been long enough to see its always been a humbug. I agree that less sharp people are likely to be consistent in being less sharp. sharper people more sharp but all relative. I am a biblical creationist and always find evolutionists less sharp in many issues unrelated to evbolution. Including how they vote. Yes there is a clustering and correlation because all human contentions include issues of accuracy and inaccuracy and so a curve is created. it could only be that "dumber" oeople are dumber generally. The evidence being in contentions on many issues there is clustering. Not random.
so does everyone who watched this video just have an empty cave inside their head which just allowed the sound waves they were absorbing to go in through one hole in their head and exit through the other
After reading the comments, I’m fully convinced humanity is a dead end species. We cannot perish fast enough.
How about me? I used to believe in climate change or global warming, whatever, but I don't anymore.
Why? They lie and they scare us. Al Gore's movie was full of non-scientific propaganda, then came Greta!
The polar bears are not dying, the gulf stream will not stop, the Maldives are still there as you said, volcanoes and earthquakes are not caused by climate change even though some "believers" say they are (but you will not denounce them will you?) and finally there are positive constituencies that we never hear about mainly that deserts are regressing.
potholer took the vaxx lol
"Science made machines which caused climate change. We need more science to stop climate change." Dunno Kluger
Dear potholer54
With the current wildfires devastating LA, how much of it can be attributed to climate change(if at all)?
ProfessorPicke wrote: "I find my own anti establishment scientists when I want to oppose their views, im not equipped to oppose them myself."
Trawling through the comments you sometimes fish up gems. This is what they mean by "do your own research". In practice it's looking around blogs or on X until they find someone with a science degree* willing to say the thing they want to believe.
There's no reference to research, or observations, or the importance of evidence. As PP went on to say: "[scientists] sometimes engage in petty bullying, censor opposing factions, do ideologically and theologically biased research…" When PP comes across information he opposes for ideological or theological reasons he sees it as evidence the information was produced *for* ideological or theological reasons.
Again, there is no reference to conclusions supported by evidence, or theories and models that have predictive and explanatory power. Nope. Ideology is the only thing he cares about; the same can be said of the "do your own research" crowd as a whole.
If PP's brand of stupid is as wide spread in the real world as it is in internet land, we are so f*cked.
*NB: the type of degree doesn't matter; a comp-sci BA working in advertising is the same as a PhD researcher
I was looking up the oldest statue of ATLAS. its 150 AD. the world always believed in the earth as a sphere. i went to university in Scotland. i live here. We have CULTURE. in the USA. people started in 1776. they are divorced from CULTURE. They cannot see building that are a 1000 years old? While i can visit St Andrews. and see Universities that were established about 800 years ago. The Flat earthers began their shit, with Washington Irving. He wrote about Columbus. For a decade Columbus was hampered by Christians, By SPAIN. they would not give him a ship. You can see the old film with Fredrich March. He was pulling out his hair, trying to get a ship. Irving, insulted Catholics, saying they were FLAT EARTHERS. this was loved. protestants vs catholics. People started ti use this in schools. they believed the earth was flat, that ships sailed over the edge of the world. Stupid Catholics. and it was repeated so often, that people began to actually say the world was flat. But look at Art History. depictions of globes in the paintings from 1600. Statues with Globes. The Globus crucifer used by royals dating back to at least 750AD.
The scientific community has repeated this slur on people for nearly 200 years. a dimwit amount of people today say there is a flat earth.
The world has always operated on the fact the earth is a spheroid. a GLOBE. The Egyptians calculate their geometry correctly. To allow roads to be straight over a curved globe.
Its clear that the ancient world knew they were on a sphere. Its our recent generations that make up fables. Sells half a million films in hollywood.
The ancient world is amateurs. Next to you sick fkers with Donald Duck and Goofy. Wearing costumes to Comic-con. You are the fantasy people.
A man back in Egypt had to grabble with 5 stone blocks. You people are the ones who star into a phone, and click a camera all day long. pouting lips?
You mock the past. and i doubt you can change a plug.
You are all IGNORANT. and soon God gets here to educate you. As you still do not know this is the end of the age. You imagine it just continues? fantasy. It ends here in this decade.
Science is to die. Opinions are to BURN. The earth will be vacated. God returns. He never really left, the Holy Spirit lives in many people.
God has restrained Satan, and men made progress. Took back control from Satan's kingdom. Christianity flourished and we restrained Satan. But we are to leave earth, Mankind will go into DARKNESS. For 1260 days they PURGE. They destroy 2000 years of progress. They kill billions. They are animals. Not men. We will leave earth and you can rule? with an iron fist.
2 Peter 6 – Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent
the bible says HEAT , not ICE, consumes you all. When scientists said ice age in the seventies, the bible did not change direction. HEAT will get worse, the sun brightens seven fold. It Burns you. Famine happens, quickly? in 1260 days you all starve. How can that happen? you have tinned goods? you have military stores of food. powdered foods, vast stores of food in warehouses, surely you have enough food to last 3.5 years? the population of earth is currently 8 billion people, and many complain that is too much. Thomas Malthus, Zero Population growth, says it cannot be sustained. Yet there is plenty of food still. Lots of land that can be used. to feed people. so is the bible WRONG.
No, you have not READ IT? you know fragments. You read little bits. You do not see The full message..
God raises all the dead. John 5-25. God RAISES UP over 50 billion dead. Do you see it? You have to feed over 60 Billion people. For 1260 days.
So God is about to devastate earth. By sheer numbers.
How can you raise the dead? Magic? God is not magic. He makes NATURE. He makes matter and energy. you are all atoms. in a pattern. You are jangling atoms. NOT FLESH. He can recreate you from memory. He has your soul, and can recreate your body. there is no magic. You are matter and energy and a soul is immortal.
God raises the dead, ALL OF THEM, he defeats death. He raises Lazarus, he raised Children from death. And now the FULL ROLL OUT.
ALL the dead are returned to earth.
This causes FAMINE.
The heat of earth increases.
Moses and Elijah return.
Judas ISCARIOT returns to rule all of earth, how can Judas rule? a dead man, His father Satan, tells his flunkie Politicians to bend a knee to JUDAS. and Judas does not need to be a great speech maker, does not need to be a Kennedy, You accept Trump? a fat ginger boob, you will accept any Figurehead, You would accept Kermit the Frog at this stage. Any ass with a hat. Judas does not need to even talk. He is a puppet. Like any politician. You follow anyone who keeps the machine running. As long as you get your food, your two holidays a year you bend over.
God does not judge 8 billion people at the end with a MARK? He judges over 60 billion with a mark. ALL OF THEM. If you take a MARK, you are judged. Sent to hell.
God cannot judge 8 billion with a mark, and then judge over 50 billion with another method? that is UNFAIR. to both sides. one method for all.
The Dunning Kruger effect – is when you do not know the subject? Did you not know God will raise up EVERYONE.
What book are you reading? You have had 2000 years to know the BIBLE. and have not understood it.
God will raise all the dead. You can jail HITLER. ask who Jack the Ripper was? ask EPSTEIN why he was at the end of a rope. Ask who his clients are? all secrets are exposed.
Hitler cannot be judged by his life? who did he kill? the six million jews? they are resurrected. so what crime is permanent. you do not understand GOD. The scale of what he is talking about.
Again little animals… read JOHN 5 – 25. God is using the nuclear option.
I don't think scientists do poor work, I really do trust the skill of their craft, thats why I find my own anti establishment scientists when I want to oppose their views, im not equipped to oppose them myself. Scientists are human, and like all humans they sometimes engage in petty bullying, censor opposing factions, do ideologically and theologically biased research, don't speak the truth against consensus out of fear of losing your job opportunities (this and belief bias is the number one reason why I don't trust you), hyping papers to media for clicks, fall for cult like fads and meme bullshit, make fake papers for money. So don't kid yourself. Smart people aren't skeptical of the science, we're skeptical of YOU. YOU and your biases make your work untrustworthy, i actually trust your measurements most of the time (although fraud can happen there too), and I appreciate when you point out errors in our arguments, its not actually impossible to convince me. i want to remind you that people like you have already gravely betrayed our trust and sided with a lie to save your ass, telling us repeatedly to "trust the science" against a 0.1% death rate virus. This generation is never going to forgive you – the academy – for what happened during covid. Its actually really simple: we just don't trust you, and so we don't trust your science. Us peasants don't need expertise to smell bullshit, its plain to see our judge has a conflict of interest.
And another thing. I really hate that there is no legitimate opposition against climate change, the mere fact just rubs me the wrong way. Something as consequential as this should be contested and challenged with an opposition, given the costs. I am always contesting my ideas against its opposition, and thinking of ways to prove it to my opposition, it's what made my ideas strong. Shouldn't we be allowing the opposition to exist? Like you're not a church, you don't need a unified view, you can tolerate opposition.
I think one of the most annoying things about being in this position, is the lack resources. Good anti-establishment views are censored every bit as much as the bad ones, so I can't properly weigh the options, I just have to side with anti-establishment because this shit should be more contested, and as far as I can tell the possibility hasn't been ruled out. If I saw the best anti-establishment arguments and they were all shit, i'd be forced to join the establishment, but I can't even know if we're actually right or not, because we have too small resources, and whatever we have gets censored.
19:22 I've NEVER gotten the impression your channel is a "science channel" Mr Potholer.
I've been a watcher and a fan for many many years, and I've always felt its an educational, "pop-sci" channel, but most of all it's a misinformation-debunking channel that encourages critical thinking
And of course, always entertaining and educational. Thanks for your years of videos
Evolution is BS. And now we can clearly see it – The lecture of DR. Kurt Wise. is concise and in plain English. About Mitochondrial DNA.
Mankind has not been on earth millions of years. Not even 200,000 – the data says 6000 years. Go watch the lecture.
or GO HOME.
Charles Darwin did not even know about Mitochondrial DNA.
I think its proven – God will get here in this decade. As he said he would do that. and all of earth will be deep fat fried. By God. If you try to protect Satan's kingdom, you are a thicko.
Many Germans tried to prop up Hitler. Men prop up dictators in many countries. They do love to follow maniacs. Satan's kingdom is run by leaders who like to dress up as army officers?
Ide Armin? Hitler? Mussolini. Franco. Gidaffe. Sadam. you can spot a dictator easily. They start to play dress up.
You shouldn't have mentioned the scientific community's conspiracy. I thought you knew that we were trying very hard to keep it a secret. Not that it's a thing. I deny everything! This conversation didn't happen! (Disappears into shadows)
I think the term 'Do your Own research' should be changed to 'Do a really crappy 'literature' review'.
i.e. Where you dont read any credible literature. And you certainly dont review it.
This is a really good video potholer. Nicely done.
Hey Pot, I've been a fan of your videos for some time and I like to constantly stimulate myself via science/education videos. So I have been watching a channel of an educator who posts GCSE/A Level content and was aghast to see they recently released a video countering climate change, whilst I'm sure some of the stuff they claim is given as nuanced I still think the trusted position they are in on newly forming minds greatly concerning given what they are spreading. "ScienceShorts" is the channel if you wish to further investigate this person for a crocoduck Nominee.
You would love to get rid of the people not smart as you, right?
Bertrand Russell said that ages ago. "The problem is the intelligent are full of questions and doubts while the stupid are cocksure."