General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs there a corollary to the Dunning Kruger effect which takes into consideration...
....where two or more idiotic people get together and start complimenting each other on how "smart" their respective ideas are?
This happens all the time over social media. It's the damndest thing.
Sanity Claws
(21,849 posts)noted that phenomenon years ago in one of their Car Talk shows. Two people can end up knowing less than one person.
teamster633
(2,029 posts)Marlboro, VT 05344
Dear Click and Clack,
I am writing to offer profound thanks to you for resolving an important philosophical question that has been heatedly debated for the last twenty years. The rumination began on a construction site one summer in the early 1970's, as my friend Jamie and I were working our way through college. The question we raised and have agonized over, lo these many years, is one that I've never read about in any philosophical treatise, and yet I have found it has applied to countless situations and conversations overheard in bars, repair shops, sporting events, political debates, etc. etc. etc.
Posit the question: Do two people who don't know what they are talking about know more or less than one person who doesn't know what he's talking about? (Pardon the un-PC masculine pronoun, but I have found this to be, most predominately, a male phenomenon.)
In your recent conversations regarding electric brakes on a cattle carrier, I believe you definitely answered this query and have put our debate to rest. Amazingly enough, you proved that even in a case where one person might know nothing about a subject, it is possible for two people to know even less!
One person will only go so far out on a limb in his construction of deeply hypothetical structures, and will often end with a shrug or a raising of hands to indicate the dismissability of his particular take on a subject. With two people, the intricacies, the gives and takes, the wherefores and why-nots, can become a veritable pas-de-deux of breathtaking speculation, interwoven in such a way that apologies or gestures of doubt are rendered unnecessary.
I had always suspected this was the case, but no argument I could have built from my years of observation would have so satisfyingly closed the door on the subject as your performance on the cattle carrier call. To begin your comments by saying, "We'll answer your question if you tell us how electric brakes work" and "We've never heard of electric brakes" and then indulge in lengthy theoretical hypostulations on the whys and wherefores of the caller's problem allowed me to observe that you were finally putting this gnarly question to rest.
I am forever indebted to you for the great service you have performed! I'm truly impressed that it took so many years of listening to your show to finally have this matter resolved.
Sincerely,
Andy R.
Sanity Claws
(21,849 posts)That's it!
Thanks for going to the trouble of finding the letter. I remember the two guys just laughing in hysterics at this letter and their earlier mistake that led to the letter.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)unblock
(52,262 posts)where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise?
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)sir pball
(4,743 posts)Tommy_Carcetti
(43,185 posts)Thank you!
sir pball
(4,743 posts)All credit to The Oatmeal, of course.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/theoatmeal-img/comics/idiocy/oatmeal_multiplicative_idiocy.pdf
Roland99
(53,342 posts)Since Emma Gonzalez had a Cuban flag patch on. Theyre equating that to the confederate flag