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Re:Wikipedia is fixing one of the Internet’s biggest flaws by berntb on Wednesday October 26, 2016 @04:12AM (#12794773)
I think you really know the obvious counter arguments yourself:

1. You argue through authority, for a subject where believers are infamous for throwing out their reasoning capacity (even becoming creationists)? :-( (Is this some meta level humor?)

2. Do you remember that quote about "standing on the shoulders of giants"? Those two are a couple of the giants we stand on the shoulders of, today. That doesn't imply a claim about intelligence, more than being able to get through a science university education.

Re:Wikipedia is fixing one of the Internet’s biggest flaws by MichaelMoser123 on Wednesday October 26, 2016 @05:38AM (#12795102)
> You argue through authority, for a subject where believers are infamous for throwing out their reasoning capacity (even becoming creationists)? :-( (Is this some meta level humor?)

No, i think that the categorical statement of bleachedsleet (five levels up the tree) is a bit offending, to me it sounds exactly like if he was claiming absolute authority on the subject, which he obviously can't.

showing a counterexample is not a bad argument, at least not in mathematics.

Re:Wikipedia is fixing one of the Internet’s biggest flaws by berntb on Wednesday October 26, 2016 @06:23AM (#12795293)
1. Don't make bad arguments just because you think someone's position is insulting. (As my point 2 noted, it was a flawed example.) If nothing else, you're not helping your cause...

2. bleachedsleet argument needs that intelligence is very correlated with rationality. Sadly, the correlation is probably quite far from 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/opinion/sunday/the-differe...

(Regarding 2: For instance, there is mental disease. For another, if you raise children with one specific set of answers and they don't see any criticism of those answers, you can make most of them believe in anything all their life. Including creationism.)