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TWO_GATES

                                             September 17, 2021

"The Two Gatekeepers"
                                            From material originally
                                            published at the
                                            dailykos in 2015:

                                                https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/9/19/1423012/-The-Two-Gatekeepers

We have two "gatekeepers", and both are very useful,
but they work at two different phases in the
intellectual process.

These days here in the "reality-based community", we like
the idea of following the consensus opinion of scientific
experts; but it could be argued that this is a form of the
classical logical fallacy of "argument from authority".


Really, I think we evaluate information in multiple
stages, there are at least two levels of engagement
with two different standards of evidence: the quick
look and the close focus.
   
A rule of thumb like "trust the experts" is excellent in    
the early stages, but avoiding logical fallacies like   
"argument from authority" become important in the later 
stages.                                                 


There are far too many voices in the world to treat all of
them equally and thoroughly, instead we try to first filter
out things that don't seem promising. And we often do it
using rules-of-thumb that would seem very sloppy if invoked
in the more rigorous later stages of evaluation.

That initial filter does not seem to be discussed very
often-- in fact, I think we often pretend that it doesn't
exist or shouldn't exist, though really something like it is
an absolute necessity.

Once we recognize that that initial filter is needed, then
we can think about how it works, and how we might improve
it...



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