Skepticism

[wolty]

Guys and Dolls, I am wondering about being skeptical. I find now that I am older, I naturally think skeptically. It doesn't really matter what the subject is, or where I find it or read it, I always find myself verifying things through some inbuilt filter in my head. How did this happen? And why do I really really notice it now? Whe I was younger I think I was skeptical, but now it seems much more apparent. I know this is because I am older and wiser, but I really notice it.

The reason I am thinking about this is because of those nigerian scams and so on. How do people fall for these things? My gf got one of those letters from Spain ages ago about the lottery win and asked me if it was real.:confused:
I knew instantaneously that it was a scam without even thinking about it, but she had to ask me two or three times.

So questions.
Are we all skeptical to varying degrees?
Do some people never get it?
Have you peoples noticed becoming more skeptical as you get older? And has it become almost sub-conscious?
Why don't other people become skeptical as they age?

I know it gets back to some levels of education, thinking and reasoning skills an so on. But what about religilous nutjobs? Do they really want to live their lives without questioning?


Edit. Now I am sure I spelt the title wrong. Could the supermods change it for me? Pretty please.

[davo]

I suppose I am getting more skeptical in my old age, but us Aries are like that.

hehe.

fixing the title for you now

[wolty]

I suppose I am getting more skeptical in my old age, but us Aries are like that.

hehe.
ah so it depends on what time of year you are born? Now I undertsand.:D


fixing the title for you now

Thank you.:)

[MiKuS]

The older you are the more tricks and con's you have seen. Another way of looking at it would be that you get less naive as you get older, until senility.

[Dan Gleibitz]

I aim to be skeptical.

But by skeptical I do not mean "prone to doubt". Nor do I mean "more likely than not to disbelieve". I mean Skeptical as in "an approach to accepting, rejecting, or suspending judgment on new information that requires the new information to be well supported by argument or evidence" (kudos wikipedia).

I hope to become more skeptical with age. I expect to become more cynical with age. :cool:

[Godless Ray]

Do some people never get it?

I really believe so. Being really sceptical does take effort. Everything really becomes a small research project.

Have you peoples noticed becoming more skeptical as you get older?' Yes. I think you start to see certain things repeating themselves and it sharpens you up. There also has been stuff on TV such as mythbusters,frontline that have made many of us think that bit harder.



And has it become almost sub-conscious? Pretty much, yes.
Why don't other people become skeptical as they age?
Its too hard. You have to "think" and so very many people have trouble with this. We have become this sound bite world.

Godless Ray

[SchizoDeluxe]

The older you are the more tricks and con's you have seen. Another way of looking at it would be that you get less naive as you get older, until senility.

True and I find that especially with me getting older, the more aware I have become of things in life. But in saying that, with these Nigerian money scams, seems most people who fall for it are of the older generation so it must depend on the person and how they think and live.

[wearestardust]

I aim to be skeptical.
I hope to become more skeptical with age. I expect to become more cynical with age. :cool:

Nice distinction.

Back to the OP: Sagan said something to the effect of: we have to steer between being so skeptical that we cease being able to learn, and so open minded that we accept anything and so our knowledge becomes meaningless.

On the whole I think people's baseline condition is to be generally accepting of whatever they are told (this is how Fox makes it $) but this is balanced within individuals usually by, and thanks to Dan for helping me with this, their level of cynicism plus irrational skepticism (eg tendency to believe arguments from incredulity). Rational skepticism properly speaking is perhaps a rare phenomenon.

But I'm probably being old and cynical.

[eclectic]

Some people are just so trusting. I think a healthy dose of cynicism is a great thing... not too much, but just enough to make a person wary. I don't know what does it, because I don't think rational enquiry makes the difference - it is an ingrained emotional response to either be naturally trusting or not so much. So you can be as thinking as you like - but it has to occur to a person to think about a given situation. I guess it's that quality that people like to call "common sense".

(Unfortunately I have a bit of a cringe-reaction to that term... it brings to my mind an image of a boorish old man with a chip on his shoulder about his lack of education, blustering about how he has more brains in ways that count than the articulate intellectuals he encounters who intimidate him... but that's just me... I think I'm a bit too surrounded by such people in my family.)

[wolty]

On the whole I think people's baseline condition is to be generally accepting of whatever they are told (this is how Fox makes it $) but this is balanced within individuals usually by, and thanks to Dan for helping me with this, their level of cynicism plus irrational skepticism (eg tendency to believe arguments from incredulity). Rational skepticism properly speaking is perhaps a rare phenomenon.

But I'm probably being old and cynical.

This is exactly what I was looking for and I do tend to agree with you.
Maybe everyone is born this way (accepting) and then goes through life experiencing new things which develope the brain in different ways. Kinda like evolution of the brain through life. Some will develope cynicism and skepticism in varying degrees, some will not. Some will develope irrational skepticism which leads them in other directions.

I just find it interesting that my brain can change like that and I didn't even notice. Maybe the beer did it to me.:)

[nettybetty]

Do some people never get it?

I really believe so. Being really sceptical does take effort. Everything really becomes a small research project.

Have you peoples noticed becoming more skeptical as you get older?' Yes. I think you start to see certain things repeating themselves and it sharpens you up. There also has been stuff on TV such as mythbusters,frontline that have made many of us think that bit harder.

And has it become almost sub-conscious? Pretty much, yes.
Why don't other people become skeptical as they age?
Its too hard. You have to "think" and so very many people have trouble with this. We have become this sound bite world.

Godless Ray

I agree with Godless Ray - I think skepticism and critical thinking is being lost in favour of believing the marketing hype and sensationalism. I remember seeing a report which claimed that thousands of people in Australia had fallen for the Nigerian Scamming emails - and I just couldn't believe people would actually believe an email they received which is worded so badly! As the saying goes "If it's too good to be true, it probably is".

It's a bit scary when I start thinking about how many people I know who believe in everything they see on TV and read in the papers, and never question anything! I think it's what keeps the diet pill companies, cosmetics companies and late night TV advertisers in business....Thinking is a skill which you can develop, and I think the general population may not only be facing an obesity problem but also laziness of the mind - it is easier to not think and just accept things that you are told, but I can't see how this is healthy!I remember when I started postgraduate studies, many people struggled as you go from being spoonfed info as an undergradute to having to be able to critically evaluate and examine data etc. Some people just haven't developed these skills, for whatever reason and really everyone should be able to skeptically evaluate what they read and see.

I think it does become a bit innate, I can't help being skeptical of some things. Though sometimes people start getting cheesed off when you question their latest ridiculous purchase which claims to fix all their problems. Though I think it's because they realise how they've been duped, not so much anger at the questions.

[GenericBox]

I think it's what keeps the diet pill companies, cosmetics companies and late night TV advertisers in business....

... and for keeping people like Sea Shepherd/Paul Watson out of jail ...

But I won't get into that haha.