Comment · Sat, March 5, 2016 · Ceretropic & Nootropics Depot
Smart drugs: A dose of intelligence
What they were answering
Kasyton · 1 points
I might me misinterpreting you just said because I am unfamiliar with the 2 (or 3 depending on how you interpret this) words you just used. I just google searched ascribe and malice but I'm still a little unsure of what you meant to communicate but I will still attempt to make conversation.
I think what you're trying to say is that implying that this might be a ridiculous conspiracy theory makes me loose some credibility but imo the middle statement alone would make a lot of normal people think I'm delusional to begin with because I suspect that the people of conventional science, the same people who the general public believe are almost always working to protect the general public's best interests, are actually betraying the society that they lead.
The reason jokingly I said I was wearing a tinfoil hat when saying that was to try to make people think for themselves and decide on their own merit whether or not the statement I just made had legitimacy or not, instead of sounding like a crazy conspiracy nut trying to force my obscure beliefs onto others.
edit: The more I think about it the more I agree with you, just saying maybe was enough to accomplish what I was trying to do. I'll replace a word 'is' with 'might be' to help. I'll also put strike throughs on the tinfoil hat lines to help people understand the context of this conversation.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic & Nootropics Depot
Haha, no. I am not criticizing you. It's a famous quote by Robert Hanlon. It's the idea that when there is a chance that something can be either malicious, or arise from ignorance, the more likely outcome is ignorance. So say you get cut off on the way to work. You could think that the guy was deliberately trying to make your day worse, and purposely cut you off. However, he probably just did not even see you, and did not mean to target you personally. This is called Hanlon's Razor.
So no need to get defensive. I was not attacking you. I was just saying that it's certainly possible that the author was malicious, and writing things to keep people down. However, it is more likely they are just ignorant, and do not know what they are doing. Just like Occam's Razor (when there are multiple possible explanations, the one with the least assumptions is the most likely), Hanlon's Razor (when something can be explained by maliciousness or ignorance, ignorance is more likely) is a common aphorism. They are not usually used as a commentary regarding the person making a statement, but regarding the situation itself.