Doctor Memory
@blank.org
2K followers 448 following 22K posts
Just another bozo on this bus: please deflate your shoes before entering. The artist formerly known as dr_memory@twit (and same on livejournal, remember them?) and currently also known as @memory@blank.org on mastodon. Banner photo by @lifewinning.com
![[Image of a room full of people all wearing mickey mouse masks]
When you're evaluating persuasive arguments about something strange, there are two perspectives you can choose, the inside one or the outside one.
Say that some people show up at your front door one day wearing funny robes, asking you if you will join their movement. They believe that a UFO is going to visit Earth two years from now, and it is our task to prepare humanity for the Great Upbeaming.
The inside view requires you to engage with these arguments on their merits. You ask your visitors how they learned about the UFO, why they think it's coming to get us—all the normal questions a skeptic would ask in this situation.
Imagine you talk to them for an hour, and come away utterly persuaded. They make an ironclad case that the UFO is coming, that humanity needs to be prepared, and you have never believed something as hard in your life as you now believe in the importance of preparing humanity for this great event.
[Image of five creepily identical-looking children with platinum blonde hair and glowing red eyes]
But the outside view tells you something different. These people are wearing funny robes and beads, they live in a remote compound, and they speak in unison in a really creepy way. Even though their arguments are irrefutable, everything in your experience tells you you're dealing with a cult.
Of course, they have a brilliant argument for why you should ignore those instincts, but that's the inside view talking.
The outside view doesn't care about content, it sees the form and the context, and it doesn't look good.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:zkdjneg7kggym7ujme65drbh/bafkreih2qmdm4w4ox7ws3rdqdz37txtwmklg4ntq4xtcpyycvs4eyjxfey)
![[most viscerally personally unpleasant person you've ever met] i'm going to lead a mass movement of the workers](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:zkdjneg7kggym7ujme65drbh/bafkreih3kicqcqjxagjp5snjpumorvsrptorhgdrbc3tjmbku2ojynqvai)
