http://io9.com/5840415/why-a-little-self+delusion-can-be-a-very-good-thing A bit of excerpt:
In general, the more aware of reality you are, the more likely you are to survive. But sometimes lying to yourself has its advantages. Possessing an over-inflated belief in yourself can help you perform better than accurately knowing your abilities.
That said, they suggest that overconfidence works particularly well in unfamiliar situations, where it's difficult to even make an accurate assessment of one's position. Faced with an unknown enemy or technology, the best course may be to simply assume that you can win until proven wrong. In that scenario, it might make some sense why overconfidence is an desirable trait from an evolutionary perspective, particularly since so much of human history seems dominated by exploring unfamiliar and potentially dangerous situations. Very well.
So then we come to this comment: jinchoung
14 Sep 2011 6:18 PM "why did you say you could fly the plane?!"
"i just assumed i could."
it's one thing to say that there are situations where delusions of grandeur can help STATISTICALLY SPEAKING - OVER TIME - FOR A BIOLOGICAL SPECIES...
but in everyday, real life existence for a single human being, while confidence can have a psycho/sociological effect that can manipulate the weak of mind - VERY * SERIOUS * REAL WORLD * NEGATIVES are the primary consequences of such delusion.
it is because of this phenomenon that people all over our country have an opinion on global warming.
THINK ABOUT THAT.
local yokel yahoos who don't know their asshole from a hole in the ground HAVE AN OPINION ON CLIMATE CHANGE - A VERY TECHNICAL SUBJECT MATTER which this group of opiners can ONLY get SECOND HAND from scientists.
further, these imbeciles have such a hopped up sense of self that they are confident:
- TO THE POINT THAT THEY'RE ****ARGUING**** with the scientist from whence this information comes!
Which scientist?
- to the point where JENNY MOTHERFUCKING MCCARTNEY thinks she has something to contribute to the field of childhood vaccinations.
Wait, wasn't this about climate change?
- where a bunch of backwoods fucktards call themselves a teabagging express are convinced that a nation... A NATION... should be run like their own households - with NO HINT of irony or grasp of the fallacies of such a notion.
Wait, wasn't this about immunizations?
------------------------------------------------------
as for novel, unique situations in which we need to go in blind... how many such situations exist in this day and age?perhaps cocksure boldness works better than timidity when completely ignorant but what works better than that is simply not to be ignorant.
fucking google it.
um...ignorance? I can google it?
------------------------------------------------------
i'm actually going to disagree with the gist of this article
Wait, are you an expert in this field? or getting your information from an expert? Or are you, you know, arguing with experts? Which would be ironic.
and say that this is on par with "studies" that say chocolate or red wine is healthful... in a very particular way of looking, yes, that can be so... but it also must ignore huge swathes of other complicating factors that frustrate such easy generalizations.
DELUSION IS BAD. FALSEHOODS ARE BAD.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH! FREEDOM IS SLAVERY! TRUTH IS BEAUTY!
TRUTH IS GOOD. KNOWING REALITY IS GOOD. period.
it is with UTTER, GRAVE, MORTAL PERIL that we do not understand and grasp our ineptitude.
Oh, I'm pretty sure I grasp it when I see it.
we JACK UP OUR WORLD because we overestimate our own prowess and come off as utter DOUCHEBAGS - to ourselves, our friends and family and to the societies in which we belong.
Well, maybe you do...
as clint eastwood said, "A MAN'S GOTTA KNOW HIS LIMITATION".
that mouthbreathing, overweight chess nerd is not going to get the cheerleader... no matter how bold.
you can find the way if you don't even know where you currently are.
Deep, man. You should send that to Reader's Digest.
There's more. Much more. I must applaud this gentleman on a fantastic first-person demonstration of self-delusion. He couldn't do better if he were actually self-deluded.
(8:54:07 PM) EvlPenguin: hmm, interesting question. if the US military had a time traveling military unit, what service would it belong to?
(8:55:07 PM) OnyxHawke: you'd want the airstrip for getting the Delorean up to 88mph
(8:56:16 PM) mzmadmike: yeah, AF takes everything tech, and I'll explain why:
(8:56:44 PM) mzmadmike: The Navy has to assign everything to "Surface" or "Sub." Surface wouldn't know how to deal with it, and would never let sub have it.
(8:56:52 PM) OnyxHawke: because they can convince people they pay $5000 for toilet seats.
(8:56:55 PM) Monika: we're smart enough to A/C the comps?
(8:56:58 PM) mzmadmike: The Marines wouldn't know where Mickey's hand was.
(8:57:38 PM) mzmadmike: And the Army can manage to take brilliantly designed rifles and trucks and destroy them. They'd try to fix a time machine with a hammer.
"Okay, Mr President. We have your long form birth certificate, but there's a problem."
"What's that?"
"It's faded, sir. Badly. It'll show with forensics exams, but scans are almost invisible."
"Well, we all know it's legit."
"Of COURSE we do, sir." wink.
"No, no, it's legit. My father paid a lot of money to have that and my birth announcement made up, in case I ever ran for president and needed them. They're as legit as Kerry's purple hearts."
"Yes, sir."
"What I mean is, can you just clean up the scan?"
"I'm sure that's not a problem, sir."
LATER:
"Dammit, Carney (why do you have that name?), someone did a crappy job in Photoshop. Even people who weren't against me are questioning it. What are these 'artifacts' they talk about?"
"I don't know, sir. We hired some college kid."
"Computers, Carney. You hire high school kids for that kind of work. How can we fix this?"
"I've got it, sir."
"Yes, Daley?"
"We'll announce that 0sama bin Laden is dead. Then we'll say he was buried at sea. No need to document the body. That way, we draw attention back away from the birther issue, we can create the 'deather' issue, so your opposition looks even more loony."
"That's good. When should we do it?"
"Well, sir, if you wait until tonight at just after 9, we can pre-empt Trump's show and make him look like an impotent dweeb as well."
"Excellent. Do it."
And a most awesome demotivator.
http://verydemotivational.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/demotivational-posters-family-planning.jpg
