In Reply to: So why didn't you name them? posted by Dave Pogue on July 6, 2012 at 04:32:55:
"All I can come up with is either Stereophile or TAS, which took her seriously enough to bother debunking her"
Debunking an idea does not imply that the idea was taken seriously. There are other reasons that one might attempt a debunk. The most obvious is curiousity. Even here, being curious need not imply initial doubt as to validity. It may be curiosity regarding how one would go about demonstrating the idea to be false, i.e. the idea represents a logical puzzle that one believes will be a fun mental exercise to solve. Also, one must not confuse the message with the messenger.
Yet another reason for debunking an idea is to separate sheep from goats, i.e. identify the people who will continue to believe in the idea even after the debunking. (One sees this often in matters of audiophilia, i.e. one can separate rational subjectivists from audiophools.) This is an ongoing process by which one can improve one's reasoning and powers of persuasion. In other words, this is a useful form of play.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
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Follow Ups
- A useful form of play - Tony Lauck 07:45:44 07/06/12 (0)