Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Fallacy of Reversed Moderation

From Scott Alexander,
This is a pattern I see again and again. 
Popular consensus believes 100% X, and absolutely 0% Y. 
A few iconoclasts say that X is definitely right and important, but maybe we should also think about Y sometimes. 
The popular consensus reacts “How can you think that it’s 100% Y, and that X is completely irrelevant? That’s so extremist!”
 I've known people who act like child development is 100% based on the parents. When I point out that genes/biology exist, they interpret me as saying, "everything is predetermined by biology."