tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post5251199280242744128..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: More Failures of Military IntelligenceJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-39060352332029973832016-09-06T18:36:17.868-04:002016-09-06T18:36:17.868-04:00The problem with intelligence is that's only i...The problem with intelligence is that's only information, and it still needs to be interpreted and made sense of.<br /><br />Imagine you find a complete copy of an ancient text which is very similar to, but in certain ways critically different from, an already known text. Suppose you show it to an appropriate authority and argue this rewrites our understanding of history, but they believe these difference to be insignificant - perhaps they choose to believe it is an altered copy made in imitation of the text they already know. They may even believe this despite exacting and direct evidence to the contrary, such as where the text was found, the structure of the linguistics, the materials it was transcribed on, et cetera.<br /><br />Bias creeps into every field of human envdeavor. It's not enough to have good information - you also need to have authorities who are able to overcome their own extant biases to accept such information even when it goes contrary to all their knowledge, experiences, and expectations. Even geniuses can be paralyzed by an unwillingness to consider positions that go against their current expertise - e.g., Einstein famously rejected quantum mechanics, despite fairly strong evidence for it.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.com