• Jorgelino@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    Some people genuinely think that the theory of the big bang says the explosion made everything exactly as it is now by random chance, rather than just being the starting point for a very very long and gradual process.

    I’ve had people ask me “how an explosion could form a human” before, which is ridiculous in many levels.

    • Clent@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Not everyone can understand a multistep process. Studies have shown they are literally incapable. They survive by copying and memorization of processes.

      • StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I’ve always wondered if people like that are an unfortunate combination of some of our less adaptive traits. It can take strong selective pressure to get a species to dump maladaptive but not fatal characteristics.

        • Clent@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I am able to find the specific studies in the moment to support my statement “literally incapable”

          The specific concept is “higher order thinking skills”

          There are a lot of studies on this topic, mostly around what is means, who has it and what and how we fail to teach it to some people.

          It’s clear from the studies I am seeing that despite decades of efforts no one has developed a fool-proof strategy to teach this skill.

          Which begs the question as to if it is a skill (something we can teach) versus an existing ability that can be honed or allowed to atrophy.

          I would wager some people can think of at least one fellow student who failed to develop this ability despite the attempts of teachers.

          Barring that, most may know people who have displayed a lack the ability or fail to deploy it. The ability to quantify a persons higher order thinking ability is itself a topic of study.

          If you’re only looking for further reading on the topic, I would suggest reading up on critical thinking / higher order thinking and how it affects one’s ability to detect fake news and other misinformation such as antivax conspiracies.

          • Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            3 months ago

            I’ll look into it a bit more. It does mesh with my experience, where I feel like different concepts just don’t work with some people’s brains.