this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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COVID-19 Pandemic

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Always trust your instincts about people (e: specific people and situations).

After all, humans evolved over millions of years to accurately predict the actions of fellow humans. Since humans can be extremely violent apes, the ones that were good at predicting didn't get murdered by psychos and were more likely to pass on their genes.

(E: to clarify, if you get a bad vibe or an urge to GTFO or similar, listen to it and stay safe)

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Trust your instincts, but verify. Your instincts can be wrong quite often. There's a reason we need actual scientific methods (and statistics) to figure out some things; humans are really bad at analytic thinking by themselves.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You are entirely correct when it comes to scientific matters.

If you notice, I said "about people".

Too often, people will get a funny feeling, or feel something is off about a person or situation and talk themselves out of it and end up paying a high price for that.

In other words, you don't need to scientifically verify a strong urge to GTFO when you see a guy waving and smiling and approaching you in a parking lot. Just GTFO.

That's all I'm talking about. Trusting your gut is strictly limited to feelings about people and situations.

Trust science and reason for all else.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Even about people. You are fallible as well and your instincts may be wrong. I'm not talking about "getting a feeling of something is off and talk themselves out of it", but to trust your instincts enough to avoid the specific situation you're in, but then check up later if it was correct or not. So, yeah, of course get the fuck out if you don't feel safe at a parking lot, and you won't be able to verify that later most probably (since you won't know who the person is). But if someone you meet through your friend group gives you the same types of feelings you don't disregard them (EDIT: your feelings), but you check up on the person to see if your gut feelings were correct.

You don't need to get so upset because someone have a slightly more nuanced view on it. So I'm correct both when it comes to scientific matter, and everything else.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Don't worry, you didn't upset me, all good.

The reason for my comment was that I did not want people to get the wrong idea and put themselves in jeopardy needlessly. I felt it needed saying because it isn't uncommon for people to dismiss the gut feeling (call it instinct if you like) and come to harm as a result.

But yes, verification after the fact, if possible, is a good idea.