Optimizing a thing that should not exist

Lots of smart Latter-day Saints have worked for decades to optimize the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorah's theory of Book of Mormon geography.

Optimizing a thing that should not exist is a common error.

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The most common error of a smart engineer is to optimize a thing that should not exist.

Why would people do that?

Everyone's been trained in high school and college to answer the question. Convergent logic. You can't tell the professor 'Your question is dumb' or you'll get a bad grade. You have to answer the question. 

So everyone, basically, without knowing it, has got a mental straight jacket on. 

They'll work on optimizing the thing that should simply not exist. 

— Elon Musk

https://x.com/DimaZeniuk/status/1980485244550860818

To be successful...

“To be successful at anything, you don’t have to be special. You just have to be what most people aren’t: consistent, determined and willing to work for it. No shortcuts.”  

— Tom Brady 

Rationality as a mental illness

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1979509450927919358

Elon Musk

@elonmusk

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Oct 18

Same

Quote

Pascal Anglehart 

@DemosKratosCA

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Oct 17

I have a mental illness that makes me think that people will change their minds if I present the correct arguments with the appropriate facts and data.

Divine Code 

@slc_saint

·

Oct 18

Same goes for anti-mormonism. Apparently actual history, manuscripts and documents don't matter and anything anyone wants to make up about us is the gold standard.

MoundLore

@MoundLore

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Oct 18

Facts used to end debates. Now they start them.

Kyle Becker

@kylenabecker

·

Oct 18

"You cannot reason someone out of a position they did not reason themselves into." — Jonathan Swift

Matt Van Swol

@matt_vanswol

·

Oct 18

It worked for me. I had no idea we even had an illegal immogration problem until I got on X. I had no idea how much the media lied until I got on X. It works. It just doesn’t work for everyone. Sadly… that’s a reality I’m also coming to understand.

TrueTruth

@TrueTruthToday

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Oct 18

People don't resist the truth because they are unconvinced by facts, data, and arguments. They resist truth because their commitment to a particular worldview or narrative trumps their desire to be logical or consistent. Pride doesn't let people admit when they are wrong, even if they recognize that the facts go against them. Scripture characterizes this as a suppressing of truth, so it's not more information or better arguments that are needed. The source of embracing untruth is ultimately found in the willful denial of God. Therefore, truth is a moral and spiritual battleground, and not merely academic debate (1 Cor. 2: 14; Rom 1: 18-21).

Cosmokramer

@Cosmokrame18809

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Oct 18

It's cost me my deepest relationships. I've lost complete communication with my two Sons -Both High School Teachers. A year ago we were on our 34th year of being BEST FRIENDS. A truly loving family doing everything together.....for our whole lives. I never missed a thing! Ever. I haven't spoken to them in 6 months. 66 years old, and our family spontaneously combusted. We never saw it coming. Their hatred for Trump just keeps growing. The more successes he has. the deeper the hatred became. Peace deals, lowering inflation, lower fuel costs, it doesn't matter. Now I'm on the other side. Our boys went from thanking us every day for the lives we've paved for them, the unwavering support for everything they did, to complete Blackout. This is the biggest part people are missing. It was simply impossible to blow up a family as close as ours. It happened......without my wife or I saying a thing. This is having a larger impact on American Families than people understand. It's destroying many more lives than y'all think. My Wife and I lost the only things we cared about. How do you fix that? We carry on, and pray for them. It's a mental illness that has no answer. We voted for someone they didn't, so that's it? Until TDS is solved, many families will suffer this same fate. I haven't the slightest idea how one recovers from this,. I just have to know that God has a plan, and I'm a part of it.

Nomad

@NomadProduct

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Oct 18

Back to Aristotle: persuasion is 'logos' (logic, facts, knowledge, words), 'ethos' (credibility, relatability, capturing attention) and 'pathos' (emotion, sentimentality) Highly effective persuasion requires all three.

Ginny | Cleaning Biz Guide

@GinnyC33

·

Oct 18

Ha ha I was just having a conversation with grok on this very topic. From Carl Sagan: “It is far easier to reach someone who is already on your side than to persuade a skeptic. When facts conflict with our beliefs, we are more likely to reject the facts than change our beliefs. One of the saddest lessons of history is this: When a belief is based on faith or emotion, no amount of logic or evidence will change it.”