#@ladyhistory

[eelhound]

"Stupidity is a very specific cognitive failing. Crudely put, it occurs when you don’t have the right conceptual tools for the job. The result is an inability to make sense of what is happening and a resulting tendency to force phenomena into crude, distorting pigeonholes.

This is easiest to introduce with a tragic case. British high command during the First World War frequently understood trench warfare using concepts and strategies from the cavalry battles of their youth. As one of Field Marshal Douglas Haig’s subordinates later remarked, they thought of the trenches as ‘mobile operations at the halt’: ie, as fluid battle lines with the simple caveat that nothing in fact budged for years. Unsurprisingly, this did not serve them well in formulating a strategy: they were hampered, beyond the shortage of material resources, by a kind of ‘conceptual obsolescence’, a failure to update their cognitive tools to fit the task in hand.

Stupidity will often arise in cases like this, when an outdated conceptual framework is forced into service, mangling the user’s grip on some new phenomenon. It is important to distinguish this from mere error. We make mistakes for all kinds of reasons. Stupidity is rather one specific and stubborn cause of error. Historically, philosophers have worried a great deal about the irrationality of not taking the available means to my goals: Tom wants to get fit, yet his running shoes are quietly gathering dust. The stock solution to Tom’s quandary is simple willpower. Stupidity is very different from this. It is rather a lack of the necessary means, a lack of the necessary intellectual equipment. Combatting it will typically require not brute willpower but the construction of a new way of seeing our self and our world.

Such stupidity is perfectly compatible with intelligence: Haig was by any standard a smart man. Indeed, in at least some cases, intelligence actively abets stupidity by allowing pernicious rationalisation: when Harry Houdini, the great illusionist, took Arthur Conan Doyle, the inventor of Sherlock Holmes, through the tricks underlying the seances in which Conan Doyle devoutly believed, the author’s reaction was to concoct a ludicrously elaborate counter-explanation as to why it was precisely the true mediums who would appear to be frauds."

- Sacha Golob, from "Why some of the smartest people can be so very stupid." Psyche, 4 August 2021.

#sacha golob #quote #quotations #intj thoughts #worldviews #subjectivity #concepts #ideas #rigidity #stupidity #conservatism #@ladyhistory #intellectualism #first world war #wwi #world war one #thinking #critical thinking #strategy

[showtunesdream]

Independence Day Looks

So chic. Also, helmet hair is de rigeur.

All about the bustle. Get it, lady. Next stop the vote.

Don't forget to bring your cap game. Your flag pole could use a cap too.

Speaking of accessories, spangled stockings are a must.

It's a dress! It's a flag! It's a dressflag!

#@ladyhistory #I expect selfies with one or all of these looks tomorrow #independence day #4th of july #vintage #lady liberty #fashion

[elfies-doodle-book]

Turn Week 2021 - Day Three

Favorite Secondary Character

Martha Washington

Mostly because of the Captioned Adventures of George Washington by the wonderful @ladyhistory

These always make me laugh and I have so many saved on my phone heheheheh

#ladyhistory #turn week 2021 #turn washington’s spies #turn amc #martha washington #george Washington

[nurfhurdur]

@ladyhistory whenever I see this gif I think of you.

It also summarizes the John Adams series nicely in a single gif.

#ladyhistory #american history #john adams #hbo john adams

[voughtcorsair]

Please tell me you've seen "The Blue Max" (WWI aviation movie).

I WANT TO WATCH IT SO BAD BUT I ALWAYS TRY TO READ THE BOOKS FIRST AND I HAVEN'T. FOUND THE BOOK 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 (as i am writing this i'm doing more creative googling and i'm gonna see if this super sketch website has it. totally epic idea 😎) i HAVE read the wikipedia page though and i saw your post on it and it looks really really good. i don't know if i would LIKE bruno but he definitely seems like a super interesting and compelling character. definitely a really interesting take on the whole "wooo gotta get the medal whatever" and to be fair sometimes i feel like i deserve the pour le merite too. So I understand his vibes. and i think i saw the trailer too? which was like. YESSS! KILL!!!!!! AIRPLANESSSSS!!!!!!!!!

#askz #ladyhistory #SORRY FOR SO MUCH ALL CAPS LOL i finished my ap art history course aftwr a YEAR!!! so i feel like that elmo in fire meme but like overjoyed #ALSO i thought i followed u but i didnt ?!?!? tumblr die

[justhereforthesherlock]

Sry not sry you’re abt to get George Washington spammed

#independence day #4th of july #ladyhistory

[cooper214]

Let’s go Ladies!

#ladyhistory #uswnt #wwc19

[musingsofahistorymajor]

My reenacting unit just shared this as a heads up! An upcoming WW1 event focused on aviation that's going to take place at Wright Pattinson Air Force Base/National Museum of the United States Air Force in September!! AAAHHH!! I won't have my WW1 kit ready in time to take part as a reenactor but you bet your ass I'm gonna do whatever I can to go as a guest!

@ladyhistory You should see this! WW1 Aviation!!! Your favorite!!

#stephs stuff #ww1

[violetvapours]

{ Logyn Appreciation Week }

Day 2: Favourite Logyn Fanfiction

I did a deep dive for Logyn in my ao3 bookmarks and dug up some old gold!

Tremble by englishbutter

Spitsbergen, 1879. A rip between the realms has been discovered, sparking the curiosity of the world. Explorers hunt on the other sides, finding creatures to bring back and place on display, advertising them as the exotic. London, 1880. Sigyn Rosettia has been engaged to the wealthy Lord Theoric Faulkner in a desperate bid to save her family from financial collapse. On an outing to one of London’s latest freakshows, she there encounters a monster distressingly, confusingly, and achingly familiar.

For I Do Not Fear The Dark by englishbutter

The winter has been one of the harshest in living memory, and Sigyn knows that not all of her family will live through it. So when a blue-skinned and red-eyed monster comes in the dead of night with an offer beyond her wildest imagination, Sigyn has no choice but accept if her family is to survive. Taken to a castle in the north with secrets around every corner and a mysterious visitor that sleeps on her bed, Sigyn finds that there was far more to this bargain than was on the surface. [Retelling of the Norwegian fairytale East of the Sun and West of the Moon]

Smoke and Mirrors by ladyhistory

Jane's presence in Asgard plagues Loki with a nightmare he never wanted to remember. She seems too familiar, and in a moment of madness he vows to prove a connection that could threaten a tragedy greater than the one he tries to forget. [Loki/Sigyn reincarnation]

Daughter of the Rain and Snow by miraellie

After the second great war between Jotunheim and Asgard, Odin wants to ensure that peace will be unbreakable this time, and so he takes two hostages from Laufey’s court: The eldest son Helblindi… and the ward who willingly offers herself, Sigyn.

Discrete by miraellie

Loki is taken back to Asgard and locked away to await punishment for his crimes. But while he's imprisoned, a healer by the name of Sigyn becomes his caretaker, a healer he knows all too well. Despite knowing what's to come Loki allows her close, but something as good as this cannot last long in light of what he's done.

💚 Thank you @dailylogyn 💚

#forgive me i've had a migraine for 3 days and didn't realise appreciation week had started 🥴 #logyn appreciation week #fic rec #loki fanfic #logyn

[mercurygray]

Was inspired by @ladyhistory's World War One shelfie!

Yes, it's a big Ikea shelf. I'm one of those people who thinks having a large bookshelf is a personality trait.

[eelhound]

"Stupidity has two features that make it particularly dangerous when compared with other vices. First, unlike character flaws, stupidity is primarily a property of groups or traditions, not individuals: after all, we get most of our concepts, our mental tools, from the society we are raised in. Suppose the problem with [Douglas] Haig had been laziness: there was no shortage of energetic generals to replace him. But if Haig worked himself to the bone within the intellectual prison of the 19th-century military tradition, then solving the difficulty becomes harder: you will need to introduce a new conceptual framework and establish a sense of identity and military pride for it. Once stupidity has taken hold of a group or society, it is thus particularly hard to eradicate – inventing, distributing and normalising new concepts is tough work.

Second, stupidity begets more stupidity due to a profound ambiguity in its nature. If stupidity is a matter of the wrong tools for the job, whether an action is stupid will depend on what the job is; just as a hammer is perfect for some tasks and wrong for others. Take politics, where stupidity is particularly catching: a stupid slogan chimes with a stupid voter, it mirrors the way they see the world. The result is that stupidity can, ironically, be extremely effective in the right environment: a kind of incapacity is in effect being selected for. It is vital to separate this point from familiar and condescending claims about how dumb or uneducated the ‘other side’ are: stupidity is compatible with high educational achievement, and it is more the property of a political culture than of the individuals in it, needing to be tackled at that level.

[Robert] Musil’s indulgent, almost patrician, attitude to ‘honourable’ dumbness [in 1937] was certainly dangerously complacent: consider its role in the anti-vax phenomenon. But dumbness alone is rarely the driving threat: at the head of almost every dumb movement, you will find the stupid in charge."

- Sacha Golob, from "Why some of the smartest people can be so very stupid." Psyche, 4 August 2021.

#sacha golob #quote #quotations #intj thoughts #worldviews #subjectivity #concepts #ideas #rigidity #conservatism #stupidity #intellectualism #thinking #critical thinking #anti vaxxers #anti vax #@ladyhistory #strategy

[showtunesdream]

In time for Independence Day, here are some random images of Uncle Sam.

Look at him gettin' down. Independence, yee-haw! Also, when did he lose the spangled coat? Bring back the stars!

Off to punch some racists.

Aw, poor Sam. Someone get that man a GPS.

Uncle Sam don't care. What bombs?

And now for...Creepy Sam!

He's watching you. He's judging you. He's lurking in the dark ready to steal you coal!

And finally, the absolute BEST for last.

Trans-Sam? Simply fabulous Sam. That hat, the dancing eagles on his hemline--that's what makes America great.

Happy Birthday Sam! Keep rockin' the spangles.

#independence day #getting my posts in early #@ladyhistory #you get this one too #for reasons #4th of july #uncle sam #u.s. history #vintage

[all-star-avocado]

Tagged by @yossariandawn!

You can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. put your favourite playlist on shuffle and list the first ten songs then tag ten people! no skipping!

1) I Found // Amber Run

2) Everything You Want // Vertical Horizon

3) Bite // Troye Silvan

4) Down // Stroke 9

5) What's My Age Again? // blink-182

6) Your Man // Webster

7) Home // Phillip Phillips

8) Blood Makes Noise // Suzanne Vega

9) High School Never Ends // Bowling for Soup

10) Gun in my Hand // Dorothy

I tag @tuntematonkorppi, @sweetsoundsofignorance, @myletternevercame, @yosisoy, @river-soul, @ghostsinthesheets, @fortysevenswrites, @alyciajasmins1, @dameronfinn, @ladyhistory & anyone else who wants to keep it going!

#tagged #tag game #asked and answered #music #about me

[beggars-opera]

I've no idea how I found you, but I think it mayhap had been around the time just after the first posting of The Picture, and LadyHistory was well into doing her thing, but I never actually followed you though you followed me (and still do for some reason?) for the longest time until only lately I figured it was high time I returned the favor.

I can’t remember why I followed but you’re always popping up on my dash like an old friend and it makes me happy :)

[theultradork]

“War Hospital is a combination of real-time strategy // economic survival and RPG elements. The gameplay involves the management of a field hospital and the recovery of wounded soldiers during the drama of World War I.  It is not only a computer game. It is a deeply emotional experience related to the greatest and often untouched drama in the world of games media - the First World War. The special and unique perspective of presenting this subject allows us to think of the Field Hospital not only as electronic entertainment but also as a moving experience of the real drama of ordinary and extraordinary people - soldiers fighting on the fronts of the "Great War".  @ladyhistory​ might find this interesting. 

#video games #gaming #history

[musingsofahistorymajor]

You know what's funny? I've never really been that interested in WW1 but for the last several months (since around March) I keep finding myself intrigued by something in WW1. First I deep dived into the Smith College Relief Unit. Then I got super interested in the VADs and immediately rewatched the Crimson Field for the 100th time. Now I'm obsessed with the RAMC Field Ambulance units. Which is why I laughed so hard when @ladyhistory started posting all that WW1 stuff at the same time. I love it. And I think its super interesting how we both got into WW1 this year. I should really put together some posts about the stuff I've been researching. I've just been so lazy and hoarding it all on my google drive. Might tey and work on some stuff to post for you guys. Wonder what my next obsession will be!

#stephs stuff #ww1 #wwi #world war i