Study resources - exam for entry into The Cartel
Published by MadMan June 8th, 2004 in StimulantsSo you’ve already heard from Yazad that we’re devising an exam for entry into the CapLib (Capitalist Libertarian) Cartel for deserving men and women. WTF, you ask? You can’t believe that such a thing can actually happen? Well, here are some possible reasons for having a proper “entrance exam” for entry into this august body:
1) We want members who not only share libertarian views, but also possess enough critical thinking abilities to defend and debate those views thoroughly.
2) We want members who are not easily influenced by false statistics and dodgy logic.
3) We want to extend The Cartel membership to more people so that future booth-capturing of the Blog Mela is easier.
4) We want more people to kick Jivha’s butt ever so often. :))
5) We’re pompous arseholes.
(I like #5 myself.)
But hey, we’d like to be fair, so I’m going to give you some resources that will give you a head start on major topics like critical thinking, logical fallacies, and understanding statistics. The application of these topics will be the core of the exam. Even if you don’t care about any damn exam and don’t want to be part of The Cartel, you’ll find them useful while debating with the members.
Here we go…
Robert Niles’ Statistics every writer should know: A good introduction to the statistics basics and how not to get taken in by words like “average” that can have three meanings.
BBC: How to understand statistics: A short but useful article on how statistics can be interpreted in different ways to come to different conclusions.
Critical Thinking Mini-lessons: Good lessons on avoiding faulty reasoning.
Skeptic’s dictionary: Guide to logic and perception: Several useful entries on how human beings think and why they sometimes believe crazy things.
Logical fallacies
If, like President Bush, you too believe in the “you’re either with us or against us” line, you’re falling for the logical fallacy of false dilemma. To argue convincingly, you shouldn’t fall for that and several other logical fallacies. Here are several resources (with a fair bit of overlap) to ensure you don’t get your arse handed to you in a debate. ;)
The Nizkor Project
Stephen’s Guide to the Logical Fallacies
The Atheism Web: Logic and Fallacies
20 Responses to “Study resources - exam for entry into The Cartel”
- 1 Trackback on Jun 8th, 2004 at 8:58 pm
- 2 Trackback on Jun 8th, 2004 at 9:20 pm
- 3 Trackback on Jun 15th, 2004 at 11:33 am
- 4 Pingback on Nov 26th, 2005 at 12:11 am
- 5 Pingback on Jan 6th, 2006 at 12:07 am
Madman - you’ve used the command “we want” in four of the five rules. I thought libertarians didn’t follow the code of Draco. What next? Brown shirts?
Darn, I had put a bracket *grin* bracket at the end of the above comment. Somehow, the comment Gods got rid of it.
Quizman, what leads you to believe these are “rules”? I said they were “possible reasons”. I’m not even saying they’re true. :p
Me! Me! pick me!!!!!
Why dont you think of a more decentralised way than an exam.
It will be decentralised. All applicants have to post the answers on their respective blogs.
Do you have any alternatives to offer, Ramnath?
Yes! I have one.
Give me the damn membership and lets get on with life.
:)
Ravages buddy, why don’t you just click on all those links?
(Or just tell me in which direction the earth spins.)
The earth spins westwards. i.e east to west.
:D
As I suspected, Ravages, you got the answer to a simple question wrong. The Earth actually spins from West to East. That’s why the Sun appears to rise in the East.
Are you sure you can pass the exam? :)
heh
Good collection of links, this.
Oh crap, another test? Do you know how many I’ve taken in the last year? You certainly know where you can stick this one.
This is interesting. I may not participate but atleast I can improve my thinking skills.
Suhit
I have been invited to study for the entrance, but is it legal for the Mela coordinator to help with Mela booth-capturing? :o
Can I give outside support to the Cartel without actually participating in the exam? ;)