And I think this is an important subject because…It’s possible that many of you in the audience have some misconceptions about rationality that have been shaped by these Straw Vulcan characters that are so prevalent. So my talk today is going to be about Straw Vulcan rationality and how it diverges from actual rationality. Yup! “I’m sorry I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am” And since that’s the point of the character, his brand of rationality is sort of this woeful character, and that’s why it’s called “A Straw Vulcan”.īecause if you’re arguing against some viewpoint that you disagree with, and you caricature that viewpoint in as simplistic and exaggerated a way as possible, to make it easy for yourself to just knock it down and pretend that you’ve knocked that entire viewpoint down, that’s a “Straw Man”…So these are “Straw Vulcans”.Īs I was saying, Spock and his fellow Straw Vulcans play this role in their respective TV shows and movies, of seeming like the character that should be able to save the day, but in practice the day normally gets saved by someone like this. It’s sort of this caricature this weak, gimpy caricature of rationality that…Well, essentially, you would think that if someone were super-rational that they’d be running circles around all the other characters, in the TV show or in the movie.īut because it’s this sort of “fake” rationality that’s designed to demonstrate that the real success, the real route to glory and happiness and fulfillment, is all of these things that people consider to make us essentially human, like our passion, and our emotion, and our intuition, and yes, our irrationality. ![]() So they coined the term “Straw Vulcan” to refer to the type of fictional character who is supposed to be “The Logical One” or “The Rational One”, but his brand of rationality is not real rationality. This term, “Straw Vulcan”, I wish I could personally take credit for it, but I borrowed it from a website called TvTropes, Yes! TvTropes! Some of the highest level of rationality that I can find on the internet, let alone on another pop culture or television blog. And that’s what my talk is going to be about today. And I asked this question: “Vulcans: Rational Aliens?” with a question mark because the brand of rationality that’s practiced by Spock and his fellow Vulcans isn’t actually rationality. So Spock being half-Vulcan has more lapses than a pure-blood Vulcan, but still, on the show Star Trek he is “The Logical Character” and that makes up a lot of the inter-character dynamics and the storylines on the show. This is something I wasn’t clear on when I was remembering the show from my childhood, but it’s not that the Vulcans don’t have emotion, it’s just that over time they’ve developed very strict and successful ways of transcending and suppressing their emotions. The Vulcans are this race of aliens that are known for trying to live in strict adherence of the rules of reason and logic, and also for eschewing emotion. And his mother is human, but his father is Vulcan. ![]() Spock He’s one of the main characters on Star Trek and he’s the First Officer and the Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise. Spock…Someone’s raising their hands, but it’s a Vulcan salute, so I don’t believe you don’t know him…So this is Mr. ![]() So if there’s anyone in the audience who doesn’t recognize this face, this is Mr. The title of the talk is “The Straw Vulcan: Hollywood’s Illogical View of Logical Decision-Making”. My talk today has been sort of organically growing over the last couple of years as I’ve become more and more involved in the skeptic and rationality movements, and I’ve gotten more and more practice, and learned many lessons the hard way about communicating ideas about rationality and critical thinking and skepticism to people. Last year was my first year and I got to moderate a panel, so this is an exciting new step for me. I’m so excited to be giving a talk at Skepticon. Update: Below is the transcript prepared by daenerys:Įmcee: You may recognize our next speaker from somewhere- She was here earlier on our panel, she’s known for her work with the New York City Skeptics and their podcast “Rationally Speaking”, and she’s also the co-author of the rationality blog “Measure of Doubt” with her brother Jesse: Julia Galef! Julia Galef's Skepticon IV talk, The Straw Vulcan, is the best intro-to-rationality talk for the general public I've ever seen.
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