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University Offers Course To Help Sniff Out and Refute 'Bullshit' (engadget.com)

Posted by msmash on from the fighting-back dept.

An anonymous reader shares an Engadget report: There's now a course at the University of Washington, "Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data" that helps you find bad information and show others why it's bad. The instructors, Professors Jevin D. West and Carl T. Bergstrom, jokingly write that "we will be astonished if these skills do not turn out to be among the most useful ... that you acquire during the course of your college education." They add that the intention is not to be political, as "both sides of the aisle have proven themselves facile at creating and spreading bullshit." The intention, then, is to arm students (and the public if they want) with the tools to combat a scourge of misinformation that's aided and abetted by social media.

4 of 402 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Umm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    That's right, it's all those damned liberals forcing you not to be the sewage spewing, bigoted, fuckwit that you really are inside. If you could only vent your spleen at everyone that you felt deserved it, this world would be a better place.

  2. Re:Umm by BeauSD · · Score: -1, Troll

    Yeah, DOWN WITH TRUMP. That man STOLE the elections from HILLARY. He is so Russian-happy he actually MARRIED ONE.

    I personally like the idea of safe spaces and being sure you have unoffensive & non fake news and facts & information, they really need to teach this and tolerance in school, like not just in *a* class but in *EVERY* class

    -=Beau=-

  3. Considering it's the conservatives... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    that created it when their leader Hitler made the decision to create it and name it Lügenpresse. Now the Republicans are using Hitler tactics to control the people. Control the people. I have never seen a progressive person use fake news. It goes against the very definition of progressivism. If someone uses fake news then by definition they're not a progressive.

  4. Suggestion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    If you want a good college degree stay away from the liberal arts. Business, math, science, engineering - these are practical and can lead into nearly any field.

    Plus you can electively take a course in literature, history, or similar if you feel the need.

    That is unless you like being a government stooge, philosophy wanker, or narcissist then by all means get your BA in Basket Weaving.