"None of the circuits involved in conscious reasoning were particularly engaged . . . Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it . . ."
This illuminates what TVF wrote, how "the typical anti-crank usually only parrots mainstream ideas" and so on, in "The Anti-Crank" in Meta Research Bulletin Vol 4, No 2 (15 June 1995) 25-8.
Beloff's "absolute Skeptics", Truzzi's extreme "type two" error-prone people, "anti-Crank" are explained as "one and the same". " persons guilty of extreme type two error". "'Type two error' is thinking that nothing special is happening, when in fact something rare or infrequent is happening".
"The anti-crank . . . receives applause from mainstream scientists for dealing with cranks" . . . [by parroting] mainstream ideas . . . Valid new ideas are . . . trashed as readily as "crankish" ones . . . are not dealt with scientifically or fairly . . . [By] applauding "anti-cranks", mainstream scientists . . . slow the advancement of science" and so on.
