TrueEmpiricism
Basic Description
<infobox>
<title source="title1"> <default>TrueEmpiricism</default> </title> <image source="image1">
</image> <group> <header>Information</header> <label>Gender</label> <label>Scientific Name</label> <label>Positions</label> <label>Debating Against</label> <label>Skills</label> <label>Links</label> </group> </infobox> Ronnie "TrueEmpiricism" Rodriquez, aka "Ron Ron the Magic Man", and "Rocket Ronnie", is a self-professed Creationist and is one of the foremost advocates of "old" Intelligent Design (ID) that is supported by the Discovery Institute. Since 2010, he has engaged with various members of the Magic Sandwich show: Thunderf00t, AronRa, DPR Jones, and HogTieChamp on the topic of evolution. He adamantly believes biological evolutionary theory is inherently inferior to his proposed "theory", which primarily consists of "because something looks designed (Telonomic), therefore it must have been designed by some type of intelligence (Teleological)." Ronnie is one of the "go-to" members of the Clown Car Posse for scientific information, although CCP members seem not to notice that he is as scientifically illiterate as they are. Not to mention the fact that he couldn't type a grammatically correct sentence to save his life. His method of constructing arguments seems to be to pick up a grade school level biology or chemistry textbook, memorize a few of the sciency-sounding words, and then string them together into sentences with no regard to their meaning or proper usage. Ronnie has built a reputation for himself over the years due to his astonishing lack of self-awareness and sheer dishonesty. Rarely do members of the CCP practice introspection, but TE simply lacks the ability entirely. He's even gone as far as to claim that Alex Botten is a "hard solipsist" even though Botten was in the same hangout exclaiming the contrary. This hangout became known as the "Inner solipsism of solipsism" in reference to a quote made by TE towards Botten.[1] His hangouts are typically rife with equal amounts of self-aggrandizement and general scientific illiteracy. Ironically enough, he bemoans the "Evilutionists" who "know nothing about science" whilst making egregious scientific claims himself. Upon allowing dissenters to join his hangouts he promptly hides them from broadcast and/or keeps their volumes muted. Most have figured out that this is something he does to control the conversation when he cannot respond to the claims being made and it a defensive tactic to save face. He's since stopped allowing dissenters to join his hangouts for fear of future criticism for this "habit." Ronnie has a love/hate relationship with Sam the Scientist and Dragnauct. Many have speculated that he is both jealous and envious of both individuals but harbors more anger towards Dragnauct because of his constant chiding. Ronnie keeps a running record of when he has "corrected" both Sam and Dragnauct and uses it in conversation as some form of leverage when criticism is levied against him. While both individuals have acknowledged that he (Ronnie) has accurately depicted some scientific phenomena, they are in accord with the assessment that Ronnie has very little overall knowledge in the field of biology, but simply puts on airs as if he does. Ronnie is now also known in certain circles as "the person who knows less about science than a porn star." This achievement alone is worthy of an epitaph on one's tombstone. Ronnie also runs echo chamber hangouts ironically titled "BRING IT EVOLUTIONIST[S]," particularly whenever he's having a sad and needs a little ego-masturbation session from his CCP buddies (which usually happens whenever he's exposed to the community for being the dishonest, ignorant cretin he is).
Latest News
October 2017: Ronnie made a parking-lot video where he once again declares he was leaving YouTube and mentioned that people where making fun of him from having said that "water is used in pretty much every Aqueous solution" (2:20) Here we have another demonstration that Ronnie does not understand the meaning of the words he uses. Aqueous MEANS it is a water solution. Aqua is Latin for water, Aqueous means it is made of water, there is no 'in pretty much every'. It means in ALL, by definition. This is another demonstration Ronnie doesn't understand the meaning of words and makes assertions based on his little understanding. Not having completed high school or college, he believes Aqueous is a big word for liquid. He then laughs that he corrects people and concludes that because of this he can not be a moron. At 7:10, he once again reinstates that "a little water is used in basically every aqueous solution". He then makes the comments that "not all solutions are Aqueous" as if this needs to be specified because some people may not understand this. The psychological projection then kicks in and he declares that "some of these guys may not understand some of this stuff" which once again is ironic coming from Ronnie, who needs to remind people that in pretty much all aqueous solutions there is water, and that not all solutions have water in them.
September 2017: In the livechat of G Man's hangout about Dogs not being Eukaryotes, Ronnie said he used to cross breed dogs as a licensed breeder: "I am a licensed breeder and have raised wolf hybrids..so I'd love to hear him get into "specieation or ring species...I breed Wolf dog hybrids tundra sheps. German sheps, rotts huskies and so on...got out if it but the tundra is the best" ...on quote.
(NOTE: Don't edit to remove typos or errors in spelling otherwise this is not a proper quote. Here at the GDC Wiki, we strive for total accuracy on people opinions, no matter how completely misinformed. That's the Steve McRae Guarantee!TM)
August 2017: (insert bit about "Beaks turning into ATP Synthase" Pew Review would be well suited for the job.)
July 2017: It would seem that Ronnie now likes to jargon-bomb about neuroscience and the brain in general. Ronnie must think that jargon bombing about a complex subject makes him look smart and that his critics may not know about the topic... wrong! The other problem is that when you jargon-bomb about a topic, you don't understand you are bound to make mistakes and look like a tool. The community as a whole is now awaiting Ronnie's video on Glial cells. *everyone grabs popcorn*
Inability to Accept that He has Ever Made a Mistake
Ronnie has this capacity to never ever be able to accept that he could be wrong or accept that he may have been wrong on anything he has ever said. Any admission of having made a mistake would result in mental castration and could bring back memories of having to put on a dress and play with barbie dolls as a child. Ronnie will double-down on his original claims bending over backward to justify what he said erroneously and was corrected on.
Case in point: DNA degrades in water. The inner solipsism of solipsism, ATP synthase, phosphodiester bonds, the circumference of the diameter of pi and his failed attempt at web design etc... at a certain point this becomes a mental illness and one has to seek help. Unfortunately his CCP friends are not willing to tell him that he was wrong because they themselves are also too thick to pick up mistakes Ronnie has made.
The "Inner Solipsism of Solipsism" Incident
This video is a clear example of the "Ronnie effect." Ronnie got into a debate with Alex Botten with his own understanding of what "solipsism" means and not actually understanding the concept. He then accused Alex of being a solipsist, to which Alex then tried several times to explain to Ronnie that he is not, and that even if he was, it would not matter because of the definition of solipsism.
Ronnie then made a massive ass of himself by demonstrating a complete lack of listening skills and a thirst for being told over and over that he can't understand a complex concept and that he should stick to Marvel coloring books. This became known as "The inner solipsism of solipsism" incident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS9hBKTcxYI
The Never-Ending Saga of "DNA Degrades in Water"
(This needs a write up and link which Steve McRae should be more than happy to provide. You're welcome Steve.) :)
Ronnie on Telomeric Sequences and Human Chromosome #2
(See above)
Fun Facts
Ronnie is famous for being a fervent defender of ATP synthase rights as well as the right of DNA to degrade in water (which is the title of his current work in progress NOBEL thesis that he works on when not spending his last paycheck at Popeyes).
He has rage quit his own hangout when he was the sole occupant.
Rumor has it that Ronnie was apparently the inspiration for the character of Secretary of Defense in the movie Idiocracy.
Ronnie was offered free tuition for science classes at University of Chicago at Illinois by Le Med Student who Ronnie then blocked and never responded to (and is still blocked to this day while his offer is still on the table). A broad sample of Ronnie's videos were watched in a UIC class of graduate students who proceeded to vote on the names of the mental issues and fallacies demonstrated. Voting had to be stopped quickly as exposure to derp was becoming dangerous. This single event and exposure to such high level of derp resulted in more than 300 extra votes for Ronnie's DFOTY award, enough to consolidate his win.
Having one of the most hideous looking and unintelligible web pages of all time, replete with factual errors and both numerous grammatical and spelling mistakes. Sam the Scientist and Dragnauct did a review video of his web page and kindly pointed out with extreme laughter these mistakes, to wit Ronnie promptly issued a statement claiming that he'd been hacked rather that admitting the mistakes were his own.
[Please change to a reference and need video of Sam/Drag's review as one too]
To date, no-one actually knows the conclusion Ronnie has come to yet, because between the complaining, whining, calling people names, accusing people of perpetuating drama while he himself is perpetuating drama... he has never actually gotten around to reaching anything that comes close to drawing a conclusion.
It has been speculated that TE hadn't so much as picked up a book after obtaining his high school diploma due to the massive amount of spelling and grammar errors he tends to make. TE first stated, a number of years ago, that he'd taken college-level chemistry courses but decided to drop out because they were "...too easy..." and that God lead him in another direction. As ridiculous as this claim is, TE expected people to believe this.
(Link to study on University-level Chemistry Course attrition rates)
After some scrutiny from GDC Members, he then began exclaiming that his "credentials [were] so high that [he'd] intimidate people if [he] told them...". This was witnessed by Fiona Robertson during a past airing of the Magic Sandwich Show (MSF episode).
True then began the rumor that he'd obtained a master's degree in Organic Chemistry, yet Sam the Scientist questioned which institution he'd acquired it from as they both are originally from Illinois. True declined to give Sam an answer for fear of doxxing himself, even though there'd be no repercussions if someone were to uncover this information - assuming it was accurate to begin with.
Finally, True relented and admitted that he does not possess any formal education past high school. The rest of the community knew this, yet True felt that his education was a mar against his online persona.
Debate Techniques
- Coughing: This tactic is generally used to provide time to read scripts and web pages while trying to talk without producing pauses in the conversation.
- Considers the usage of Powerpoint to be a factor to him losing the debate to Steve McRae. (G Man told him having a presentation is unfair to use in a debate, so Ronnie didn't bring one, nor an opening statement, nor an actual argument, nor anything that could even be remotely construed as a debate presentation).
- Hides his models. No model will be presented in debates to support his own assertions. Why? Because fuck it, that's why.
- Uses nonsensicality as a thinking process.
- Blocks people he disagrees with and considers this a valid debate technique.
- Kicks people from his hangouts who demonstrate that he is wrong on a subject or that he said something stupid.
- Lifts sentences from wikipedia science pages and topics in the hope that by mixing what he considers complicated words and sentences together, it will confuse other members of the CCP.
- Callling anyone who disagrees with him a "liar."
Super Powers
- Dunning-Kruger Zen Master
- Black belt in Psychological Projection
- Dishonesty
- A bewildering ability to suddenly backtrack on a position that was strongly stated for months and even years, and then claim "That's what I was saying all along."
- Whinge incessantly about mediocre issues (the whinge meter once reached an amazing 14 (out of 10!)
- The ability to rattle off science-y sounding sentences at super-sonic speed as if he knows what any of it actually means, but then gets upset when people who do know what it mean call him out on it!
- The ability to remove comments under his videos by anyone who disagrees with him.
- Ability to focus only on his own thoughts while not listening to the conversation (also known as the LALALALA technique... widely used by members of the CCP).
- Circa 1997 web design skills; Nephilimfree grade.
- Ability to master Bio 100, Chem 1&2, Orgo 1&2 and Physics 1&2 without prior knowledge on topics. Basically can obtain college level knowledge in argumentation using scientific-sounding babble pulled out of own butt.
- Ability to see motors and turbines
Awards
- Winner of the 2017 Dumbfuck of the Year Award run by Reds Rhetoric with a staggering 839 votes.
- Recently received a #Bitchmade Award following his debate with Steve McRae.
Famous Quotes
"Just because I'm not a scientist, that doesn't mean I'm not an idiot."
"The inner solipsism of solipsism."
"
"Water acts as both a base and an acid, that's why it's used by almost every single scientist as far as I am aware of... I mean, everybody uses it in their aqueous solutions, except for other liquids like maybe ammonia or something." (from: Phoneybeetlemaniacxs & I have a chat on DNA in water)
Once tried to calculate "the circumference of the diameter of pi."
"Binary is a four digits code."
"That's the fallacy of accomplishment."
Appearances
Ronnie made an appearance in 2016 in one of Sye Ten Atheist's videos: Fist me in the gash
Fallacies used
- Arguments from ignorance/incredulity
- Non Sequitur
- Red Herring
- Straw-man
Might be Suffering From...
- Massive case of butthurtitis (Ronnie promptly deleted all his videos after being told by a woman that he looked stupid to others because of his nonsensical argumentation. Since all of Ronnie's friends are virgin single males, the epiphany of having an intelligent woman tell him that basically he would never reproduce was enough for him to rage-quit youtube).
- Symptoms of recto-cranial inversion
- Delusions of adequacy, inflated ego, inability to listen and learn.
- Ronnie is regularly convinced that he knows more on topics than MDs, PhDs and various professors or members of the academia.
Is definitely suffering from being a Grade A tit.
People currently blocked by Ronnie
Ronnie has blocked people who try to educate him or who make too much sense or have arguments going after his own beliefs. This, to Ronnie, is a valid technique because its better to suppress comments that his CCP friends might read and make sense to them and so Ronnie can t have that because LALALA I can t hear you.
(Add your name in alphabetical order and as a single long list with commas)
Lemed Student, (add your name here)
Things to Annotate
Thinks oxygen gives up four electrons to become oxidized rather than become reduced in complex IV of the Electron Transport Chain.
Claims DNA degrades in water such that if DNA goes into solution it "falls apart like tissue paper" and "breaks apart into it's constituent parts" and "loses its sequence."
Claims DNA is "sekwanchal specified information" (whatever that means), and that this is definitive proof of the Biblical God. Somehow. Because reasons.
Claims not to be a Young Earth Creationist, but uses Young Earth Creationist arguments.
Thinks 2000°C water can stay liquid at atmospheric pressure.
Has rage quit YouTube/ G+ more times than Brett Keane has.
Left in the middle of debate with Steve McRae before the Q-and-A.
TrueEmpiricism did so badly in his debate with Steve McRae that Jesus was so embarrassed by it that he said that his sacrifice no longer covers TrueEmpiricism's sins.
TrueEmpiricism is the only person known to have rage-quit two of his own one man hangouts twice in the same evening.
Famous for his "inner solipsism of solipsism."
Really doesn't grasp the DMCA, causing him to run afoul of the YT rules.
Agreed live on air that birds fly by farting across the sky.
In a discussion on the League of Reason he claimed that DNA was a 4 character code just like computer code. Yes, apparently binary code has 4 characters. He later tried to edit that page but was caught out by Fiona Robertson who notified the League of Reason and they restored the original which can be found here.
It was noted on the last online/hangout debate between Steve McRae and TE that TE had no scientific model that could fight side-by-side, toe-by-toe, head-to-head and science-by-science to the powerful explanation of the Theory of Evolution (ToE) - a powerful battleship for Steve. This scientific weakness from Ronnie (TE) had caused Ronnie to lose his credibility to debate in science, when science deals with models. But Ronnie's attempt to show the errors of ToE from the perspective of the old ID is notable. - from MrIntelligentDesign
Typical example of Ronnie's incoherent babble: http://i.imgur.com/VXaRUO4.gifv
References
- ↑ 1 Alex Botten
