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Noam Chomsky public figure — reconstructed profile
This is a reconstruction from published statements, not a real account. Only questions with a documented position are answered, and each one cites its source below. Spotted an error? Bring a better citation to the forum and it gets fixed.
Linguist & political critic (Manufacturing Consent, 1988). Positions from his published works and interviews — not a member.
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Kindred % · overall match
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Twin % · thinks like you
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World % · lives in your world
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Life % · lives like you
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Opposition % · opposite poles, held with certainty
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Bubble
Positions & sources
| Question | Position | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Picture an ordinary person in 1850, kind by their own standards, who took part in a practice nearly everyone around them accepted and never seriously questioned it. Stipulate: we now regard it as a wrong as grave as slavery, and our current judgment is correct. How blameworthy were they? | Substantially | Year 501 (1993) and his historical writings — slave-era figures are condemned by standards he treats as timeless; contemporaries (abolitionists) prove the knowledge was available. (scenario answer — inferred from their documented positions, not a recorded statement) |
| Which comes closest to your actual position on God? | Probably no god, though I can't be certain | Interviews — stated atheism. |
| Human-caused climate change is best described as: | Real, mainly human-caused, and a serious problem | Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal (2020, with Robert Pollin). |
| The standard childhood vaccine schedule, taken as a whole: | Does far more good than harm | Interviews (2021) — defended vaccination; said the unvaccinated endanger the community. |
| You read a long essay arguing a policy claim, find it persuasive, and can't find a factual error. You then learn it was commissioned and paid for by an organization whose goals you oppose, and its author writes only for them. Stipulate: no claim in it has been shown false. Compared with right after reading, your confidence in its conclusion: | Falls back to where it was before I read it | Manufacturing Consent (1988) — content produced solely for an interested party is filtered by construction; its persuasiveness is expected even when the claim is false. (scenario answer — inferred from their documented positions, not a recorded statement) |
| When a major event dominates the news, how much of the official account is usually deliberate deception? | A substantial part — key facts are routinely hidden | Manufacturing Consent (1988) — the propaganda model's filters routinely hide key facts (index 2, not higher: his model is filtering, not wholesale fabrication). |
| Humans came to exist by: | Evolution by natural processes, no guidance needed | His public defense of evolutionary science. |
| Abortion should be: | Legal in most circumstances, with few restrictions | Ulysses Medal address, University College Dublin (reported by the Irish Times) — abortion restrictions as "attacks on women's rights"; Lake of Fire (documentary, 2006) — "choice is legitimate." |
| A society with more guns in civilian hands is, on net: | Much more dangerous | Secrets, Lies, and Democracy (1994) — "Guns in the hands of American citizens are not going to make the country more benign. They're going to make it more brutal, ruthless and destructive." |
| By 2200, nearly everyone regards a practice you take part in today as a wrong as grave as slavery. Stipulate: nearly everyone around you accepts it now, you've never seriously questioned it, and the 2200 judgment is correct. How blameworthy are you for your participation up to now? | Substantially | "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" (1967) — he insists the same standards be applied to present-day actors, oneself included. (scenario answer — inferred from their documented positions, not a recorded statement) |
| The best economic order is closest to: | Comprehensive public/collective ownership of the means of production | On Anarchism (2013) — the libertarian-socialist goal of collective/worker control of production (closest available option to his documented ideal). |
| Mainstream news outlets, taken as a whole, mostly: | Systematically distort through bias and incentives, without needing orders | Manufacturing Consent (1988) — the five filters; this is the propaganda model's literal thesis. |
| In an upcoming national election, your vote has roughly a 1-in-10-million chance of deciding the outcome, and voting will cost you about two hours. Stipulate: you care which side wins. You: | Vote, mainly because a tiny chance times very high stakes is worth two hours | His 2016 and 2020 "lesser-evil voting" statements — vote (especially in swing states) because the difference in outcomes is enormous: a consequentialist voting rationale. (scenario answer — inferred from their documented positions, not a recorded statement) |
| Twenty years from now, advanced AI will most likely have been: | Net harmful — disruption and harm outweigh the gains | New York Times op-ed (March 2023) — current AI as a degradation of science and education. |
| You read a long essay arguing a policy claim, find it persuasive, and can't find a factual error. You then learn it was commissioned and paid for by an organization whose goals you support, and its author writes only for them. Stipulate: no claim in it has been shown false. Compared with right after reading, your confidence in its conclusion: | Falls back to where it was before I read it | Manufacturing Consent (1988) — the model is side-neutral; the filters apply to all institutional sources. (scenario answer — inferred from their documented positions, not a recorded statement) |
| Organized religion's overall effect on society has been: | Mixed to neutral — depends entirely on the religion and era | Interviews — he praises liberation theology and religious activists while rejecting doctrine; religion's effects depend on its use. |
| God exists | Probably false | Interviews on science and religion — he identifies as an atheist while noting the limits of what can be known. |
| Conscious existence continues after death | Probably false | His materialist stance across interviews; no survival doctrine is anywhere expressed. |
| Prayer can change what happens in the world, beyond its effects on the people involved | Probably false | Talks on science and religion — supernatural intervention has no evidential standing. |
| Human beings arose entirely through unguided natural processes | Certainly true | His lifelong public defense of evolutionary science (interviews and writings on science). |
| Consciousness is produced entirely by the brain | Genuinely unsure | "The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden?", Journal of Philosophy (2009) — consciousness may be a mystery permanently beyond human cognitive reach; he declines both confident materialism and dualism. |
| With the past exactly the same, our choices could have gone otherwise | Probably true | "Language and Freedom" (1970) and interviews — free will treated as a real feature of human nature that science cannot yet explain. |
| Some actions are wrong no matter what any person or culture believes | Probably true | "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" (1967) and his moral-universalism talks — basic moral principles are universal and rooted in human nature. |
| We owe a stranger overseas as much as we owe a neighbor | Probably true | On Anarchism (2013) — solidarity and mutual responsibility extend universally. |
| Free markets do more to reduce poverty than government programs do | Certainly false | Profit Over People (1999) — free-market ("neoliberal") doctrine blamed for entrenching poverty and inequality. |
| Long-standing traditions usually contain wisdom we can't see | Probably false | On Anarchism (2013) — inherited authority must justify itself or be dismantled; tradition confers no legitimacy. |
| Advanced AI poses a serious risk of human extinction | Probably false | New York Times op-ed, "The False Promise of ChatGPT" (March 8, 2023) — current AI is not genuine intelligence; extinction discourse is misplaced hype. |
| People in 2100 will live better lives than people do today | Probably false | Requiem for the American Dream (2017) and interviews (2020–2023) — humanity at its most dangerous moment (climate, nuclear weapons). |
| Human life has a purpose beyond the one we choose for it | Probably false | Interviews — meaning and purpose are human creations within his atheist/humanist frame. |
| Most people are basically good | Probably true | "Language and Freedom" (1970) — anarchism presupposes a benign, creative human nature. |
| Experts are usually right about questions in their own field | Probably false | "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" (1967) — credentialed experts characteristically serve power; deference to them is unwarranted. |
| Official institutions are honest with the public | Certainly false | Manufacturing Consent (1988, with Edward S. Herman) — state and corporate institutions systematically deceive the public. |