JulianMorrison comments on Honesty: Beyond Internal Truth
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
You'll need to login or register to do that
(Don't worry, it only takes a few seconds)
Create a new account
All it takes is a username and password
Comments (76)
I know I'm a really crap rationalist. Lots of the ways I fail at reason are in the category of "lying to myself", "making things easier by adopting a role", "maintaining a bubble of cosy normality". When I'm not lying to myself overtly, manipulating others can be a means to untruth-maintenance.
Honestly, even if lying were useful, I don't think I can trust myself with it.
Maybe a graduate Beisutsukai can lie, but an student ought to be scrupulous with truth.
You don't have to run faster than the bear, just faster than your slowest friend.
In explicitspeak: You may be right, but your being right on this matter makes you a better rationalist than the vast majority of people who claim that title.
I suggest that competitive bear races, metaphorically speaking, are so rare that even looking for them is positively harmful. Nearly all tests of reason, from frying with hot fat to investing your money to buying cryonics, the only people in the race are you and the bear, and you really do have to be faster.