Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on Deciding on our rationality focus - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 22 July 2009 06:27AM

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Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 22 July 2009 07:04:54AM 26 points [-]

Agreed. Systematic instrumental rationality is what we're interested in. Better general methods. Akrasia and the problem of internal conflicts, fits this template; but making better coffee does not, however useful you may find it.

Comment author: temp532522 22 July 2009 08:25:14AM 4 points [-]

This is indeed a deep rabbit hole.

Could anyone here recommend areas where one could attempt to discuss some of society's more pressing issues using the very general methods described here? Politics and making better coffee?

While I agree such posts would not fit here, such discussions would serve as practice. If the community were similar to this one, ideally hard evidence and constructive criticism would be the norm.

Comment author: Jonathan_Graehl 22 July 2009 08:04:26AM *  3 points [-]

Assuming promoted articles are subject to your veto, I don't see much harm in original posts of exceptional quality, even if they are either overly meta-LW or overly domain specific. Of course, one must draw the line at pictures of kittens.

Comment author: thomblake 22 July 2009 01:43:44PM 4 points [-]

Are we really bad enough at voting that we can't be trusted to downvote pictures of kittens?

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 22 July 2009 04:45:39PM *  3 points [-]

I'm not certain that anyone can very reliably be trusted to downvote e.g. the failcat sequence.

Comment author: thomblake 22 July 2009 04:59:14PM *  1 point [-]

Come on, if that doesn't demonstrate a relevant failure of rationality I don't know what does.

ETA: (insert standard convention for tagging this as an attempt at humor)