Poignant short story about truth-seeking that I just found. Quote:
"No," interjected an internal voice. "You need to prove that your dad will appear by a direct argument from the length of your nails, one that does not invoke your subsisting in a dream state as an intermediate step."
"Nonsense," retorted another voice. "That we find ourselves in a dream state was never assumed; rather, it follows so straightforwardly from the long-nail counterfactual that the derivation could be done, I think, even in an extremely weak system of inference."
The full thing reads like a flash tour of OB/LW, except it was written in 2001.
I have to say I'm surprised by the amount of praise this story is getting.
The main character seems convinced that the difficulty she experiences in interacting pleasantly with members of the opposite sex and possibly starting a relationship with someone less rational than she is, is due to her inability to delude herself, or even to compartmentalize.
But it's not. It's due to her inability to shut up once in a while. Instead of working on changing her entire psyche, couldn't she have simply made an effort to, you know, control the way she behaves?
Epistemic rationality has nothing to do with extreme honesty towards other individuals, or with showing contempt for irrationalists, or even with feeling contempt for them. The greatest epistemic rationalist on Earth could have a happy relationship with a Young Earth Creationist; all s/he'd have to do is either refrain from criticism, or be very polite and gentle about it.
Also, I wasn't very impressed with the classification of Richard Dawkins (and those like him) as a "a Type-1-and-higher retard". What he is is a good Type-1-and-higher thinker who cares about the truth and therefore to whom avoiding self-deception is advantageous.
I think you're misreading the story. It's not an argument in favor of irrationality, it's a horror story. The catch is that it's a good horror story, directed at the rationalist community. Like most good horror stories, it plays off a specific fear of its audience.
You may be immune to the lingering dread created by looking at all those foolish happy people around you and wondering if maybe you are the one doing something wrong. Or the fear that even if you act as rationally as you can, you could still box yourself into a trap you won't be able to think you... (read more)