= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
Kaj_Sotala comments on Scott Aaronson's "On Self-Delusion and Bounded Rationality" - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (48)
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.
Who said that the characters in good stories must never be mistaken?
Sure, but this isn't just a story, it's a story that tries to make a point about the negative consequences of rationality for some humans in the real world. Her belief isn't merely her belief, it's also a step in an argument.
I suspect you may be reading too much into it: I thought the "negative consequences of rationality" were more for the sake of pure comedy than for making any kind of a point.
Of course, you may also be right and I might be the one who's reading too little into it.