alyssavance comments on Rationality Quotes November 2009 - Less Wrong

8 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 29 November 2009 11:36PM

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Comment author: alyssavance 01 December 2009 01:42:28AM 0 points [-]

It's supposed to be an example of how war can be profitable for industry (as indeed it was for many in Germany during WWII).

Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 01 December 2009 06:13:15AM *  1 point [-]

OK, then, do you consider Schindler's List or any other Hollywood film evidence that the war was profitable for industrialists in Germany?

I always thought that Hollywood films were held to high standards for mass appeal and sometime for aesthetics, but not for historical veracity.

Comment author: alyssavance 01 December 2009 08:21:47PM 2 points [-]

I quoted the film merely for rhetorical purposes. The fact that many German industrialists got rich off WWII is very thoroughly documented.

Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 01 December 2009 08:40:50PM 1 point [-]

I quoted the film merely for rhetorical purposes.

Well, I for one wish you would refrain from such a heavy-handed rhetorical tactic.

Everyone has a natural human tendency to consider what they see in movies as "documentary evidence". I wish you'd try to help us overcome that cognitive bias, not encourage us to persist in it.

Comment author: DanArmak 01 December 2009 09:33:28PM 0 points [-]

Especially in "based on a real story" pseudo documentary films.