saturn comments on On the Power of Intelligence and Rationality - Less Wrong

13 Post author: alyssavance 23 December 2009 10:49AM

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Comment author: saturn 24 December 2009 08:52:51AM *  2 points [-]

How many highly rational people do you suppose there are in the world? How many of them do you suspect are risk-seeking enough to aim for the type of swing-for-the-fences success that would make them notable?

If your respective answers aren't "quite a lot" and "a significant fraction" then it seems like you're neglecting the base rate. Otherwise, I'd like to know how you arrived at those estimates.

Comment author: alyssavance 29 December 2009 09:54:52AM 1 point [-]

"How many highly rational people do you suppose there are in the world? How many of them do you suspect are risk-seeking enough to aim for the type of swing-for-the-fences success that would make them notable?"

Precisely half of the human population has above average rationality. What's notable about people like the Nazis is not that they weren't x-rationalists, it's that they were well below average.