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MrHen comments on Open Thread: March 2010 - Less Wrong
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I was tempted to add this comment:
But figured it wouldn't be nice to screw with your poll. :)
The point, though, is that I really don't understand the luminosity metaphor based on how you have currently described it. I would guess the following:
Am I close?
Edit: Terminology
The adjective is "luminous", not "luminescent", but yes! Thanks - it's good to get feedback on when I'm not clear. However, the word "luminosity" itself is only sort of metaphorical - it's a technical term I stole and repurposed from a philosophy article. The question is how far I can go with doing things like calling a post "You Are Likely To Be Eaten By A Grue" when decrying the hazards of poor luminosity.
Ok, you just won my vote! ;)
Me too; I'm always fond of references like that one. ;)
My interpretation of your description had been that luminosity is like the bandwidth parameter in kernel density estimation.
Can you elaborate on this? I suspect it's not what Alicorn was describing, but it may be interesting in its own right.
(For what it's worth, I understood the math in the Wikipedia article.)
One way to guess what might happen in a given situation is to compare it to similar situations in the past. Assume we already have some way of measuring similarity. Some past situations will be extremely similar to the current situation, and some will be less similar but still pretty close. How much weight should we attach to each?
If your data set is very small, then it is usually better for the weight to drop off slowly, while the opposite is true if your data set is large. Perhaps different individuals use different curves, and so some people will have an advantage at reasoning with scanty data, while others will have an advantage at reasoning with mountains of data. I thought that Alicorn was suggesting "luminosity" as a name for this personality trait. It looks like I was way off, though :-)
Fortunately, my first post in the sequence will be devoted to explaining what luminosity is in meticulous detail. Spoiler: it's not like anything that is described in a Wikipedia article that makes my head swim that badly.
Hm. Interesting, I don't think I ever realized those two words had slightly different meanings.
*Files information under vocab quirks.*