Alicorn comments on Open Thread: April 2010 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Unnamed 01 April 2010 03:21PM

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Comment author: Alicorn 02 April 2010 09:08:27PM *  0 points [-]

You have not taken into account that testing magical hypotheses may be categorized as "play" and pay its rent on time and effort accordingly.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 02 April 2010 09:36:15PM 2 points [-]

Then this activity shouldn't be rationalized as being the right decision specifically for the reasons associated with the topic of rationality. For example, the father dismissing the suggestion to test the hypothesis is correct, given that the mere activity of testing it doesn't present him with valuable experience.

You've just taken the conclusion presented in the story, and wrote above it a clever explanation that contradicts the spirit of the story.