A rationalist sits down next to an attractive woman at the bar.
He asks "are you familiar with immediate reward bias?"
"No," she responds.
"Well, people tend to place irrationally high value on immediate rewards, relative to future rewards. So, for example, they might prefer $50 today over $55 next week. This is a bias that a more rational person can take advantage of in trade negotiations. Unfortunately, I am an impatient person. With that in mind, I have an offer for you. If you agree to have sex with me ONCE tonight, I will agree to have sex with you TWICE next week."
but discount rates don't have anything to do with rationality...
This is one of two autobiographies (along with Ben Franklin's) to actually change my life. I've seen it quoted often on LessWrong, as Feynman has a point of view on life that fits well with the ideas we explore here. In addition to his rationalist side, Feynman also exhibited a wonderfully free sense of humor. Even when working at the Manhattan Project, he joked around and never took himself too seriously. I think our community would benefit if the rationalism here were likewise leavened by some self-deprecating humor.
I will mail the autobiography, at my expense, to whomever posts the best corny rationalist joke in the comments below, as judged by karma voting. Anything goes. Here's a little inspirational prompting:
Edit (April 12th): The winner of the corny rationalist joke contest is this one-liner by SilasBarta, which collected 17 net up-votes:
The runner-up (and my personal favorite) is this exchange by Bo102010, which collected 14 net up-votes. The full comment thread for this one has an explanation and suggested refinements.
Thanks to everybody who contributed and voted on corny jokes.