cupholder comments on Open Thread: April 2010, Part 2 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: Unnamed 08 April 2010 03:09AM

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Comment author: cupholder 23 April 2010 07:44:34PM *  1 point [-]

(Edit - it's probably a good idea to avoid reading this comment until you try RobinZ's suggestion.)

I looked at the parent of the comment of yours, and I think I can see why you disagreed with MatthewB and JGWeissman about Pascal's Wager: the three of you may be thinking of PW differently to each other.

It sounds to me that MatthewB was evaluating PW in terms of how well it gets you to the truth, whereas you were evaluating PW in terms of whether it helps you win the +∞ reward for belief. PW is misguided for the first purpose, but could work for the second, depending on the situation.

And JGWeissman, I think, was considering PW-as-applied-to-theism whereas you were thinking of PW-in-general - but you identified that difference yourself.