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Annoyance comments on Beginning at the Beginning - Less Wrong
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"Rational actions are about following an optimal strategy,"
No, they're not. They're about acting in accordance with one's explicit and conscious understanding of what the optimal strategy is.
Rationality is inherently self-reflective. It's about the thinking that directions the actions and not the actions themselves.
"rational reasoning is about being able to reliably generate optimal strategies"
Again, no. That's usually an effect of rational reasoning, but it's not what rational reasoning is about, and it doesn't necessarily follow. Possessing a self-correcting feedback loop doesn't mean the output will be correct, or even that it will tend to be correct. It means only that it will tend to correct itself.
So, is it rational for me to sign up for cryonics because Eliezer told me to? I don't think predictions and actions stop being rational due to following a preferred ritual of cognition.
"So, is it rational for me to sign up for cryonics because Eliezer told me to?"
Depends. Can you offer an explanation of the reasoning that permits you to derive that action, and can you justify that explanation?
That's what determines whether it would be rational or not. 'Rational' is not a property of the action, it's a property of you and your reasons for taking the action.