Rain comments on Rationality quotes: May 2010 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: ata 01 May 2010 05:48AM

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Comment author: Rain 01 May 2010 07:03:17PM *  3 points [-]

When Eliezer appears to you in a clown suit, will you laugh and turn away?

Taken in the context of a general probe attack, this attempt at humor seems out of place.

Probe attack... yes, that's one reason I find quite a few of the questioning responses here agitating or frustrating. Just like a port scan, they have all the patterns of an attack, are used to discover weaknesses and flaws, and can be generally invasive and exhaustingly thorough, even though they're part of the standard toolkit and even more often used for troubleshooting. Enlightenment++

Comment author: RichardKennaway 01 May 2010 07:30:49PM *  2 points [-]

I take your point about a "probe attack" and now I find what I wrote unsatisfactory. I'll try again:

Blueberry loves the idea that we're all insane homicidal maniacs, and doesn't like the other ideas, apparently on the grounds that the latter appear in a religious context. This looks like a classic example of judging the truth by the clothes it appears in.

Comment author: Rain 01 May 2010 08:59:29PM *  5 points [-]

Maybe I should have posted it like this:

As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up reasons to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion?