Nick_Tarleton comments on Blue- and Yellow-Tinted Choices - Less Wrong

49 Post author: Yvain 13 May 2010 10:35PM

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Comment author: Nick_Tarleton 14 May 2010 12:11:23AM *  10 points [-]

Holy crap we're broken. Good info.

This is getting deep into Dark Arts territory, and according to Predictably Irrational, the opportunity to use these powers for evil has not gone unexploited.

I'm a little worried that calling (a/i)rrational persuasive techniques "Dark Arts", even in seemingly indefensible (though, it must be said, minor) cases like this, biases us against them and will make people averse to using them even when doing so is ethical and beneficial. What do others think? Am I overreacting?

Dan Ariely, who apparently learned his teaching methodology from Professor Quirrell

FWIW, I suspect most casual readers don't know about Methods of Rationality and were confused by this.

Comment author: thomblake 14 May 2010 03:50:04PM 12 points [-]

FWIW, I suspect most casual readers don't know about Methods of Rationality and were confused by this.

Well, they should fix that.

Comment author: HughRistik 14 May 2010 10:11:06PM 6 points [-]

The label "Dark Arts" is itself an example of Dark Arts: romanticizing something to hide assumptions in it.

Comment deleted 14 May 2010 01:13:08AM *  [-]
Comment author: Douglas_Knight 14 May 2010 05:14:38AM 0 points [-]

Here is a provocative thought. In my opinion, scientists nowadays command the trust and confidence of the general public largely thanks to the "dark arts."

Yeah, but was this relevant? Shouldn't this go in an open thread or its own post?

Comment author: Vladimir_M 14 May 2010 06:14:47AM *  0 points [-]

Yes, you're right, it is probably too off topic. I replied to the above comment without too much thinking about the context. I'll delete it and cache the thought for a more appropriate moment.

Comment author: Douglas_Knight 14 May 2010 07:12:14AM 1 point [-]

That seems a bit extreme. Why not put it on the open thread now, even if you plan on elaborating later?

Comment author: Vladimir_M 14 May 2010 06:51:19PM 0 points [-]

Don't worry, I can quickly reproduce the same argument whenever a more opportune context comes up.

Comment author: Yvain 14 May 2010 09:33:00PM *  0 points [-]

I like the reference to "Dark Arts", but I've removed the Quirrell part on your suggestion.