orthonormal comments on A Rational Identity - Less Wrong

31 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 12 July 2010 10:59PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (25)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: orthonormal 13 July 2010 11:41:16PM *  8 points [-]

ISTM we should encourage a default norm of respect for people who change their minds on serious topics, even if we disagree with the switch or the reasoning (within bounds). Yes, this norm could be gamed if it goes too far, but right now the norm is that changing one's mind is an admission of weakness, and that depresses the sanity waterline considerably.

ETA: Sorry for the ambiguity— as you guys point out, we already do this regularly on LW. It's in real life that this needs to start happening.

Comment author: Will_Newsome 14 July 2010 12:34:02PM *  4 points [-]

Really? I've seen (disproportionately?) large amounts of karma heaped on those who change their mind or admit they were mistaken. Do you have any examples otherwise?

Added: I was assuming you were talking about LW; if you're talking about society generally, then never mind. :)

Comment author: Emile 14 July 2010 12:37:48PM 2 points [-]

I got that impression too - what orthonormal describes applies to society in general, but I don't think it applies to less wrong.

Comment author: JoshuaZ 14 July 2010 12:38:50PM *  1 point [-]

We already seem to do this. To use an example that stands out in my mind, here I got upvoted to +10 for saying I was wrong.