WrongBot comments on Some Thoughts Are Too Dangerous For Brains to Think - Less Wrong

15 Post author: WrongBot 13 July 2010 04:44AM

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Comment author: WrongBot 15 July 2010 03:19:07PM 2 points [-]

So far as I can tell you're agreeing with me, or at least arguing at a right angle to what this post was intended to discuss. Whether it's the brain or the input that does the deciding, there are some combinations of brain and input that produce results that may be contrary to one's conscious preferences.

The fact that all brains work in roughly the same way doesn't change the fact that they are not the ideal substrate for rational cognition in a modern environment.

Comment author: Thomas 15 July 2010 04:18:46PM -1 points [-]

So you say, you can't trust your brains.

But you can trust them in this debate?

Comment author: WrongBot 15 July 2010 04:52:27PM 2 points [-]

There is no obvious way in which genes that would cause my brain to deceive me in this sort of case would be selected for.

(If there is such a bias that applies here, I would lower the estimated accuracy of my argument accordingly.)

Comment author: ciphergoth 15 July 2010 04:38:52PM * 1 point [-]

We have to repair the ship while at sail. What alternate means of thinking about it do you propose?

Comment author: Thomas comment score below threshold [+] (6 children)

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 15 July 2010 05:00:12PM 1 point [-]

There is do "default" to fall back to when you "distrust your brain". Any act of "distrust" must be accompanied with a specific suggestion for improvement, which, where available, should surely be taken.

Comment author: Thomas comment score below threshold [+] (0 children)

Comment author: ciphergoth 15 July 2010 04:47:24PM 0 points [-]

Look up "Neurath's Boat" (sometimes "Neurath's Ship").

We are like sailors who on the open sea must reconstruct their ship but are never able to start afresh from the bottom. Where a beam is taken away a new one must at once be put there, and for this the rest of the ship is used as support. In this way, by using the old beams and driftwood the ship can be shaped entirely anew, but only by gradual reconstruction.

Comment author: Thomas 15 July 2010 04:53:45PM 0 points [-]

Right now, you can't repair your brains very much. We have no good access to them. You have to trust them. At least for now.

What doesn't mean, they are right. It only means that this is your best bet you can make. At least for now.

Comment author: JanetK 15 July 2010 05:10:41PM 1 point [-]

I believe we have more control then we think we have. I call it 'mind maintenance' if you think about and very carefully try to analyze problems, biases, personal traps etc.it is possible to make a difference to how you approach things in the future. As long as you feel you are separate from your brain/mind or have some sort of magical free will or mistrust your own thinking, it will be very difficult to do mind maintenance. There is not a you and your brain. There is one brain and within it there is widespread awareness of some of its processes - together being you.

Comment author: Thomas 15 July 2010 05:24:00PM 0 points [-]

I believe we have more control then we think we have.

I believe that too. But only if the underlying mental process is sound. Than you will handle the inputs properly and the outputs will be satisfactory.

Even in the case of optical illusions, you can understand the context and everything will go by smoothly.

But if you doubt in your brains' abilities generally, it's nothing you can do.

WrongBot comments on Some Thoughts Are Too Dangerous For Brains to Think - Less Wrong

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