CountlessArgonauts comments on Is Santa Real? - Less Wrong

19 Post author: thomblake 13 March 2009 08:45PM

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Comment author: CountlessArgonauts 13 March 2009 08:54:42PM 7 points [-]

Unless you're going to cloister your children until the state forces you to release them into the world, they're going to encounter plenty of irrationality without your needing to deliberately lie to them. I would try leading by example, rather than hoping for an epiphany that may never come.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 13 March 2009 09:08:09PM 4 points [-]

What do children learn that counts for the same test as Santa Claus?

Comment author: Cyan 13 March 2009 09:40:10PM *  8 points [-]

The lie of Santa Claus may be a learning experience, but it isn't actually a test per se -- every child finds out the truth one way or another.

Comment author: scientism 13 March 2009 10:38:44PM 3 points [-]

What about ghosts, the supernatural and everything else of that kind they'll encounter in movies, television, cartoons, etc? The only difference with Santa is that most people grow out of it, whereas many adults continue to believe in ghosts, but that's because Santa is childhood-specific myth. If the same adults who think Santa is absurd were supposed to believe in Santa I'm sure they'd have no problems rationalizing it.