mwaser comments on Making your explicit reasoning trustworthy - Less Wrong

82 Post author: AnnaSalamon 29 October 2010 12:00AM

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Comment author: mwaser 29 October 2010 07:36:57PM 2 points [-]

I, too, really appreciated this post.

Unfortunately, though, I think that you missed one of the most important skills for safer reasoning -- recognizing and acknowledging assumptions (and double-checking that they are still valid). Many of the most dangerous failures of reasoning occur when a normally safe assumption is carried over to conditions where it is incorrect. Diving three feet into water that is unobstructed and at least five feet deep won't lead to a broken neck -- unless the temperature is below zero centigrade.