Luke_A_Somers comments on Rationalist Fiction - Less Wrong

27 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 19 March 2009 08:22AM

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Comment author: Luke_A_Somers 29 March 2013 03:11:18PM 5 points [-]

I see Dr. Manhattan's problem as not being rationality, but A) seeing things at a subatomic level and having to expend effort to see them at a human level, B) seeing all parts of time, so that 'to the left of something alive' and 'after being alive' are basically the same idea, and C) being so struck by fatalism due to B that he's basically given up.

Comment author: Jiro 02 December 2013 01:40:41AM *  2 points [-]

I think you're steelmanning too much.

Dr. Manhattan shows interest in scientific experiments, even though scientific experiments should be prone to all of those problems as well. You never see him say he doesn't care about doing an experiment because the number of atoms before and after the experiment is the same.

Furthermore, Dr. Manhattan "changes his mind" when he sees how Laurie is worthy of respect despite her background, That's not a very close fit to overcoming the problems you describe, but it is a close fit for overcoming the "problems" of stereotypical "rationality".

Comment author: Luke_A_Somers 02 December 2013 05:09:27PM 0 points [-]

I think that fits as part of point C. He has become Jacques the Fatalist minus the sense of humor.