patrissimo comments on Individual Rationality Is a Matter of Life and Death - Less Wrong

24 Post author: patrissimo 21 March 2009 07:22PM

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Comment author: patrissimo 22 March 2009 09:39:34PM 7 points [-]

By rationality I am not referring to bayesian reasoning. I simply mean making correct decisions even when (especially when) one's hardwired instincts give the wrong answer.

In the first case, I should not have driven. In the second case, I should have told the driver to be more careful. In both cases, I made serious mistakes in life-or-death situations. I call that irrational, and I seek to not replicate such mistakes in the future.

You are welcome to call it "common sense" if you prefer. "Common sense" is rather a misnomer, in my opinion, considering how uncommon a quality it is. But I really don't care what it is called. I simply mean, making better decisions, screwing up less, being less of a monkey and more of a human. I find it baffling that people don't find it blindingly obvious that this is one of the most important skills to develop in life.

Comment author: thomblake 02 April 2009 01:25:58PM 2 points [-]

I find it baffling that people don't find it blindingly obvious that this is one of the most important skills to develop in life.

I think a big chunk of the explanation is that many people wouldn't see it obviously as a 'skill'.