moridinamael comments on Plant Seeds of Rationality - Less Wrong

33 Post author: lukeprog 10 March 2011 05:51PM

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Comment author: moridinamael 10 March 2011 08:38:18PM 10 points [-]

There is an organization at my university called Replant. Every year since 1991, students have participated in a massive campaign to plant trees. Last year, 1400 students were involved.

Like your suggestion of planting the seeds of rationality, this undertaking comes with pitfalls.

I've heard cynical/hilarious stories of Replant groups who go to the same location, several years in a row, dig up the dead trees they planted the year before, and plant new saplings in their place. The (rationalist) lesson here is that there are places where seeds won't grow. Effort would be better spent elsewhere.

Also, as tends to happen with many in-groups, "Replant People" have acquired a reputation for being mildly self-righteous. I can see the same thing happening with rationalists trying to spread the dogma.

So, at the risk of straining the metaphor past the breaking point, planting the seeds of rationality is a great idea as long as you've found a nurturing environment in which to plant them, you can invest energy in guiding their maturation, and you don't come off too smugly.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 10 March 2011 09:08:28PM 7 points [-]

So, at the risk of straining the metaphor past the breaking point

There is distinguished precedent:

Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:

And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.

And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Comment author: David_Gerard 11 March 2011 12:06:09AM 5 points [-]

This is, of course, why trees spew out a ridiculous excess of seeds, rather than spending their metabolic energy on crafting a single, perfect one.