CronoDAS comments on Rationality Quotes: April 2011 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: benelliott 04 April 2011 09:55AM

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Comment author: CronoDAS 04 April 2011 11:29:10PM 34 points [-]

From a forum signature:

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." --Psalm 14:1

It is a fool's prerogative to utter truths that no one else will speak. --Neil Gaiman, Sandman 3:3:6

Comment author: gwern 09 April 2011 07:26:04PM 7 points [-]

"It has always been the prerogative of children & half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, & the emperor remains an emperor."

Also Neil Gaiman.

Comment author: David_Gerard 05 April 2011 09:27:30AM 3 points [-]

Even my theist girlfriend laughed out loud at that one :-)

Comment author: Psy-Kosh 09 April 2011 06:50:05AM 0 points [-]

I'd suggest, however, that one who is wise had better be at least better than a fool at discerning truths, or the one who is wise isn't all that wise.

In other words, of a fool is better than a wise person at finding truths no one else can find, then there's a serious problem with our notions of foolishness and wisdom.

Comment author: Normal_Anomaly 12 April 2011 01:17:01AM 2 points [-]

No idea if it's what Neil Gaiman meant, but the quote can be "rescued" by reading it like this:

It is a fool's [Person who is bad at signaling intelligence/wisdom] to utter truths that no one else will risk the status hit from speaking.

That is, the fool is as good at discerning truths as the wise man, but not as good at knowing when it's advantageous to say them or not.

Comment author: Nornagest 12 April 2011 01:31:45AM *  3 points [-]

I read the Gaiman quote as referring to "fool" in the sense of court jester, which seems to have more to do with status than intelligence although there are implications of both. Looked at that way, Psy-Kosh's objection doesn't seem to apply; it might indicate something wrong with our status criteria, but of course we already knew that.

The psalm, on the other hand, probably is talking mainly about intelligence. But the ambiguity still makes for a nice contrast.

Comment author: Psy-Kosh 12 April 2011 05:58:10AM 0 points [-]

Fair enough, if one means fool in that sense.

Comment author: KrisC 12 April 2011 01:24:18AM 0 points [-]

The equanimity of foolishness and wisdom is a long establish idea. The intention is to encourage better updating.