Eugine_Nier comments on Your Evolved Intuitions - Less Wrong

15 Post author: lukeprog 05 May 2011 04:21PM

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Comment author: Eugine_Nier 05 May 2011 10:38:34PM 2 points [-]

Other people who talk about evo psych think it is the best thing since sliced bread. You talk about evo psych. Therefore, you think evo psych is the best thing since sliced bread.

It is approximately the same intuition at play as that which you describe as 'essentialism'

It's also a perfectly valid piece of Bayesian reasoning.

Comment author: wedrifid 05 May 2011 10:46:38PM *  5 points [-]

It's also a perfectly valid piece of Bayesian reasoning.

It isn't if it is made as a logical deduction - as it was presented in the quote and also how it is frequently implemented in practice. The valid Bayesian reasoning would be a well calibrated calculation of the probability that the speaker happens to think those same thoughts given the remembered behaviours of other individuals of the same species. If only that was how humans behaved!