Nebu comments on Rationality is Systematized Winning - Less Wrong

48 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 03 April 2009 02:41PM

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Comment author: Nebu 14 April 2009 05:25:11PM 0 points [-]

One problem is that "Rationalists should win" has two obvious interpretations for me:

  1. Rationalists should win, therefore if rationalists aren't winning, there's something wrong with the world.
  2. Rationalists should win, therefore if you aren't winning, you're not a rationalist.

Compare with:

  1. People should donate money to Africa, therefore if people aren't donating to Africa, there's something wrong with the world.
  2. People should donate money to Africa, therefore if you don't donate to Africa, you're not a person.

and

  1. Protons should have an electric charge of 1, therefore if protons don't have an electric charge of 1, there's something wrong with the world.
  2. Protons should have an electric charge of 1, therefore if you don't have an electric charge of 1, you are not a proton.
Comment author: ciphergoth 14 April 2009 05:32:46PM 2 points [-]

What "Rationalists should WIN" needs is a stake through its heart; it is misinterpreted so much more often than it is correctly used that we may need to do without it altogether.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 14 April 2009 05:48:01PM *  2 points [-]

Shouldness in "Rationalists should win" is a much more detailed notion than correspondence to winning situations. It refers to a property of achieving goals, as seen under uncertainty, in our case implemented by cognitive algorithms that search the solution-space for the right plans. Rationalists should-win, have a good measure of win-should-ness.

Looking over it all again, I should add that "rationality is about winning" is also an immensely simpler sentiment, that still seems to retain the gist of the message for which the "rationalists should win" motto was devised.

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