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MarkusRamikin comments on Rationality Quotes October 2011 - Less Wrong
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Maybe, but there's nothing to support the idea that that's what's motivating Ilyssa there. It seems more like an excuse to blurt out anything contrarian that comes to mind, without having to exercise any impulse control or consider the actual, you know, effect of the words.
Maybe I'm committing the typical mind fallacy, but I think I see what's going on here because there's a part of me that likes that quote - the part of me that is clever and contrarian and enjoys throwing wrenches into arbitrary social scripts and customs, because the arbitrariness combined with the expectation of being conformed to offends me. I think many of us here can identify with that and perhaps that's what's causing people to mistake that quote as a rationalist one?
If not, then answer me this: was either instrumental or epistemic rationality served there in any way?
If you read the quote in context, then it's coming from a person who may have inherited paranoid schizophrenia from her father. The quote may be an attempt to add credence to thoughts and impulses that, for a while at least, align with rationality-as-we-know-it.
Taken out of context, it's a good mantra that you can apply as politely or impolitely as you like. You can even reword it so that it no longer requires attribution, thus removing the context you don't like.
Out of context, I still get a little red flag when I see the "I can't stop myself" part.
Though perhaps that might be because I didn't quite manage to divorce it from context in my mind...
EDIT: Anyway, I think context matters, the spirit in which a quote was originally made should be taken into consideration. So I downvoted the quote because I don't want people to look up the source and then perceive that kind of smartassery as "rationality" as approved by lesswrongians.
Yeah, I see your point. You won't accept a version with "I can't stop myself" removed?
I suppose... But if we change it and read it as being about something else (than what it was about in the original context) then it isn't really a rationality quote any more, is it?
Can it suffice that I understood where you're coming from and respect what you were trying to say? (even before getting here, I upvoted your previous comment, for clarity and responding well without being defensive.) I just object to that quote, not to the sentiment you're trying to express.
Thanks for the even-handed and accurate criticism. Rationality is awesome!
Fair enough.
Instrumental rationality is served if she likes blindsiding people more than anything else she could get from them, but she doesn't actually seem to, once she thinks about it.