fiddlemath comments on Get Curious - Less Wrong

51 Post author: lukeprog 24 February 2012 05:10AM

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Comment author: fiddlemath 23 February 2012 01:58:22AM *  5 points [-]

Upvoted for making me laugh until it hurt.

You could probably get sufficiently-twisted kids to do this on the usual Halloween. Dress them up as professors of philosophy or something; it'd be far scarier than zombie costumes. (This would actually be fantastic.)

Alternately, dress up as a "philosopher" (Large fake beard and pipe, maybe?), set up something like a fake retiring room on your front porch, tell small children that their daily lives are based on subtly but critically broken premises, and give them candy. (Don't actually do this, unless your neighbors love or hate you unconditionally. Or you're moving away soon.)

Comment author: spiceupthemind 26 February 2012 04:03:17AM 2 points [-]

Oh, great. Now I have half a mind to go out this Halloween for the first time since junior high school dressed as a philosophy professor to scare middle aged housewives with rationalist arguments.

And I would carry out my threat of giving details as to how they have devoted their whole existences to a lie. I do that a lot, actually, just not in a costume and generally not by coming up to stranger's houses for candy.

Comment author: gwern 23 February 2012 02:26:21AM 4 points [-]

Large fake beard and pipe, maybe?

And tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows, don't forget.

Comment author: fiddlemath 23 February 2012 02:30:35AM 1 point [-]

Ah, yes. That would satisfy nicely.

Comment author: pedanterrific 23 February 2012 02:03:51AM 5 points [-]

You could probably get sufficiently-twisted kids to do this on the usual Halloween. Dress them up as professors of philosophy or something; it'd be far scarier than zombie costumes. (This would actually be fantastic.)

Alternately, dress up as a zombie philosopher and shamble around moaning "quaaaalia" instead of "braaaains".

Comment author: radical_negative_one 23 February 2012 04:24:18AM 8 points [-]

Last Halloween i dressed as a P-zombie. I explained to anybody who would listen that i had the same physical composition as a conscious human being, but was not in fact conscious. I'm not sure that any of them were convinced that i really was in costume.

Comment author: arundelo 23 February 2012 04:48:36AM *  6 points [-]

For this to be really convincing and spoooky, you could stay in character:

Halloween party attendant: Hi radical_negative_one, what are you dressed as?
confederate: radical_negative_one is a p-zombie, who acts just like a real person but is not actually conscious!
radical_negative_one: That's not true, I am conscious! I have qualia and an inner life and everything!

Comment author: pedanterrific 23 February 2012 05:16:15AM *  5 points [-]

confederate: No, radical_negative_one. You are the demons

And then radical_negative_one was a zombie.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 23 February 2012 01:04:27PM *  6 points [-]

radical_negative_one: (To confederate:) No, you're the p-zombie, not me! (To Halloween party attendant:) They're getting everywhere, you know. They look and act just like you and me, physically you can't tell, but they have no soul! They're just dead things!! They sound like us, but nothing they say means anything, it's just noises coming out of a machine!!! Your best friend could be a p-zombie!!!! All your friends could be p-zombies!!!!!

confederate It's all true! And he's one of them! Say, how do I know you're not a zombie?