TheOtherDave comments on Rationally Irrational - Less Wrong

-11 Post author: HungryTurtle 07 March 2012 07:21PM

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Comment author: TheOtherDave 09 March 2012 01:01:31AM *  3 points [-]

Yup. Personally, I prefer "optimizers should optimally achieve their goals" to "rationalists should win". But there exist people who find the latter version pithier, easier to remember, and more compelling. Different phrasings work better for different people, so it helps to be able to say the same thing in multiple ways, and it helps to know your audience.

Comment author: khafra 09 March 2012 07:06:03PM 4 points [-]

"Lesswrong, a community blog dedicated to the art of optimal goal-seeking, mostly through optimal belief acquisition."

I kinda like that. It's wordier, but it loses some of the connotations of "rational" that invariably trip up newcomers.

Comment author: TheOtherDave 09 March 2012 07:25:57PM 2 points [-]

I have elsewhere argued essentially this, though "optimized" and "optimal" are importantly different. The conclusion I came to reading the comments there was that people vary in how they process the relevant connotations, and arguing lexical choice makes my teeth ache, but personally I nevertheless try to avoid talking about "rational X choosing" when I mean optimizing my choice of X for particular goals.