MrHen comments on Evangelical Rationality - Less Wrong

36 Post author: CannibalSmith 20 April 2009 04:51AM

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Comment author: MrHen 20 April 2009 02:33:10PM 1 point [-]

We must establish non-geeky paths to rationality.

I think this is important in teaching how these principles apply to non-geeky lives. While curiosity is a virtue, not everyone has in it spades. More specifically, when some people encounter a term they do not know they simply stop reading with an, "I do not understand." They should be filled with curiosity about what that term means but, for some reason, they are not.

On second thought, "should" may be too strong. Is curiosity an innate emotion/ability/feeling? Can it be trained? This is drifting further off-topic.

Comment author: stcredzero 21 April 2009 07:26:27PM *  6 points [-]

There is already a very powerful "non-geeky path to rationality." It is a strong hook to curiosity and innate emotion.

It's commonly known as "Follow the Money!"

Investigate the economics of just about anything, and one can figure out the underlying motivations. Also, people's inherent sense of fairness will often get them incensed about any irrationality involved.