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atorm comments on Suggestions on tech device/gear purchasing? - Less Wrong
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Comments (37)
This might be the most blatant misuse of "rational" in a post title I've ever seen.
If you wanted to ask about devices to enhance instrumental rationality in your life, a better title would have been "Tech gear to improve rationality?" As it is, it looks like you want to discuss general strategies for purchasing tech gear.
http://lesswrong.com/lw/8wh/rational_wart_removal/
I don't remember what post it was in response to, but at one point someone suggested "optimal" as a much better substitute for "rational" in this type of post, partly to reduce the use of "rational" as an applause light, and partly because it better describes what these posts are generally asking.
Agreed with respect to the substitution. That describes what I'm getting at. In using "rational," I simply meant, "What's the best way to go about deciding on a purchase of this class of thing?"
Now that's a challenge ...
¹ Actually there was an article about this in a recent Erowid newsletter. Kinda.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22603
This book is from 1873! Surely we've made some more recent advances in the science of horse-shoeing than that.
I think you mean this.
I would read all of these.
Especially dividing up the bacon optimally; that can be a divisive topic amongst today's enthusiasts.
Avoid stack, queue, and encryption, obviously. The rest are somewhat more practical.
I didn't put much thought into the title. I'm surprised it got downvoted so much, but perhas I lured people in thinking the post was something it wasn't. Other than the title, is my post objectionable?
I think you put it well -- I have a hard time thinking about how best to use the gift and hoped that others with devices I could potentially own might provide suggestions. For example, the idea of a tablet sounds appealing (apps, more mobile than a laptop, reading things, battery life, etc.) but (as shown below), perhaps those here who care to analyze the utility might chime in that it actually decreased efficiency by serving primarily as a distraction.
That's hard to know without actually owning one... and I don't. In any case, my apologies for the misleading title. It was not my intent at all.
ETA: edited the title.
People have misused "Rational X" as a post title so egregiously that Less Wrongers tend to have a knee-jerk reaction. For instance, I know this one is a joke, and it still irritates me.
I was about to ask, "How do you know it was a joke?" but then i looked at the user profile for TwistingFingers and in general his posts only make sense as dry humor.
I want to say that I didn't actually vote the post down for the title, although my karma benefited from other people's response. I think it's a perfectly good topic for Discussion, and I voted it up after seeing the title change. It might be too late for it to make it back to people's attention, which is too bad. Maybe you or someone else should write a new post discussing the pros and cons of various bits of tech.