tut comments on Rationality Quotes April 2012 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Oscar_Cunningham 03 April 2012 12:42AM

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Comment author: Random832 13 April 2012 08:41:37PM *  19 points [-]

The other day I was thinking about Discworld, and then I remembered this and figured it would make a good rationality quote...

[Vimes] distrusted the kind of person who'd take one look at another man and say in a lordly voice to his companion, "Ah, my dear sir, I can tell you nothing except that he is a left-handed stonemason who has spent some years in the merchant navy and has recently fell on hard times," and then unroll a lot of supercilious commentary about calluses and stance and the state of a man's boots, when exactly the same comments could apply to a man who was wearing his old clothes because he'd been doing a spot of home bricklaying for a new barbecue pit, and had been tattooed once when he was drunk and seventeen and in fact got seasick on a wet pavement. What arrogance! What an insult to the rich and chaotic variety of the human experience!

-- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

Comment author: tut 14 April 2012 09:27:31AM 2 points [-]

Sounds like Vimes doesn't like Sherlock Holmes much.

Comment author: Multiheaded 14 April 2012 09:45:41AM 1 point [-]

Gee, you think?

Comment author: tut 14 April 2012 11:31:51AM *  1 point [-]

Well, the quote made me think of this. Now that I looked up that post I notice that it is downvoted, so perhaps it isn't relevant. But the behavior that Vimes expresses distrust of in the Pratchett quote is pretty much the exact behavior that is used to show off how intelligent/perceptive Holmes is, and which the poster wants to use as an example for rationalists.

Comment author: MixedNuts 20 April 2012 05:53:47PM 0 points [-]

It is relevant and obvious. I suppose it was downvoted for the latter.