John_Maxwell_IV comments on Rationality anecdotes for the homepage? - Less Wrong

3 Post author: John_Maxwell_IV 04 April 2012 06:33AM

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Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 04 April 2012 06:55:11AM *  1 point [-]

An anecdote of mine (details obscured to protect the innocent):

A friend of mine (who is okay with me sharing this) came down with a debilitating illness. He scheduled an appointment with the doctor, and attempted to diagnose himself using the Internet. During his visit with the doctor, the doctor agreed with his self-diagnosis, but demonstrated lack of knowledge regarding major findings about the relevant illness that had occurred in the last 10 years.

Deciding doctors were useless, my friend proceeded to treat himself using advice from the Internet. It wasn't until many (pain filled) months had passed that my friend realized he exhibited additional symptoms that weren't adequately explained by his self-diagnosis, and began to rethink his treatment.

This could potentially demonstrate positive bias in my friend's failure to look for disconfirming evidence for his self-diagnosis, his failure to properly understand unknown unknowns and visit more doctors, and maybe some form of priming when my friend's misdiagnosis helped his doctor fail too.

Of course, this is probably too much detail for the homepage, but the anecdote could possibly be slimmed down.

Comment author: Jayson_Virissimo 04 April 2012 06:59:24AM *  2 points [-]

I've got 2 anecdotes where using basic rationality skills (cost-benefit analysis) led me to both reject my doctor's advice and to obtain satisfactory outcomes. I'll have to think about whether I want these anecdotes on the internet or not.

Comment author: Viliam_Bur 04 April 2012 08:59:02AM 1 point [-]

I'll have to think about whether I want these anecdotes on the internet or not.

Would it make a difference if your name is removed from the story? How big is the chance that the details would allow to identify you anyway? Would it help to suggest that the 2 anecdotes happened to 2 different people? (But then it is necessary to remove your comment from here.)