= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
steven0461 comments on Instrumental Rationality is a Chimera - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (31)
If you've been reading this site, you've seen repeated objections, including my own, to this definition.
There is no such thing as non-instrumental rationality; for it would not be rational. It would be an arbitrarily-chosen value.
A belief that galaxies exist is a rational belief, but has no instrumental value. It is simply true.
It's instrumental to the goal of understanding the universe. Moreover, if I didn't believe that galaxies exist I doubt I would be getting paid to study them.
No, a belief that galaxies exist is rational given certain evidence.
Your claim about its instrumental value is simply wrong. Any knowledge is useful if it has consequences for something we wish to do, and the only way to know whether a given piece of knowledge has such consequences is to know it well.