MarkusRamikin comments on Stupid Questions Open Thread Round 2 - Less Wrong

15 Post author: OpenThreadGuy 20 April 2012 07:38PM

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Comment author: MarkusRamikin 21 April 2012 09:35:10AM *  3 points [-]

http://wiki.lesswrong.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Jargon

Belief update What you do to your beliefs, opinions and cognitive structure when new evidence comes along.

I know what it means to update your beliefs, and opinions is again beliefs. What does it mean to "update your cognitive structure"? Does it mean anything or is it just that whoever wrote it needed a third noun for rhythm purposes?

Comment author: DuncanS 21 April 2012 10:39:46PM *  0 points [-]

It's the process of changing your mind about something when new evidence on something comes your way.

The different jargon acts as a reminder that the process ought not be an arbitrary one, but (well, in an ideal world anyway) should follow the evidence in a way defined by Bayes theorem.

I don't think there's any particular definition of what constitutes, belief, opinion and cognitive structure. It's all just beliefs, although some of it might then be practised habit.

Comment author: David_Gerard 21 April 2012 10:28:43AM *  0 points [-]

I wrote that line in the jargon file quoting the first line of the relevant wiki page. The phrase was there in the first revision of that page - put there by an IP. If that IP is still present and could explain ...

I could come up with surmises as to what it could plausibly mean, but I'd be making them up and it isn't actually clear to me in April 2012 either.