army1987 comments on Open Thread, October 16-31, 2012 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: OpenThreadGuy 16 October 2012 10:43PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 24 October 2012 03:09:00PM -1 points [-]
Comment author: drethelin 24 October 2012 03:37:37PM 1 point [-]

"Not checking the exact origin of every single quote all the time makes you a shitty skeptic." -Abraham Lincoln

Comment author: Gabriel 29 October 2012 03:07:20PM 0 points [-]

I agree to an extent with the fictional Abe Lincoln quote. Quoting famous people serves mostly as a means of signaling so that whatever you're saying sounds more convincing. The actual epistemic value of quotes is so low (if it's even positive at all) that it's justifiable to burden yourself with the task of checking the exact origin of every single quote you encounter before you start repeating it. (But it won't be "all the time", as you have to check only once per quote.)