I feel a bit silly writing an post about connotations on a rationalist website, but I really love the quote "Rationality (is/is not) winning". I see a few different ways of interpreting it:
- "Rationality is winning" - results are more important than following a particular ritual of cognition. If something doesn't work, abandon it no matter how "rational" is seems.
- "Rationality is not winning" - exploration is much more fun than just mindlessly going toward some goal.
- "Rationality is winning" - what matters is how good you are at reaching socially accepted criteria of "success" - I don't like this connotation at all.
- And I can think of a few others...
I wonder, the way human brain works, is it common for there to be thoughts that are much better expressed with a short sentence full of ambiguous connotations, that by long and accurate explanations? Give me your favourite ambiguous quotes!
"Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo." Although the ambiguity is all in the syntax.
Actually, I disagree with some possible connotations of "better" here. It might be that many thoughts are most accurately expressed using ambiguous sentences, but that is probably because the thoughts are ambiguous as well (and I see that as pretty likely).
Example: "I'd like some icecream." seems quite like a typical thought. I have thought of that form as qualia, and they seem kind of useful. However, they are ambiguous all over the place.
But "better" also has the connotation of "optimal" in a utilitarian sense. And it might be that thoughts should best not be expressed in ambiguous terms, because that creates weird priming-effects which depend on your culture. If you think "I'd like some icecream" and your language lacks a proper distinction between icecream-type-A and icecream-type-B you are priming also for the wrong icecream type everytime you process that thought.
Now, one might come to the conclusion that you should just avoid verbalizing thoughts, but that will make communication difficult to say the least, as communication will in general involve passing categories of things. But maybe verbalizing a bit less internally might remove some of the cultural effects our respective languages bring.
I think you mean, "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."