Jayson_Virissimo comments on Rationality Quotes December 2012 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Thomas 03 December 2012 02:33AM

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Comment author: Jayson_Virissimo 07 December 2012 10:15:44AM *  1 point [-]

Nothing is worth doing pointlessly.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 8

Comment author: RobinZ 07 December 2012 07:03:56PM 2 points [-]

Do you know where in the Meditations this quote arises? I tried searching for "worth" in a couple online versions, but all I found was from the end of Book Seven here:

What object soever, our reasonable and sociable faculty doth meet with, that affords nothing either for the satisfaction of reason, or for the practice of charity, she worthily doth think unworthy of herself.

...which, in this version, reads:

Whatever the rational and political (social) faculty finds to be neither intelligent nor social, it properly judges to be inferior to itself.

Comment author: Jayson_Virissimo 08 December 2012 12:21:27AM *  3 points [-]

It is in Book 8. I edited the original post to make this clear.

The George Long translation reads:

For nothing should be done without a purpose.

My Latin version (I don't know who translated it) reads:

Nihil enim temere faciendum.

I'm not sure which version is the most accurate, since I can't understand Koine Greek.

Comment author: [deleted] 07 December 2012 10:37:16AM *  1 point [-]

Depending on what one means by “pointlessly”, that's either incorrect (there are such thing as terminal values) or obviously tautological.

Comment author: Jayson_Virissimo 07 December 2012 10:45:16AM *  7 points [-]

Depending on what one means by “pointlessly”, that's either incorrect (there are such thing as terminal values) or obviously tautological.

Something being obviously tautological doesn't preclude it from being useful advise (for humans).

  • My Brain: "If I completed this task, would it actually amount to anything of value?"
  • Another Part of My Brain: "Uh, not really."
  • My Brain: "I should stop doing this task."
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