Alejandro1 comments on Rationality Quotes January 2013 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: katydee 02 January 2013 05:23PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (604)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: Alejandro1 01 January 2013 03:46:33PM 8 points [-]

The universe is not indifferent. How do I know this? I know because I am part of the universe, and I am far from indifferent.

--Scott Derrickson

Comment author: NoisyEmpire 02 January 2013 07:26:46PM 12 points [-]

While affirming the fallacy-of-composition concerns, I think we can take this charitably to mean "The universe is not totally saturated with only indifference throughout, for behold, this part of the universe called Scott Derrickson does indeed care about things."

Comment author: [deleted] 02 January 2013 11:42:06PM 2 points [-]

That's the way I interpreted it, too. There's a speech in HP:MOR where Harry makes pretty much the same point.

Comment author: NoisyEmpire 03 January 2013 01:38:40AM 7 points [-]

“There is light in the world, and it is us!”

Love that moment.

Comment author: Alejandro1 04 January 2013 09:52:27PM *  2 points [-]

That's exactly the sentiment I was aiming for with the quote.

Comment author: BerryPick6 01 January 2013 04:54:19PM *  8 points [-]

We are all faced throughout our lives with agonizing decisions. Moral choices. Some are on a grand scale. Most of these choices are on lesser points. But! We define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are in fact the sum total of our choices. Events unfold so unpredictably, so unfairly, human happiness does not seem to have been included, in the design of creation. It is only we, with our capacity to love, that give meaning to the indifferent universe. And yet, most human beings seem to have the ability to keep trying, and even to find joy from simple things like their family, their work, and from the hope that future generations might understand more.

-- Closing lines of Crimes and Misdemeanors, script by Woody Allen.

Comment author: Alejandro1 01 January 2013 09:59:23PM 0 points [-]

I agree with the sentiment expressed in this quote, and I don't see it as opposed to the one expressed i mine, but judging from the pattern of up votes and downvotes, people do not agree.

I guess the quote I posted is ambiguous. You could read it as a kind of bad theistic argument ("since there is meaning in my life, there must be Ultimate Meaning in the universe"). Or you could read it as an anti-nihilistic quote ("even if there is no Ultimate Meaning, the fact that there is meaning in my life is enough to make it false that the universe is meaningless"). I was assuming the second reading, but I guess either the people who voted either assumed the first one. Or perhaps they saw the second one and just judged it a poor way of stating this idea.

Comment author: Jayson_Virissimo 02 January 2013 03:13:39AM 6 points [-]

The fallacy of composition arises when one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole (or even of every proper part).

Comment author: Kindly 02 January 2013 02:59:53PM 13 points [-]

Scott Derrickson is indifferent. How do I know this? I know because Scott Derrickson's skin cells are part of Scott Derrickson, and Scott Derrickson's skin cells are indifferent.

Comment author: [deleted] 02 January 2013 11:44:59PM 5 points [-]

If you interpret “X is indifferent” as “no part of X cares”, the original quote is valid and yours isn't.

Comment author: MixedNuts 01 January 2013 04:47:35PM 7 points [-]

I touched her hand. Her hand touched her boob. By the transitive property, I got some boob. Algebra's awesome!

-- Steve Smith, American Dad!, season 1, episode 7 "Deacon Stan, Jesus Man", on the applicability of this axiom.

Comment author: taelor 02 January 2013 04:57:20AM 1 point [-]

Scott Derrickson may be a part of the universe, but he is not the universe.