Benedict comments on Rationality Quotes February 2013 - Less Wrong

2 Post author: arundelo 05 February 2013 10:20PM

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

Article Navigation

Comments (563)
Tags: quotes

Comments (563)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Benedict 07 February 2013 09:00:18PM *  2 points [-]

Doc Scratch isn't exactly the best source for rationality quotes- a guy who already knows the truth has little need to overcome flawed cognitive processes for arriving at it. Which isn't to say the guy doesn't say some relevant stuff:

Lies of omission do not exist. The concept is a very human one. It is the product of your story writing again. You have written a story about the truth, making emotional demands of it, and in particular, of those in possession of it. Your demands are based on a feeling of entitlement to the facts, which is very childish. ... If I do not volunteer information you deem critical to your fate, it possibly means that I am a scoundrel, but it does not mean that I am a liar. And it certainly means you did not ask the right questions. One can make either true statements or false statements about reality.

Comment author: Desrtopa 08 February 2013 04:09:27AM *  3 points [-]

One can make either true statements or false statements about reality.

One can do these two things, but not to the exclusion of alternatives. One can make statements which are confused or nonsensical, that are not even false.

In any case, a statement doesn't have inherent truth value outside the way it's interpreted by the people who hear it. The statement that "If a tree falls in the forest, it does not make a sound" is true or false depending on the meanings understood by the audience and the person uttering it. It's entirely possible to convey false understandings by making statements which omit relevant information. To refuse to call a statement which is deliberately tailored to make its audience believe falsehoods a lie is using a distinction in an unhelpful way.

Comment author: Baughn 08 February 2013 03:47:58PM *  3 points [-]

This.

It borders on arguing about the meaning of words, so I find it useful to describe what I mean by "lying", i.e. "conveying information that adjusts someone else's worldview away from reality". Funnily enough, that excludes most lies-to-children..

At that point whoever I'm talking to will either point out that his definition differs, or even decide to go with mine henceforth, and either way we can start getting some real work done.

Comment author: fubarobfusco 08 February 2013 03:44:37AM -1 points [-]

Of course, he was lying (arguably by omission); Doc Scratch was not merely reticent or uncooperative, but intentionally deceptive.

(Must resist urge to watch Cascade again ...)

Powered by Reddit Powered by Reddit