Matthew comments on A Fable of Science and Politics - Less Wrong

113 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 23 December 2006 04:50AM

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Comment author: Matthew 23 December 2006 01:29:31PM 14 points [-]

"I have had this experience several times in my life; I come across clear enough evidence that settles for me an issue I had seen long disputed. "

What if you made an error in judgement at that point, not having access to all the relevant facts, and the particular matter under dispute is of great importance to discovering the truth about reality?

Isn't that "settles for me" exactly what we see happening when people are unwilling to look at facts that might challenge their current mental models? Couldn't this lead to a cul-de-sac?