Bugmaster comments on Open Thread, May 1-14, 2013 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: whpearson 01 May 2013 10:28PM

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Comment author: Bugmaster 11 May 2013 04:40:15PM 2 points [-]

All right, so does this mean that living your life as though Keebler Elves did not exist at all would be irrational ? After all, there's a small probability that they do exist...

Comment author: [deleted] 11 May 2013 08:48:20PM 0 points [-]

I never called anyone irrational for not believing in elves. I only said that a perfectly rational person would keep the possibility open.

Please stop exaggerating my arguments (and those of, for instance, the Book of Mormon) in order to make them easier to dismiss. It's an elementary logical fallacy which I'm finding quite a lot of here.

Comment author: Bugmaster 13 May 2013 11:27:21PM 2 points [-]

I never called anyone irrational for not believing in elves.

You kinda did:

A chance of 0 or effectively 0 is not conducive to a rational analysis of the situation.

In my own personal assessment, the probability of Keebler Elves existing is about the same as the probability of any major deities existing -- which is why I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it. My assessment is not dogmatic, though; if I met a Keebler Elf in person, or saw some reputable photographic evidence of one, or something like that, then I'd adjust the probability upward.

Comment author: Prismattic 13 May 2013 11:58:55PM 0 points [-]

I'd assign a higher probability to Keebler Elves than to an interventionist diety. Keebler Elves don't have issues with theodicy.

Comment author: Bugmaster 14 May 2013 12:02:20AM 0 points [-]

I think it depends on the deity; for example, Thor doesn't have issues with theodicy, either. But, IMO, at this point we're pretty much down to discussing which epsilon is smaller; and in practice, the difference is negligible.