EphemeralNight comments on Bayesian Judo - Less Wrong

71 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 31 July 2007 05:53AM

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Comment author: EphemeralNight 14 August 2012 02:25:37AM 2 points [-]

There's a theorem of rationality called Aumann's Agreement Theorem which shows that no two rationalists can agree to disagree. If two people disagree with each other, at least one of them must be doing something wrong.

This seems like one of those things that can be detrimental if taught in isolation.

It may be a good idea to emphasize that only one person in a disagreement doing something wrong is far less likely than both sides in a disagreement doing something wrong.

I can easily imagine someone casually encountering that statement, and taking it to instead mean this:

There's a thing called "Aumann's Agreement Theorem" that says rationalists can't agree to disagree. Therefore if I apply the label "rationalist" to myself, I can use the words "Aumann's Agreement Theorem" to prove that anyone who disagrees with me is wrong.