Ritalin comments on Open thread, September 16-22, 2013 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: Metus 16 September 2013 05:18AM

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

Comments (141)

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

Comment author: Gabriel 16 September 2013 07:59:43PM *  11 points [-]

There's been a replication of that (I'm assuming you're talking about the 2010 paper by Job, Dweck and Walton). I haven't looked at it in detail. The abstract says that the original result was replicated but you can still observe ego-depletion in people who believe in unlimited willpower, you just have to give them a more exhausting task.

Comment author: Ritalin 16 September 2013 08:04:11PM *  2 points [-]

So the false belief somehow affects reality, but not enough to make itself actually true?

Comment author: shminux 16 September 2013 08:33:38PM -1 points [-]

What's the difference between "reality" and "actually true"?

Comment author: gwern 16 September 2013 08:50:40PM 8 points [-]

In this case, you might phrase it more as 'the asymptotics are the same, but believing in infinite willpower has a better constant factor'.

Comment author: Ritalin 17 September 2013 09:36:06AM *  7 points [-]

Now we need to test the people who know this fact and see when they falter.

Also, I want to see a shounen manga that applies this knowledge.

Comment author: RobbBB 17 September 2013 09:11:43PM *  6 points [-]

"X is true" means "X is a map, and X corresponds to some territory Y". "X is real" means "X is territory."

The relevant contrast, though, is between 'affects' and 'makes itself'. We could rephrase Ritalin: 'The inaccurate map changes the territory (in a way that results in its improved accuracy), but not enough to make itself (fully) accurate.'