ChristianKl comments on Open Thread, September 23-29, 2013 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: Mestroyer 24 September 2013 01:25AM

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Comment author: ChristianKl 25 September 2013 12:23:27PM 2 points [-]

Do I have a bias or useful heuristic?

That's like asking whether someone is a freedom fighter or a terrorist.

Every heuristic involves a bias when you use it in some contexts.

Comment author: niceguyanon 25 September 2013 01:36:03PM 1 point [-]

Every heuristic involves a bias when you use it in some contexts.

Yes, but does it more often yield a satisfactory solution across many contexts if yes, then I'd label it a useful heuristic and if it is often wrong I would label it a bias.

Comment author: notsonewuser 02 October 2013 08:51:22PM 1 point [-]

You're not using your words as effectively as you could be. Heuristics are mental shortcuts, bias is a systematic deviation from rationality. A heuristic can't be a bias, and a bias can't be a heuristic. Heuristics can lead to bias. The utility of a certain heuristic might be evaluated based on an evaluation of how much computation using the heuristic saves versus how much bias using the heuristic will incur. Using a bad heuristic might cause an individual to become biased, but the heuristic itself is not a bias.