Nomad comments on Rationality Quotes October 2013 - Less Wrong

7 [deleted] 05 October 2013 09:02PM

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Comment author: Nomad 05 October 2013 04:20:03PM *  33 points [-]

We often like to think of World War II as a triumph of freedom over totalitarianism. We conveniently forget that the Soviet Union was also one of the winners.

Paul Graham

Comment author: Nomad 05 October 2013 04:22:44PM 11 points [-]

From the same article:

I do it because it's good for the brain. To do good work you need a brain that can go anywhere. And you especially need a brain that's in the habit of going where it's not supposed to.

Comment author: Vaniver 06 October 2013 07:48:58AM 4 points [-]

Also worthwhile from it:

Especially if you hear yourself using them. It's not just the mob you need to learn to watch from a distance. You need to be able to watch your own thoughts from a distance.

("them" refers to labels like "x-ist" or "y-ic" used to tar positions by association, rather than demonstrating their falsity.)

Comment author: dthunt 16 October 2013 02:16:46PM *  -1 points [-]

I'm not sure I'd call Russia winner in this war. It seems like having been unlucky enough to have been involved is already some flavor of losing.

I respect the insight though, that Team A, characterized by quality a, defeating Team B, characterized by quality b, is not a story of a beats b, especially when you're wrong in the first place about Team A not also being characterized (in part) by quality b.

I liken this kind of talk to "fall of the Roman Empire" talk - modern humans have an eerie tendency to try to explain the past in ways that support their current viewpoints, and wilfully ignore evidence that tells them their explanations are not very fit.

Comment author: DanArmak 29 October 2013 05:40:59PM *  3 points [-]

It seems like having been unlucky enough to have been involved is already some flavor of losing.

So you're saying it had no winners? That doesn't seem right. We need a word to for the huge difference in outcome between Germany and the USSR.

Also, the USSR and the US both gained a lot from the war on net - territory, military power, international political power, domestic control. If Stalin had been offered in 1939 the choice between WW2 (knowing the eventual outcome) and eternal peace while Germany conquered the rest of Europe, he would have likely chosen war. The same goes for the US.

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