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WalterL comments on A Voting Puzzle, Some Political Science, and a Nerd Failure Mode - Less Wrong
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Well, the whole point of instrumental rationality is that you need a correct map of reality (ie, to care about the truth) in order to be able to reach your goals whatever they are.
There is a strong signaling issue, appearing to be a conservative Christian can give a lot of political/social benefits in some circles, and it's easier to appear being one when you truly are one, but apart from that, having the belief of conservative Christian leads you to acts that are inefficient for reaching your goals, from rejecting your gay grandson to wasting time in prayer to not going to cryonics because you believe in afterlife.
Having a flawed map of a city means you'll not reach your goal efficiently (but either completely miss it, or use much more time/resources to finally reach it), and that's true whatever your goal is. The same is true with a flawed map of reality and navigating your life.
Even if you do not care about the truth for its own sake (if curiosity and preference for truth aren't in your terminal values), if you're intelligent, you should care about the truth as an instrumental value to reach whatever goal you truly have.
Hmm, its true that your map needs to be correct (in the sense that it corresponds to reality) in order to reach your destination, but it need not be wholly so.
Let's say I'm a firm believer that I must obey the laws written on a sheet of paper somewhere. I think they were written there by all powerful alien forces, obedience to whose dictates is the sole criteria for determining virtue. Any evidence to the contrary (say, the fact that no one has seen the sheet of paper) is part of the alien's test. Could you work with me?
It depends on what I think is on the paper.
If I believe that something approaching your, I dunno, call it ethics, are written on there, then it doesn't really matter to you too much why this is the case. The two of us ought to be able to cooperate (you holding your nose at my fundamentalism, me rolling my eyes at your relativism.).
My map of reality is wildly inaccurate at the edge of my neighborhood, but the two of us are only going to the drug store (voting on an issue we agree on).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that having a flawed map of a city only means you won't reach your goal if the flaws manifest themselves on the route between you and your goal. Flying Saucer Cult members still tie their shoes just fine (maybe, if you think they don't please substitute a task you believe that they routinely accomplish, perhaps donning their cult attire).
I believe that what you say about caring about truth as an instrumental value to reach my goal is true IFF my goal is essentially discovery-related. I need an accurate map when I venture beyond my neighborhood. But what if my goal is pretty much local?
I have a brother who is happily married, works to support his family, regular church goer, roots for his local sports teams, etc. He's pleasant and friendly to his many friends and associates, well respected. He learned what he needs to know for his job long ago, and is uninterested in improving at it (there's not much room to do so).
What does he need truth for? He is at his destination, his map was sufficient to reach it. How can truth improve his attending of church, or his time at the bar with his buds, or help him play with his kids? Its superfluous to his life.
You may be fine with a flawed map, sure, if you're lucky. But then you're at a risk. Take your brother, what will happen if his kids end up gay or lesbian or polyamorist ? If he's really a conservative Christian, he'll believe his kids will burn in hell, you think that will make him "be at his destination" ? Or (and I really don't wish that to happen) if his wife ends up being pregnant again, but with a child having a severe disability that is detected at the early stages of pregnancy, will they abort ?
Yes, if your map is flawed in a location you never go, it doesn't matter much. But you're always at risk of potentially catastrophic failure if you do so.
Now, you may argue the risk of failure is low, and the cost of having an accurate isn't worth it... maybe, but there is no way to know that, to make that estimation, with a flawed map. You can't rationally chose to be biased, for to make that decision you've to know the truth already.
"Or (and I really don't wish that to happen) if his wife ends up being pregnant again, but with a child having a severe disability that is detected at the early stages of pregnancy, will they abort ?"
Is it the "rationalist" position that it is advantageous or obligatory to do so?