jimrandomh comments on Doublethink (Choosing to be Biased) - Less Wrong

33 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 14 September 2007 08:05PM

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Comment author: jimrandomh 08 December 2010 04:19:28AM 3 points [-]

I never had a scientific intuition. In college, I once saw a physics demonstration with a cathode ray tube -- moving a magnet bent the beam of light that showed the path of the electrons. I had never seen electrons before and it occurred to me that I had never really believed in the equations in my physics book; I knew they were the right answers to give on tests, but I wouldn't have expected to see them work.

Intuitively connecting mathy physics to reality isn't the default; you need to watch demonstrations and conduct thought experiments to make those connections. Your intuition got better that day.