Tyrrell_McAllister comments on Rationality Quotes January 2014 - Less Wrong

7 Post author: Mestroyer 04 January 2014 07:39PM

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Comment author: Tyrrell_McAllister 07 January 2014 07:48:38PM 6 points [-]

I also found it hard. For the benefit of the next person, here is a rewritten version:

If you don't know how to unknow things, then you also don't know how to know things.

Or, passing to the contrapositive,

If you know how to know things, then you also know how to unknow things.

Or,

One who knows how to know things must also know how to unknow things.

Comment author: bramflakes 10 January 2014 01:51:01AM 3 points [-]

My first attempt was

Indeed he (knows not) how to (know who (knows not also (how to unknow)))

Meaning

This person does not know how to distinguish between those who know how to unknow, and those that cannot.

Now my brain doesn't recognize "know" as a word ...

Comment author: glomerulus 20 January 2014 03:11:14AM 3 points [-]

Ambiguity-resolving trick: if phrases can be interpreted as parallel, they probably are.

Recognizing that "knows not how to know" parallels with "knows not also how to unknow," or more simply "how to know" || "how to unknow", makes the aphorism much easier to parse.

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