Jiro comments on Rationality Quotes September 2014 - Less Wrong

8 Post author: jaime2000 03 September 2014 09:36PM

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Comment author: Jiro 23 September 2014 02:34:21PM 5 points [-]

This quote implies a connection from "people react less strongly to emotional expressions in a foreign language" to "dilemmas in a foreign language don't touch the very core of our moral being". Furthermore, it connects or equates being more willing to sacrifice one person for five and "touch[ing] the core of our moral being" less. All rational people should object to the first implication, and most should object to the second one. This is a profoundly anti-rational quote, not a rationality quote.

Comment author: nshepperd 23 September 2014 11:23:20PM 2 points [-]

I think you're reading a lot into that one sentence. I assumed that just to mean "there should not be inconsistencies due to irrelevant aspects like the language of delivery". Followed by a sound explanation for the unexpected inconsistency in terms of system 1 / system 2 thinking.

(The final paragraph of the article begins with "Our research does not show which choice is the right one.")

Comment author: therufs 24 September 2014 03:31:26AM -1 points [-]

What do we suppose is meant by 'the very core of our moral being'? If people react differently depending on language, isn't that evidence that there is a connection? Or at least that the moral core is doing something different?