Recovering_irrationalist comments on Fake Selfishness - Less Wrong

28 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 08 November 2007 02:31AM

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Comment author: Recovering_irrationalist 12 November 2007 10:00:09PM 2 points [-]

In whatever facets I sounded about as "knowledgeable", "smart", "honest", or "self-assured" then as now, you might take these facets into account in deciding whether someone's arguments are worth your time to read, but you shouldn't take them into account in deciding whether the person is right.

Agreed. Having said that, I do find those facets to correlate with truth, but the correlation flattens out for high values. Besides, the first two would be hard for me to judge well between your 1997 and 2007 selves, for obvious reasons. Maybe with the right efforts my 2012 self could get close enough to tell.

Whatever it is that caused you to reject most of my old self's beliefs regardless, is what's doing the actual work of discriminating truth from falsehood, not those other perceptions.

That only works if your new self's views are true, rather than just closer to the truth, or better argued, or less alarm-bell-raising, or fitting better with how my mind works, or what I already believe, or what I want to believe, etc. etc.. That was my point.

Don't worry, it's my neurosis not yours. :-)