ausgezeichnet comments on Open thread, Dec. 15 - Dec. 21, 2014 - Less Wrong

2 Post author: Gondolinian 15 December 2014 12:01AM

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Comment author: ausgezeichnet 16 December 2014 12:51:09AM 1 point [-]

Thanks for the response.

Re: 1) I'm not as focused on the money as on the programming opportunities it might later lead to.

Re: 2) I agree with everything here. What do you mean in your last sentence?

Comment author: ChaosMote 16 December 2014 01:25:37AM *  1 point [-]

I'm having trouble finding the original sequence post that mentions it, but a "fully general excuse" refers to an excuse that can be applied to anything, independently of the truth value of the thing. In this case, what I mean is that "this isn't really the important stuff" can sound reasonable even when applied to the stuff that actually is important (especially if you don't think about it too long). It follows that if you accept that as a valid excuse but don't keep an eye on your behavior, you may find yourself labeling whatever you don't want to do at the moment as "not really important" - which leads to important work not getting done.

Comment author: VincentYu 16 December 2014 01:02:04PM 5 points [-]

I'm having trouble finding the original sequence post that mentions it

The post is "Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People". See also the wiki page on fully general counterarguments.

Comment author: ChaosMote 16 December 2014 02:22:00PM 1 point [-]

Thank you! That is exactly what I was looking for.