Ritalin comments on ... And Everyone Loses Their Minds - Less Wrong

10 Post author: Ritalin 16 January 2015 11:38PM

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Comment author: Ritalin 17 January 2015 10:07:53AM 4 points [-]

Indeed, I have very little to contribute on my own. I'm mostly here to learn.

I'm not generalizing from the Joker's reflection. Rather, I'm using it as a springboard to talk about an issue that concerns me; namely, what triggers fear and warth and outrage in people and what doesn't. I think this is a different kind of bias from just scope insensitivity or fundamental attribution error or overconfidence bias or anything like that. Those can be overcome by just explaining the facts. This one, however, can't; explaining stuff and putting numbers forth will only get you accused of sophistry. I find that very frustrating.