Tem42 comments on Stupid questions thread, October 2015 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: philh 13 October 2015 07:39PM

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Comment author: Tem42 16 October 2015 02:29:34AM 1 point [-]

Yes, but also no.

By definition, a superstition that is valid is not a superstition. "Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning" is usually not called a superstition, because it is a good heuristic. "13 is unlucky" is called a superstition because it is not useful.

Things that might be a 'useful superstition' include:

  • An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
  • Garlic protects from evil spirits [if read 'sickness'].
  • After receiving a container of food, the container should never be returned empty.
  • Meditation makes you healthy and wise.
  • Going to church makes you a good person. [networking, community, charity]
  • Being bad will send you to hell.
  • Being bad will reduce your chances of Santa bringing you toys.

Obviously, the truth value of these is variable and often requires a generous interpretation. Also, some (all?) of these are only useful to people who want easy rules, indicating that they aren't really LessWrong types.