poke comments on The Genetic Fallacy - Less Wrong

22 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 11 July 2008 05:47AM

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Comment author: poke 11 July 2008 04:10:33PM -2 points [-]

I'm very strict about this. I only accept claims that come out of science. I have a narrow definition of science based on lineage: you have to be able to trace it back to settled physics. Physics, chemistry, biochemistry, biology, molecular biology, neural biology, etc, all have strict lines of descent. Much of theoretical psychology, on the other hand (to give an example), does not; it's ab initio theorizing. Anything that is not science (so narrowly defined) I take to be noise. Systematic and flagrant abuse of the "genetic fallacy" is probably the quickest way to truth.