Morendil comments on Eliezer's Sequences and Mainstream Academia - All

99 Post author: lukeprog 15 September 2012 12:32AM

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Comment author: Morendil 15 September 2012 07:51:41AM 7 points [-]

I'd also mention

  • Hayakawa's Language In Thought and Action
  • Axelrod's The Evolution of Cooperation
  • Rawls' Theory of Justice (though the Sequences don't discuss CEV much)
  • maybe Peter Singer?
Comment author: lukeprog 15 September 2012 09:16:00PM *  5 points [-]

Hayakawa's Language In Thought and Action

...is not what I'd call "mainstream academia." Its program of "general semantics" is instead what Martin Gardner labeled as "cultism and pseudo-science" in one chapter of Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. Despite this, Language in Thought and Action is pretty good.

Comment author: Manfred 15 September 2012 08:09:00AM 6 points [-]

Could you connect them to the sequences like Luke did please? To the extent that I am familiar with your list, I'm having a hard time seeing it.

Comment author: Morendil 15 September 2012 08:59:19AM *  10 points [-]

Eliezer has explicitly mentioned Hayakawa in Intensions and Extensions. Axelrod is important to understanding the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. Singer is one of the better-known proponents of a "shut up and multiply" approach to utilitarianism, agreeing with Eliezer's conclusions in various places (eg). Rawls' notions of the "veil of ignorance" and "reflective equilibrium" have been mentioned in connection with Coherent Extrapolated Volition - when I first came across CEV the similarities with Rawls stuck out like a sore thumb.

Comment author: Manfred 15 September 2012 09:15:21AM 2 points [-]

Thanks!