I have read Ayn Rands published works and loved the stories and most of the message. The characters always seemed like titans that were far and above me, but now, I've seen a character that is a bit more approachable.
I can't comment on your intelligence but as a general rationality issue this sets off warning bells. Fictional characters exist in fictional worlds. Their authors often construct those worlds and those characters to portray their worldviews most favorably. In general, relying on fictional characters to either interest one in any idea is potentially dangerous and taking ideas seriously primarily due to associated fictional characters is a good way to have a set of worldviews that reflect who happens to write well. Determining truth by who writes well is not a good epistemological system.
I completely agree with you that fiction should neither be a primary source of information and philosophy nor should it be my only source of inspiration. I don't like to think of myself as delusional, but I do like to be inspired by the works of others. I'm hoping to eventually develop my learning "tastes" so that I won't use fiction as such a crutch. What do you think?
If this post is inappropriate, I apologize.
I stumbled upon this site after reading "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality". The story so far has really moved me on multiple levels and sent me here in a quest to learn more about rationality as a philosophy/way of thinking about the world. I have read Ayn Rands published works and loved the stories and most of the message. The characters always seemed like titans that were far and above me, but now, I've seen a character that is a bit more approachable.
I've started to go through the "Map and Territory" section of the "Core Sequences" and this whole project and community makes me ecstatic. I'm currently working my way through the Bayes's Theorem article with some success. The more I read, the more I realize I may have a problem.
I'm pretty dumb.
Is higher level reasoning "use it or lose it" ? I like learning new things and love reading but any new ideas require a ton of thought and re-reading. I think I have enough interest to keep plugging away at it, but I'm not sure I'm going at things the right way. Is there a "Kid's Table" for lesswrong.com?
For "Priors": I'm 28 years old, white male, married, no children, poor economic upbringing, solid emotional upbringing, currently lower to middle class, high school diploma, US Navy, currently a civilian electronics technician, raised Baptist currently Agnostic/Atheist (recently).
I guess that's it. Thanks!
--John