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jimrandomh comments on When to scream "Error!" - Less Wrong Discussion

10 Post author: Dorikka 26 February 2011 05:40PM

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Comment author: jimrandomh 26 February 2011 06:47:57PM 3 points [-]

But also approach this problem from the other side, building a white list of good cognitive states. When should you not scream "Error!"?

Some noteworthy cases come to mind:

  1. When concluding that a decision you made more than a minute ago was a mistake (because the error signal will be misattributed to the investigation, rather than the mistake).
  2. Within the first minute of starting a task (because it will attach to the act of starting and make you a procrastinator)
  3. When evaluating statements that are especially emotionally salient (because the error signal is more likely to correspond to unpleasant conclusions than to falsehoods)
  4. When noticing that your brain has screamed Error! at you (because you need to clear that signal before evaluating the original error)
Comment author: JGWeissman 26 February 2011 06:53:22PM 1 point [-]

You seem to have interpreted my question to mean "When do you scream 'Error!' when you shouldn't?". While your response contains valuable answers to that question, what I had in mind was building a (nearly) comprehensive list of indicators that you are currently being an effective rationalist, so that when you don't notice any good indicator, you can scream "Error!".

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