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shminux comments on Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Argument - Less Wrong Discussion

74 Post author: palladias 18 February 2013 05:05PM

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Comment author: shminux 18 February 2013 05:59:41PM *  27 points [-]

Documenting my mental processes after reading this post (disclaimer: human introspection sucks, and mine is probably no exception):

  1. Huh, this is one of the better versions of the Devil's advocate game I've ever encountered... Immediate upvote.

  2. Huh, the poster analyzed their mistakes, learned from them and improved the challenge. Too bad I only have one upvote.

  3. Clicking on the links... WTF, this is the girl who converted to Christianity (Catholicism? Really? Out of all the options available?) from Atheism a year or so ago... Anything she posts deserves a downvote...

  4. Stop! What the hell am I doing? This is, like, falling prey to several biases at once. At least I should notice that I am confused. Unable to reconcile the "obviously dumb" conversion move with this quite clever post.

  5. Wait, this is the substance of her post, to begin with!

  6. Deciding to definitely keep the upvote and reserve judgment until after looking through the linked posts.

Comment author: JRMayne 18 February 2013 08:49:31PM 10 points [-]

Ha!

I think the post is excellent, and I appreciated shminux's sharing his mental walkthrough.

On that same front, I find the Never-Trust-A-[Fill-in-the-blank] idea just bad. The fact that someone's wrong on something significant does not mean they are wrong on everything. This goes the other way; field experts often believe they have similar expertise on everything, and they don't.

One quibble with the OP: I don't think a computer can pass a Turing Test, and I don't think it's close. The main issues with some past tests are that some of the humans don't try hard to be human; there should be a reward for a human who gets called a human in those tests.

Finally, I no longer understand the divide between Discuss and Main. If this isn't Main-worthy, I don't get it. If we're making Main something different... what is it?

Comment author: ESRogs 19 February 2013 05:18:49AM 5 points [-]

The difference between Discussion and Main is that Main is hard to find.

If it's in Main and not Recently Promoted, I don't know how you're supposed to ever see it -- is everybody else using RSS feeds or something?

Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 19 February 2013 10:03:04AM 4 points [-]

I look at the sidebar on the right or visit http://lesswrong.com/r/all/recentposts/

Comment author: palladias 19 February 2013 05:58:00AM 0 points [-]

Yeah, I use an RSS for Main.

Comment author: palladias 18 February 2013 10:17:18PM 5 points [-]

There is a reward for Most Human Human (and a book by that same title I cite from in the longer talk I gave linked at the top). The computers can pass sometimes, and the author makes basically the same argument as you do -- the humans aren't trying hard enough to steer the conversation to hard topics.

Comment author: [deleted] 18 February 2013 08:52:40PM 4 points [-]

The fact that someone's wrong on something significant does not mean they are wrong on everything. This goes the other way; field experts often believe they have similar expertise on everything, and they don't.

It remains evidence, however; to ignore such is the fallacy of gray.

Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 18 February 2013 10:51:44PM 5 points [-]

Yes, but it's almost certainly evidence that people on LW overweight relative to other evidence because atheism is an excessively salient feature of the local memeplex.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 19 February 2013 03:01:35AM 4 points [-]

Interesting, I was under the impression that most people around here were fairly good about not doing this. However, it's possible I haven't been paying attention recently.

Comment author: [deleted] 18 February 2013 07:29:13PM 13 points [-]

Even God can quote Bayes when it suits him.

Still upvoted for raw cleverness, though.

Comment author: prase 18 February 2013 08:42:29PM 9 points [-]

Bayes was a priest, after all. Now divine quote of gay Turing would be a different feat altogether.

Comment author: fubarobfusco 18 February 2013 10:58:13PM *  4 points [-]

... or polyamorous agnostic Russell, maybe?

(Also, Bayes was a Presbyterian minister — not a priest, which (in England) would imply Catholic or Anglican. It was the family trade; his father was also a minister.)

Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 19 February 2013 03:07:00AM 1 point [-]

divine quote of gay Turing

I'm not sure I know how to parse this.

Comment author: wedrifid 19 February 2013 05:57:36AM *  2 points [-]

divine quote of gay Turing

I'm not sure I know how to parse this.

Showing results for: Divine quotation of gay Turing

  • God quoting Turing would be more remarkable than got quoting Bayes because the latter was a priest (and so already affiliated with God) while the former is notoriously homosexual (while God is allegedly violently homophobic).
Comment author: Eugine_Nier 20 February 2013 05:02:48AM 1 point [-]

God quoting Turing would be more remarkable than got quoting Bayes because the latter was a priest (and so already affiliated with God) while the former is notoriously homosexual (while God is allegedly violently homophobic).

So? God is still willing to work with (and through) sinners.

Comment author: wedrifid 20 February 2013 05:19:31AM *  1 point [-]

So? God is still willing to work with (and through) sinners.

It isn't my position. Merely one I translated into well formed English. Any questions should be directed to the original source.

Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 19 February 2013 06:01:48AM 0 points [-]

The word I had trouble parsing was "of." I think ESRogs' hypothesis is probably correct, though.

Comment author: wedrifid 19 February 2013 06:08:04AM *  0 points [-]

The word I had trouble parsing was "of." I think ESRogs' hypothesis is probably correct, though.

That seems highly unlikely: it would make prase's comment not fit the context. I think you have been misled.

Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 19 February 2013 06:16:08AM 0 points [-]

Oh, hmm. I got confused about what ESRogs' hypothesis actually implied. Never mind. Anyway, I agree with your interpretation but still think the original phrasing was quite confusing.

Comment author: wedrifid 19 February 2013 07:07:12AM 0 points [-]

Anyway, I agree with your interpretation but still think the original phrasing was quite confusing.

Very much so. Without context the intended meaning would definitely not be the top of the hypothesis list.

Comment author: prase 19 February 2013 11:08:51PM *  0 points [-]

Wedrifid's interpretation is the intended one. I agree that the chosen formulation wasn't particularly clear.

Comment author: ESRogs 19 February 2013 05:02:51AM 0 points [-]

I think that should be read as 'by' rather than 'of'.

Comment author: shminux 18 February 2013 11:10:01PM 1 point [-]

Even God ...

You mean the Devil, surely.

Comment author: Manfred 18 February 2013 11:41:50PM 15 points [-]

Potato potato.

Comment author: pedanterrific 19 February 2013 04:15:57PM 4 points [-]

Huh, it works even better in text with undifferentiated spelling. I'll have to remember that one.

Comment author: Epiphany 19 February 2013 02:31:46AM *  0 points [-]

Thanks for being so real. That was refreshing.