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ESRogs comments on Polling Thread - Less Wrong Discussion

12 Post author: Gunnar_Zarncke 22 January 2014 09:14PM

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Comment author: ESRogs 24 January 2014 01:54:37AM 0 points [-]

Did the sides in this debate suddenly switch in these last two comments? I thought you were both making really good points above, and then got lost here at the end. :P Oh well, I gave y'all some upvotes.

Comment author: Lumifer 24 January 2014 02:13:03AM 0 points [-]

Did the sides in this debate suddenly switch in these last two comments?

Maybe? :-) I think we were discussing the issue, not defending fixed positions.

Comment author: ESRogs 24 January 2014 02:25:01AM 1 point [-]

Fair point :)

Comment author: Ishaan 26 January 2014 06:01:59AM *  -1 points [-]

My last comment was referring to things in general, rather than the Red/Blue issue

  • L had pointed out that there is a subset of people for whom Red works well

  • I said that Red, Blue, etc... referred to models of reality, and the accuracy models should be judged by the evidence supporting those models, rather than the apparent usefulness of the associated techniques. (Example: If someone said aspirin cured headaches by chasing away evil spirits, we shouldn't take the fact that aspirin cures headaches in a subset of cases as evidence that there are evil spirits being chased away.) I further said that making this mistake would lead to sub-optimal outcomes.

  • L pointed out that what is sub-optimal for me is not necessarily sub-optimal for others.

I also agree with L's assertion that neither of us is defending a fixed position, though I don't think that was the reason for your confusion?