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someonewrongonthenet comments on I Want To Believe: Rational Edition - Less Wrong Discussion

4 Post author: 27chaos 18 November 2014 08:00PM

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Comment author: someonewrongonthenet 23 November 2014 11:27:08PM *  1 point [-]

Another thought: It helps to consider how certain things are true in a non-literal sense. It's a different sort of truth, an emotional truth. "We all most fulfill our purposes in life, God will be happy if I finish my paper" isn't literally true, but it's true in the sense that the universe will be configured in a more favorable way if you do it, and you don't have to think the complex, nuanced, and way-too-difficult-for-lower-primates-to-understand version every single time you consider it.

If you recognize that emotional truths often correspond to instrumental rationality at the end of the day, the same way Newton's physics isn't right but still works better, the part of your brain that yells at inconsistencies will quieten down.