Rationality Quotes June 2013

Thomas

Another month has passed and here is a new rationality quotes thread. The usual rules are:

Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be upvoted or downvoted separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
Do not quote yourself.
Do not quote from Less Wrong itself, Overcoming Bias, or HPMoR.
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.

Another month has passed and here is a new rationality quotes thread. The usual rules are:

Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be upvoted or downvoted separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
Do not quote yourself.
Do not quote from Less Wrong itself, Overcoming Bias, or HPMoR.
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.

The author may "have a point" as they say, but it doesn't qualify as a rationality quote by my lights; more of a rhetoric quote. One red flag is

in many cases outright denying the existence of victims of drone strikes.

Who denies their existence?

Who denies their existence?

I'm pretty sure that what was meant is "innocent victims". While still a stretch, it would then shift to discussing the meaning of "innocent" vs insinuating that the US military is so inept, it cannot shoot straight and makes up stuff to cover it.

2wedrifid13y

This seems accurate. The quote is a bunch of applause lights and appeals to identity strung together support a political agenda. Sure, I entirely support the particular political agenda in question but just because it is 'my team' being supported doesn't make the process of shouting slogans noteworthy rationality material. If the religion based shaming line and the "in many cases outright denying the existence of victims of drone strikes" hyperbole were removed or replaced then the quote could have potential.

1Eliezer Yudkowsky13y

Principle of charity: "Denial of existence" is to taken as meaning "Don't think about, don't care about, don't act based on, don't know how many there were" and not "When explicitly asked if drone strikes have victims, say 'no'."

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Rationality Quotes June 2013

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