Viliam_Bur comments on Making Rationality General-Interest - LessWrong

30 Post author: Swimmer963 24 July 2013 10:02PM

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Comment author: Viliam_Bur 25 July 2013 08:39:38AM *  2 points [-]

You want to teach me how to win? Show me a million bucks in your bank account.

I guess CFAR should let Peter Thiel teach in their workshops. Or, more seriously, use his name (assuming he agrees with this) when promoting their workshops.

When I think about this more, there is a deeper objection. Something like this: "So, you believe you are super rational and super winning. And you are talking to me, although I don't believe you, so you are wasting your time. Is that really the best use of your time? Why don't you do something... I don't know exactly what... but something thousand times more useful now, instead of talking to me? Because this kind of optimization is precisely the one you claim to be good at; obviously you're not."

And this is an objection that makes sense. I mean, it's like if someone is trying to convince me that if I invest my money in his plan, my money will double... it's not that I don't believe in a possibility of doubling the money; it's more like: why doesn't this guy double his own money instead? -- Analogicaly, if you have superpowers that allow you to win, then why the heck are you not winning right now instead of talking to me?

EDIT: I guess we should reflect on our actions when we are trying to convince someone else about usefulness of rationality. I mean, if someone resists the idea of LW-style rationality, is it rational (is it winning on average) to spend my time trying to convince them, or should I just say "next" and move to another person? I mean, there are seven billion people on this planet, half million in the city where I live, so if one person does not like this idea, it's not like my efforts are doomed... but I may doom them by wasting all my energy and time on trying to convince this specific person. Some people just aren't interested, and that's it.

Comment author: Lumifer 25 July 2013 02:39:05PM 0 points [-]

Yep, that's a valid and serious objection, especially in the utilitarian context.

A couple of ways to try to deal with it: (a) point out the difference between instrumentality and goals. (b) point out that rationality is not binary but a spectrum, it's not a choice between winning all and winning nothing.

You can probably also reformulate the whole issue as "help you to deal with the life's problems -- let me show you how can you go about it without too much aggravation and hassle"...