TheOtherDave comments on Dark Arts of Rationality - LessWrong

136 Post author: So8res 19 January 2014 02:47AM

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Comment author: Viliam_Bur 16 January 2014 11:44:58AM *  34 points [-]

If you find yourself on a playing field where everyone else is a TrollBot (players who cooperate with you if and only if you cooperate with DefectBot) then you should cooperate with DefectBots and defect against TrollBots.

An example from real life: DefectBot = God, TrollBots = your religious neighbors. God does not reward you for your prayers, but your neighbors may punish you socially for lack of trying. You defect against your neighbors by secretly being a member of an atheist community, and generally by not punishing other nonbelievers.

I wonder what techniques could we use to make the compartmentalization stronger and easy to turn off when it's no longer needed. Clear boundaries. A possible solution would be to use the different set of beliefs only while wearing a silly hat. Not literally silly, because I might want to use it in public without handicapping myself. But some environmental reminder. An amulet, perhaps?

Comment author: TheOtherDave 16 January 2014 03:41:08PM 9 points [-]

When I was being raised an Orthodox Jew, there were several talismans that served essentially this purpose (though of course my rabbis would not have phrased it that way).