Ixiel comments on Rationality Quotes April 2014 - LessWrong

8 Post author: elharo 07 April 2014 05:25PM

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Comment author: Ixiel 14 April 2014 03:37:41PM 11 points [-]

If the best minds were in charge of designing a bridge, I would expect the bridge to hold up well even in a storm. If the best minds were in charge of designing an airplane, I would expect it to fly reliably. But if the best minds were in charge of something no one really knows how to do, I would be ready for a failure, albeit a failure with superb academic credentials.

Terry Coxon

Comment author: wadavis 15 April 2014 11:11:24PM 0 points [-]

All I'm getting out of this is that the quoted fails to understand the ability of great minds. Is there a context I'm missing?

Comment author: Ixiel 16 April 2014 11:53:35AM *  6 points [-]

Being ready for failure is not quite the same thing as considering success impossible.

The context is that economics is in shall we say an earlier stage of development than engineering, so we should be more conscious of the risk of economic tinkering failing than we need be of whether our bridge or plane falls apart underneath us.

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