Rationality Quotes December 2014

Salemicus

Another month, another rationality quotes thread. The 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Do not quote yourself.
Do not quote from Less Wrong itself, HPMoR, Eliezer Yudkowsky, or Robin Hanson. If you'd like to revive an old quote from one of those sources, please do so here.
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.
Provide sufficient information (URL, title, date, page number, etc.) to enable a reader to find the place where you read the quote, or its original source if available. Do not quote with only a name.

Another month, another rationality quotes thread. The 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Do not quote yourself.
Do not quote from Less Wrong itself, HPMoR, Eliezer Yudkowsky, or Robin Hanson. If you'd like to revive an old quote from one of those sources, please do so here.
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.
Provide sufficient information (URL, title, date, page number, etc.) to enable a reader to find the place where you read the quote, or its original source if available. Do not quote with only a name.

Lack of diversity may be a problem because then you've got a lower chance of getting the right answer somewhere in there.

That, too, but there are other issues as well -- e.g. risk management through diversification.

Otherwise, what could be thought about that doesn't have a correct answer?

Is she pretty?

Should I be a vegetarian?

What's the best way of tackling that problem?

A disagreement on any of those questions reduces to either incorrect reasoning or differing preferences. People having identical preferences may be uncommon, but I don't think you can say it means someone isn't thinking.

0ike12y

Risk management through diversification is a totally different use of the word diversification, and that can be followed by a single person also; I don't have to have two contradictory opinions to not invest all my money/resources/time in one basket. Of the 3 examples you mentioned: 1 is not something people actively "think" about, but is in a sense "automatic", although there is disagreement. If you feel 2 doesn't have a correct answer, then it seems you're endorsing some form of moral nihilism, in which case the question is meaningless. (Note: this is the position which I myself hold.) For 3, people are not actually looking for the "best" answer; they want a satisfactory answer. There is a best answer, but it's usually not worth the effort to find. (For any sufficiently complicated problem, of course.) There may be multiple satisfactory answers, but it's not a sign that someone isn't thinking if everyone comes up with the same satisfactory answer.

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