I understand the point you're raising, because it caught me for a while, but I think I also see the remaining downfall of science. Its not that science leads you to the wrong thing, but that it cannot lead you to the right one. You never know if your experiments actually brought you to the right conclusion - it is entirely possible to be utterly wrong, and complete scientific, for generations and centuries.

Not only this, but you can be obviously wrong. We look at people trusting in spontaneous generation, or a spirit theory of disease, and mock them - rightfully. They took "reasonable" explanations of ideas, tested them as best they could, and ended up with unreasonable confidence in utterly illogical ideas. Science has no step in which you say "and is this idea logically reasonable", and that step is unattainable even if you add it. Science offers two things - gradual improvement, and safety from being wrong with certainty. The first is a weak reward - there is no schedule to science, and by practicing it there's a reasonable chance that you'll go your entire life with major problems with your worldview. The second is hollow - you are defended from taking a wrong idea and saying "this is true" only inasmuch as science deprives you of any certainty. You are offered a qualifier to say, not a change in your ideas.

Under normal social circumstances, I no longer attempt to correct another person's belief by telling them how it is wrong and stating mine. If somebody makes a statement of questionable accuracy, I ask questions to determine how they came to the conclusion. This not only forces the person to consciously justify themselves and perhaps change their mind on their own, but allows for me to collect potential good arguments against my contrary belief. Conversations in general become more interesting and less hostile while following this protocol.

I find that if I keep the vents closed on for long enough, then I start to feel somewhat sleepy and don't notice it. This is a bad thing to happen while driving.

I suspect that it may be caused by consuming oxygen faster than the imperfectly sealed vents are letting more oxygen in; the symptoms vanish quickly if I restore access to external air, either by opening the vents or opening the window.

Psychologists aren't entirely sure why people so consistently under-count the pain of commuting.

Maybe because people aren't aware of the damage being done to their health by long-term exposure to the extremely high levels of toxic gases found on any major road.

a classic example here is the "extra bedroom for Grandma" - visits from Grandma are easy to imagine, but if she only comes a couple of days a year, spending tens of thousands more dollars for a house with an extra bedroom and bathroom for her is probably pretty stupid. You'd save money - and make her happier - by putting her up in the local five star hotel.

I'm going to buy a house with a room for "grandma", and here's why: While it might cost me less to put guests in luxury hotels, it's going to cost me every time I have a guest over. I might be unusual here, but I know that both the cost and the slightly more difficult choice ("Should I save the money by not inviting them to stay?") is going to make me unhappy every time I get a guest.

From a purely economical view point this line of thinking might be irrational, but I've found that the action or prospect of paying has a real cost in happiness, so I prefer to do pay more once than less split over many instances.

I'm not sure whether or not Melody Maxim should count. She isn't anti-cryonics, but is thoroughly disgusted with the cryonics organizations that exist today- which seems strongly relevant for anyone deciding whether or not to sign up, but not for anyone interested in theoretical probabilities.

What time does the Sunday meet up start/finish?

What exactly is meant by the phrase "LW-style rationality?"

Thanks for posting this. I always enjoy these "in-practice" oriented posts, as I feel they help me check if I truly understand the concepts I learn here, in a similar way that example problems in textbooks check if I know how to correctly apply the material I just read.