Perplexed

Rationality Case Study - Ad-36

Edit: Title change - may cause RSS resend. There is a widespread belief here that we pretty much have epistemic rationality nailed. Instrumental rationality, ... well, nobody is perfect. We are still working on that. But epistemic rationality? That is a breeze. Simply a matter of avoiding some well known biases, doing Bayesian updating, and maintaining a certain kind of mutual respect in discussions. Maybe throw in a bit of Pearl, if you need to address causality in addition to correlation. We know how to handle evidence. And what is epistemic rationality, after all, besides the optimal evaluation of evidence? A recent posting made the suggestion that we ought, as a community, to make our expertise available to society, by tackling important and controversial questions and (presumably) then sharing our consensus with the world. But will we reach a consensus? A simple test case might be useful. The purpose of this posting is to propose a test. I am providing some links to an ongoing scientific controversy which (judging by press coverage) is of considerable interest to the general public. Given the attention given to health issues here, I suspect that it will also be of interest to the LW population in general. So here goes. There has been some suggestion that a particular strain of the common cold virus - Ad-36 - might be a major contributor to human obesity. Become infected by the virus, and you are at increased risk of becoming fat. However, a certain amount of skepticism has been expressed - the evidence may not be as good as it is made out to be. I'm completely new to this controversy - just found out about it today. I think that it would be an interesting test case to have LW as a group look into this question (quite a lot of information is available online, and what is not can be found in university libraries to which I assume many of us have access). So, what do you all think? Does Adenovirus strain #36 cause human obesity? If so, how

32Sep 22, 2010

Perplexed

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5235

1947

16y

Meaning of the word "the"

I need some help tracking down a quotation. I'm pretty sure that it was an early 20th century philosopher - perhaps Russell. He was explaining that modern philosophy no longer tries to find the meaning of life. Post-Witgenstein, it has narrowed its ambitions and now seeks only to discover the...

Apr 10, 20114

What is wrong with "Traditional Rationality"?

In several places in the sequences, Eliezer writes condescendingly about "Traditional Rationality". The impression given is that Traditional Rationality was OK in its day, but that today we have better varieties of rationality available. That is fine, except that it is unclear to me just what the traditional kind of...

Apr 8, 201129

What is wrong with mathematics education?

This guy says that the problem is that high-school math education is structured to prepare people to learn calculus in their freshman year of college. But only a small minority of students ever takes calculus, and an even smaller minority ever uses it. And not many people ever make much...

Mar 20, 201123

Dawkins and Dennett defend Adaptationism [Links]

Larry Moran is a Canadian biochemist and textbook author who has a blog about evolutionary biology called The Sandwalk. Recently he has been posting essay questions which he intends to use in an upcoming test of his students. Quotes from Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett that he wants his students...

Feb 23, 201115

Computer security story

NPR has this story: The hacktivist group Anonymous is at it again. This time, it has humiliated an Internet security firm that threatened to out the group's hierarchy. If you remember, Anonymous has been in the news, first, because in support of WikiLeaks, it undertook cyberattacks that brought down the...

Feb 17, 20115

Convergence Theories of Meta-Ethics

A child grows to become a young adult, goes off to attend college, studies moral philosophy, and then sells all her worldly possessions, gives the money to the poor, and joins an ashram. Was her decision rational? Maybe, ... maybe not. But it probably came as an unpleasant surprise to...

Feb 7, 20118

Cryoburn - Imperial Auditor Vorkosigan investigates the cryonics industry

I just completed "Cryoburn", Lois McMaster Bujold's latest novel in the Vokosigan Saga series. The subject is cryonics. Our hero Miles is dispatched to the planet Kibou-daini to investigate the cryonics industry there. A Kibou company is planning to expand its business to Komarr, and Miles's Komar-born empress is supicious...

Nov 9, 20108

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Rationality Case Study - Ad-36

What is wrong with "Traditional Rationality"?

What is wrong with mathematics education?

Dawkins and Dennett defend Adaptationism [Links]

Perplexed

Meaning of the word "the"

What is wrong with "Traditional Rationality"?

What is wrong with mathematics education?

Dawkins and Dennett defend Adaptationism [Links]

Computer security story

Convergence Theories of Meta-Ethics

Cryoburn - Imperial Auditor Vorkosigan investigates the cryonics industry

Rationality Case Study - Ad-36

What is wrong with "Traditional Rationality"?

What is wrong with mathematics education?

Dawkins and Dennett defend Adaptationism [Links]

Meaning of the word "the"

What is wrong with "Traditional Rationality"?

What is wrong with mathematics education?

Dawkins and Dennett defend Adaptationism [Links]

Computer security story

Convergence Theories of Meta-Ethics

Cryoburn - Imperial Auditor Vorkosigan investigates the cryonics industry