Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 10 April 2009 09:39:59PM 13 points [-]

I can starve or think, not both at the same time.

Comment author: probDot5 15 October 2015 03:02:32PM 1 point [-]

I love this comment. It reminds me how some days my brain is working like a champ and I can tackle any complex programming job with ease. Other days I'm simply aware that my brain is pretending to be a much less smart person's brain, and I should stick to more menial projects. If my job required me to be smart every day, I'd have to pay much more attention to the food / sleep / whatever combination that determines how my brain works the next morning.

Comment author: Viliam_Bur 20 September 2011 09:18:57AM 5 points [-]

I hereby officially declare October a Pizza Month! :D

Comment author: probDot5 15 October 2015 02:08:17PM -1 points [-]

I can just feel the pounds dropping away!

In response to comment by Tiiba2 on Two Cult Koans
Comment author: pnrjulius 20 April 2012 02:04:22PM 3 points [-]

Maybe... but here's the thing: Uniforms actually ARE a very cultish thing. They are one of the quantitative traits that can add up into driving you into the cult attractor. The proper rationalist response is actually "I will not wear the hat, because I don't want to and you've not given me a reason to."

The only sort of "uniform" that is rationally justifiable is something like body armor, or a hazmat suit, or a labcoat; sure, it's all the same, because it SERVES A PURPOSE---there's a reason soldiers wear Kevlar instead of tissue paper. But if you can't actually justify the uniform (like a nurse hat, or epaulettes, or the Pope's miter), then it really IS a bad sign that you are slipping into irrationality.

In response to comment by pnrjulius on Two Cult Koans
Comment author: probDot5 08 July 2015 03:48:36PM 2 points [-]

Maybe... but here's the thing: Uniforms actually ARE a very cultish thing.

I think Tiiba2 perfectly addressed this with

In general P(Category|Feature) != P(Feature|Category).

It helps to have read An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem, but the short of it is this: The majority are not in cults. The minority are in cults. The minority of non-cults may wear uniforms, and the majority of cults may wear uniforms. The majority of the minority is not necessarily greater than the minority of the majority. So taking uniforms to mean cults is kind of intuitive, but not necessarily true.

If, for instance, your stamp collecting club decides they should all wear matching t-shirts at their meetings, it doesn't mean they've crossed the line into becoming a cult, just that they want to wear matching t-shirts.