Eliezer, have you ever seen a hypnosis show, or been hypnotized yourself? Hypnosis is very much related to self-deception and “doublethink”; it seems to me as though it is, at least in part, a way of using one’s higher level functions to tell one’s perceptual systems to shut up and do what they’re told, to shut off various levels of fact-checking.
Why would a rationalist want to overrule one’s senses and critical facilities? Well, for one, turning off pain is frequently desirable, and it could be something fun to do in the bedroom… in general, it might be useful in any situation in which your brain isn’t doing what you want it to do.
Eliezer, have you ever seen a hypnosis show, or been hypnotized yourself? Hypnosis is very much related to self-deception and “doublethink”; it seems to me as though it is, at least in part, a way of using one’s higher level functions to tell one’s perceptual systems to shut up and do what they’re told, to shut off various levels of fact-checking.
Why would a rationalist want to overrule one’s senses and critical facilities? Well, for one, turning off pain is frequently desirable, and it could be something fun to do in the bedroom… in general, it might be useful in any situation in which your brain isn’t doing what you want it to do.