Did anyone read this post and worry whether they’re one of the poseurs and not one of the true-blooded rationalists?
I could believe I’m a poseur with respect to this group, i.e. adopting the opinions of the average Less Wrong reader without doing much thinking myself. But this might be rational in the case of issues where the average Less Wrong reader has done more thinking than me, right?
But I do propose that before you give anyone credit for being a smart, rational skeptic, that you ask them to defend some non-mainstream belief. And no, atheism doesn’t count as non-mainstream anymore, no matter what the polls show. It has to be something that most of their social circle doesn’t believe, or something that most of their social circle does believe which they think is wrong.
Maybe we should have a thread where we all do this? Heh, what a cult initiation ceremony that would be: loudly proclaim to the cult what they’re wrong about.
I’m having a bit of a hard time reconstructing my meaning from two years ago I’m afraid! Clearly it does violate conservation of expected evidence, so I can only think that it’s offered as a way to combat overconfidence bias than actually meant as a way that a ideal reasoner would update on the evidence. Or I’m just trying too hard to sound clever...
Did anyone read this post and worry whether they’re one of the poseurs and not one of the true-blooded rationalists?
I could believe I’m a poseur with respect to this group, i.e. adopting the opinions of the average Less Wrong reader without doing much thinking myself. But this might be rational in the case of issues where the average Less Wrong reader has done more thinking than me, right?
Maybe we should have a thread where we all do this? Heh, what a cult initiation ceremony that would be: loudly proclaim to the cult what they’re wrong about.
Of course. If you know others who share your belief, that’s a cause for worry, and if you know no-one who does, that’s also a cause for worry.
Doesn’t that violate conservation of expected evidence? Or are you saying that this article was a cause for worry?
I’m having a bit of a hard time reconstructing my meaning from two years ago I’m afraid! Clearly it does violate conservation of expected evidence, so I can only think that it’s offered as a way to combat overconfidence bias than actually meant as a way that a ideal reasoner would update on the evidence. Or I’m just trying too hard to sound clever...
OK. So I can only stop worrying if exactly 1 person shares my belief? :-P
You can stop worrying after your brain’s been properly frozen. The question is what to worry about.