I’m also commenting on the blog of Neal Asher, a science fiction author I read. I have no problem making fun of his climate change skepticism although I doubt that any amateur, even on Less Wrong, would have the time to conclude that it is obviously correct. Yet I do not doubt it for the same reasons I do not doubt MWI:
There is no benefit in proclaiming the correctness of MWI (at least for Yudkowsky).
The argument used against MWI fails the argument used in favor of MWI on Less Wrong.
The person who proclaims the correctness of MWI is an expert when it comes to beliefs.
It’s the same with climate change. People saying—“look how cold it is in Europe again, that’s supposed to be global warming?!”—are, given my current state of knowledge, not even wrong. Not only will there be low-temperature records even given global warming (outliers), but global warming will also cause Europe to get colder on average. Do I know that this is correct? Nope, but I do trust the experts as I do not see that a global conspiracy is feasible and would make sense. It doesn’t benefit anyone either.
You are correct that I should stay away from calling people wrong on details when I’m not ready to get into the details. Maybe those people who wrote that entry are doing research on foundational physics, I doubt it though (writing style etc.).
I’m also commenting on the blog of Neal Asher, a science fiction author I read. I have no problem making fun of his climate change skepticism although I doubt that any amateur, even on Less Wrong, would have the time to conclude that it is obviously correct. Yet I do not doubt it for the same reasons I do not doubt MWI:
There is no benefit in proclaiming the correctness of MWI (at least for Yudkowsky).
The argument used against MWI fails the argument used in favor of MWI on Less Wrong.
The person who proclaims the correctness of MWI is an expert when it comes to beliefs.
It’s the same with climate change. People saying—“look how cold it is in Europe again, that’s supposed to be global warming?!”—are, given my current state of knowledge, not even wrong. Not only will there be low-temperature records even given global warming (outliers), but global warming will also cause Europe to get colder on average. Do I know that this is correct? Nope, but I do trust the experts as I do not see that a global conspiracy is feasible and would make sense. It doesn’t benefit anyone either.
You are correct that I should stay away from calling people wrong on details when I’m not ready to get into the details. Maybe those people who wrote that entry are doing research on foundational physics, I doubt it though (writing style etc.).