For some reason, I found it cute that you felt the need or had the reflex to succinctly throw out the intended meaning of “straw man argument”.
I wouldn’t exactly rate high my prior that someone on LessWrong would misunderstand what you’re talking about when you use that specific term, which I suspect was the source of my reaction.
My experience with people in the community is almost entirely talking with people in person—I’ve read very little of the blog, so I’m used to more one on one conversation that is customized than the blog conventions. I was wrong that this article would be something the general LW crowd would like, so I’m now being more cautious about other assumptions about shared perspectives.
I can certainly see people’s objections about perspectives being shared without evidence. Unfortunately my personal evidence mostly comes from working with clients, which is a small sample and data I cannot share. My clients almost all improve over time, and I am taking stats, but not stats I can share, and the stats I’m taking are about general improvement and don’t isolate progress resulting from each of the specific techniques I use. I would love more data myself, and I think I’m doing a much better job of gathering data personally than any psych professional I’ve ever worked with as a client, although I’d still like to do better.
One upcoming data point that will be interesting to know is the depression levels of LWers. A question about depression, and other mental issues, has been asked to be included in the upcoming Massive LW Survey Of Doom. I actually expect that, not only will we have higher levels of Asperger’s than the base rate, but that we will also have higher levels of depression.
I have read (sorry, don’t remember where) that rational people are more likely to have depression, because the cognitive biases (specifically ones about how awesome you are) that protect most people are not as active. And that females who are also rational are extremely likely to have some depressive issues. It will be interesting to see if the LW survey supports this.
“Yvain, the Knight with the Lion is a romance by Chrétien de Troyes. It was probably written in the 1170s simultaneously with Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, and includes several references to the narrative of that poem.
It is a story of knight-errantry, with the protagonist Yvain being exiled from the favours of his lady being required to perform a number of heroic deeds before regaining her.”
I just had a mental “D’aww” moment.
For some reason, I found it cute that you felt the need or had the reflex to succinctly throw out the intended meaning of “straw man argument”.
I wouldn’t exactly rate high my prior that someone on LessWrong would misunderstand what you’re talking about when you use that specific term, which I suspect was the source of my reaction.
My experience with people in the community is almost entirely talking with people in person—I’ve read very little of the blog, so I’m used to more one on one conversation that is customized than the blog conventions. I was wrong that this article would be something the general LW crowd would like, so I’m now being more cautious about other assumptions about shared perspectives.
I can certainly see people’s objections about perspectives being shared without evidence. Unfortunately my personal evidence mostly comes from working with clients, which is a small sample and data I cannot share. My clients almost all improve over time, and I am taking stats, but not stats I can share, and the stats I’m taking are about general improvement and don’t isolate progress resulting from each of the specific techniques I use. I would love more data myself, and I think I’m doing a much better job of gathering data personally than any psych professional I’ve ever worked with as a client, although I’d still like to do better.
One upcoming data point that will be interesting to know is the depression levels of LWers. A question about depression, and other mental issues, has been asked to be included in the upcoming Massive LW Survey Of Doom. I actually expect that, not only will we have higher levels of Asperger’s than the base rate, but that we will also have higher levels of depression.
I have read (sorry, don’t remember where) that rational people are more likely to have depression, because the cognitive biases (specifically ones about how awesome you are) that protect most people are not as active. And that females who are also rational are extremely likely to have some depressive issues. It will be interesting to see if the LW survey supports this.
Poor Yvain...
“Yvain, the Knight with the Lion is a romance by Chrétien de Troyes. It was probably written in the 1170s simultaneously with Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, and includes several references to the narrative of that poem.
It is a story of knight-errantry, with the protagonist Yvain being exiled from the favours of his lady being required to perform a number of heroic deeds before regaining her.”