[SEQ RERUN] Debiasing as Non-Self-Destruction
Today’s post, Debiasing as Non-Self-Destruction was originally published on April 7, 2007. A summary (from the LW wiki):
Not being stupid seems like a more easily generalizable skill than breakthrough success. If debiasing is mostly about not being stupid, its benefits are hidden: lottery tickets not bought, blind alleys not followed, cults not joined. Hence, checking whether debiasing works is difficult, especially in the absence of organizations or systematized training.
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This post is part of a series rerunning Eliezer Yudkowsky’s old posts so those interested can (re-)read and discuss them. The previous post was Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People, and you can use the sequence_reruns tag or rss feed to follow the rest of the series.
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From the title, I thought it was going to be about not identifying with one’s biases, so that debiasing doesn’t feel like self-destruction.
I wonder how firm the boundary is between non-self-destruction (in the sense of Eliezer’s article) and being awesome.
I agree. That’s where my mind first went as well.
The link is broken (you’ve got the URL repeated twice). It should be http://lesswrong.com/lw/hf/debiasing_as_nonselfdestruction/.
Fixed. I remember thinking the line-wrapping in my text editor looked a little funny. Yet another instance where I should have followed up after thinking, “That seems odd...”