Up vote, because you’re right, but Kaj’s intention here was to provide real-world examples for convincing the layman of rationality’s value. A similar example for the world of politics:
“I don’t care about politics.”
“But you smoke weed, right? That’s a political issue—politics boils down to whether or not you have to worry about the cops knocking on your door and busting you for non-criminal behaviour.”
So while his examples aren’t perfect from our perspective, what he’s really aiming for is situations which can be exploited through the dark arts to convince people to be rational. If I can come up with any better ones, I’ll post them later today.
Up vote, because you’re right, but Kaj’s intention here was to provide real-world examples for convincing the layman of rationality’s value. A similar example for the world of politics:...
Well, then it seems like exaggeration to the point of lying. It’s more like if you said, “you should exercise so you can look like Arnold Schwarzenegger / Megan Fox and get roles in big Hollywood movies!”
Is it possible? Sure, if you put an insane level of effort into it and are in just the right circumstances, but it’s not a accurate picture to present to someone of the benefits.
I think instead you should teach a specific rationalist skill (like making knowledge truly part of yourself) and justify it by the more reachable benefits.
Up vote, because you’re right, but Kaj’s intention here was to provide real-world examples for convincing the layman of rationality’s value. A similar example for the world of politics:
“I don’t care about politics.”
“But you smoke weed, right? That’s a political issue—politics boils down to whether or not you have to worry about the cops knocking on your door and busting you for non-criminal behaviour.”
So while his examples aren’t perfect from our perspective, what he’s really aiming for is situations which can be exploited through the dark arts to convince people to be rational. If I can come up with any better ones, I’ll post them later today.
Well, then it seems like exaggeration to the point of lying. It’s more like if you said, “you should exercise so you can look like Arnold Schwarzenegger / Megan Fox and get roles in big Hollywood movies!”
Is it possible? Sure, if you put an insane level of effort into it and are in just the right circumstances, but it’s not a accurate picture to present to someone of the benefits.
I think instead you should teach a specific rationalist skill (like making knowledge truly part of yourself) and justify it by the more reachable benefits.