I greatly appreciate people saying the circumstances under which they are and are not truth seeking or truthful. I think Dragon Agnosticism is actually pretty widespread, and instrumentally rational in many societies.
This essay lays out in a concise way, without talking about a specific incendiary topic, and from a position of trust (I and likely many others do trust Jeff a lot) why someone would sometimes not go for maximum epistemic rationality. I haven’t yet referenced this post in a conversation, but mostly because I haven’t happened to wind up in the right circumstance.
I strongly want this to be in the Best Of LessWrong collection, because in the circumstances where someone is practicing Dragon Agnosticism, they probably can’t (or won’t) say that out loud even if it is trivial for others to infer. “I’m not going to research [taboo topic] in case I come to believe [taboo conclusion]” doesn’t get you into less trouble (or not much less) than “I believe [taboo conlcusion]” and thus people probably won’t claim Dragon Agnosticism explicitly.
I want everyone to read Dragon Agnosticism, and then be able to guess what’s going on when other people oddly aren’t talking about or investigating a taboo topic.
I greatly appreciate people saying the circumstances under which they are and are not truth seeking or truthful. I think Dragon Agnosticism is actually pretty widespread, and instrumentally rational in many societies.
This essay lays out in a concise way, without talking about a specific incendiary topic, and from a position of trust (I and likely many others do trust Jeff a lot) why someone would sometimes not go for maximum epistemic rationality. I haven’t yet referenced this post in a conversation, but mostly because I haven’t happened to wind up in the right circumstance.
I strongly want this to be in the Best Of LessWrong collection, because in the circumstances where someone is practicing Dragon Agnosticism, they probably can’t (or won’t) say that out loud even if it is trivial for others to infer. “I’m not going to research [taboo topic] in case I come to believe [taboo conclusion]” doesn’t get you into less trouble (or not much less) than “I believe [taboo conlcusion]” and thus people probably won’t claim Dragon Agnosticism explicitly.
I want everyone to read Dragon Agnosticism, and then be able to guess what’s going on when other people oddly aren’t talking about or investigating a taboo topic.