I’m not saying that a hypothetical vague “you” shouldn’t question things.
Neither was I:
what reason do I have to believe that any authority figure or expert or established user is more likely to be correct?
I’m saying that you specifically, User: Epiphany, seem to not be very well-calibrated in this respect and should update towards questioning things less until you have a better feel for LessWrong discussion norms and epistemic standards.
So, trust you guys more while I’m still trying to figure out how much to trust you? Not going to happen, sorry.
Perhaps the perception you’re having is caused by the fact that you did not know how cynical I was when I started. My trust has increased quite a bit. If I appear not to trust Alicorn very much, this is because I’ve seen what appears to be an unusually high number of mistakes. I realize that this may be due to biased sample (I haven’t read thousands of Alicorn’s posts, maybe a dozen or so). But I’m not going to update with information I don’t have, and I don’t see it as a good use of time to go reading lots and lots of posts by Alicorn and whoever else trying to figure out how much to trust them. I will have a realistic idea of her eventually.
Neither was I:
So, trust you guys more while I’m still trying to figure out how much to trust you? Not going to happen, sorry.
So you’re trying to figure out how much to trust “us,” but you’re only willing to update in the negative direction?
Perhaps the perception you’re having is caused by the fact that you did not know how cynical I was when I started. My trust has increased quite a bit. If I appear not to trust Alicorn very much, this is because I’ve seen what appears to be an unusually high number of mistakes. I realize that this may be due to biased sample (I haven’t read thousands of Alicorn’s posts, maybe a dozen or so). But I’m not going to update with information I don’t have, and I don’t see it as a good use of time to go reading lots and lots of posts by Alicorn and whoever else trying to figure out how much to trust them. I will have a realistic idea of her eventually.