So what happens in the broken radio example if both the persons have already read schellings book? Nobody gets the prize? I mean how does such a situation is resolved? If everybody perfects the art of rationality, who wins? and who loses?
ajayjetti
Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. ~Andre Gide
- 19 May 2010 13:54 UTC; 0 points) 's comment on Rationality quotes: May 2010 by (
“To rationalize their lies, people—and the governments, churches, or terrorist cells they compose—are apt to regard their private interests and desires as just.”
--Wendy Kaminer (A woman social activist)
Are you a meat-eater?
got it
Hi
I am Ajay from India. I am 23. I was a highly rebellious person(still am i think), flunked out college, but completed it to become a programmer. But as soon as i finished college, i had severe depression because of a woman. I than thought of doing Masters degree in US, and applied, but then dropped the idea.Then i recaptured a long gone passion to make music, so i started drumming. I got accepted to berklee college of music, but then i lost interest to make a career out of it, i have some reasons for it. Then i started reading a lot(parallel to some programming). I face all the problems that an average guy faces(from social to economic problems). I graduated from one of the top colleges in india and now don’t do my degree any justice. sometimes i think about the fact that all my colleagues are happy working with companies like google, oracle, etc. In a spur to make a balance, i gave gmat and applied and got admit to some supposedly TOP MBA schools. But i again lost interest for pursuing that thing. Now i write a bit, and read and i teach primary school mathematics in a local school. I love music ranging from art tatum to balamurlikrishna to illayraja to blues. I have been to US once when i was working with Perot systems bangalore(i was campus placed there). I would like to travel more, but i dont see that happening in near future because of financial contraints and constraints by governments of this world.
So, i always keep searching for some interesting “cures” on internet. One fine day i found paul grahams website through some Ajax site. Then i was reading something on hacker news, something related to cult following and stuff. There was a name mentioned there—Eliezer yudkowsky(hope i spelled it right). So i wikied that name. i found his site and then from there to less wrong and overcoming bias. Since 2 months, i am really obsessed by this blog. I dont know how will this help me “practically”, but i am quite happy reading and demystifying my brain on certain things.
One thing: I have noticed that this forum has people who are relatively intellectual. Lot of them seem to be from developed countries, who have got very less idea about how things work in a country like India. Sitting here, all these things that are happening in “developed” world seem incredulous to me. I get biased like lot of indians who think US or Europe is a better place. I dont need to say that there are millions of indians in these regions. Then i think some more. So far, i dont think anybody is doing things any differently when it comes to living a life. Even in this community i dont see we are living differently, i dont know whether we even need to!!
We are born, we live and we die, that is the only truth that appeals me so far. One might think that a different state of my mind would give different opinion about what my brain thinks is “truth”, but i doubt that. But i love this site, if anybody doubts that whether this site has practical benefits or not—I say that it is very useful. Onething stands out, people here are open to criticism. Even if we don’t get truth from this site, we have so many better routes to choose from!! This site seems to be a map. For a timeless travel. Dont give a shit about what others have to say. People can come with theories about everything it seems. And i dont like when people have -ve stuff to say about this forum. I am and would like to loyal to the forum which serves me good.
I hope something happens that we are able to live for atleast 500 years. I think that would be a good time to know few things( my fantasy)
i have recently started writing at http://ajayjetti.com/
thanks for reading if u have reached here!!
From what i’ve read and able to understand(a little) after spending 3 months reading this blog is that rationality is (just to put what has already been said lot of times by eliezer) “something that helps us getting more of what we want”, please correct me if i have got it dead wrong, else i might be “de-rationalised” in a rational way. Im a pathalogical liar, i have little to hide (nobody who knows me visits this blog, i think, and if somebody does and happens to read this, then he wouldn’t mind it i’m sure).
″........- the theory being that if you give yourself permission to lie outright, you will no longer feel the need to distort internal belief. In this view the choice is between lying consciously and lying unconsciously, and a rationalist should choose the former.”
I like the idea of outright lying, but what i’ve realised over a period of time is that the “outward lying” slowly creeps into the “conscious” and “aware” mind and sometimes i forget that i am lying, i guess it happens to other also.
Again, from the definition of rational (as i ve put it above), i think honesty is related to rationality, since not being honest may help us want more of what we want or just get us what we want. How well we manage lies and are able to separate conscious and unconscious lies is subjective.
Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies—Ralph waldo emerson
Few quotes from the article:
“Bananas were created by God for human enjoyment, for why else would they come in such convenient cases?”
″...Am I to hope that, in the hereafter, a rationalist God will reward me for having the intellectual integrity not to believe in Him?”.....
...Right, but if the only reason it works is that you believe it works, then how can it work if you know it only works because you believe it works?”...
...”Richard Dawkins, the biologist, was once asked about a study claiming that the devout live longer on average than atheists. He replied that, even if that were so, he’d rather know the truth about where he came from and die early than live longer under a fantasy.”
. …. “In other words: the stupider, more ignorant, more irrational you can prove you are, the better the chance you have of winning”.
When Douglas Yates wrote that “people who are sensible about love are incapable of it,” he might have added a footnote: “the Darwinian explanation for this fact arises from certain paradoxes of rationality in games played by agents known to each other to have bounded computational capacity.”
Yes webcast would be heaven; a chance to catch all the best at one place
Is there a webcast of the same for the people around the world?
yeah, just totally missed it...edited now
What is wrong with that?
yeah, very well put, every reason to give the art of rationality a chance
“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it” —I tried to find where I read it, but unsucessfully
EDIT: Googled, it’s by Kurt Vonnegut
so rationality doesn’t always mean “win-win” ? In a chicken situation, the best thing for “both” the persons is to remain alive, which can be done by one of them (or both) “swerving”, right? There is a good chance that one of them is called chicken.
yes, i am stumped!! the thing is clear from one of the comments. actually i was a bit sleepy (still am) and skimmed thru it, and missed the part after the cut. Fantastic post though.
I have a question: I am a real beginner here in this forum. Although i read a lot, the language used by you and many others in this forum is very high quality. The sentences are huge, which have to be re-read sometimes to understand what is being said. Although i know i will feel more comfortable with time, is it really simple english that is used in this forum? simple is relative, but lets say, is the english used here simple when compared with english used in most of the “standard” philosophy books or sites? i hope i am able to put across my point!!!
Yes, and probably a detailed probability lesson. I was very good at maths in high school, but now after 10 years after highschool, i have totally lost touch. Though i still know the concepts, i get a bit lost when people start talking in “p” terms out of nowhere. I would like to follow everything.
fully agree with this.
Alice came to a fork in the road. “Which road do I take?” she asked. “Where do you want to go?” responded the Cheshire cat. “I don’t know,” Alice answered. “Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.” ~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland