I got a 710 on the GMAT.
AshwinV
I think an excellent follow up article on this article would be “How to choose your roles wisely” or “How to develop roles in your psyche”. In fact, the more I think about it, this has the potential to evolve into its own sequence if done carefully.
On the flip side, and this really is the million dollar question (and one that has been asked many many times on lesswrong), how to create the role of perfect agency? Now, it may be early to expect an answer to that, but certainly, if someone is up for writing that sequence it will be a step in the right direction.
But philosophers share the general human weakness for explanations of what is incomprehensible in terms suited for what is familiar and well understood, though entirely different.
Originally said by Thomas Nagel (I got it from Hofstadter and Dennett here )
I guess one problem that crops up when dealing with the issue of lying is that there is no clear litmus test. It may be possible to give broad guidelines such as “it is ok to lie in situations A,B and C, but most definitely not OK to lie in situations D,E and F.” Real life is far more complex and subject to all manner of interpretation (not to mention all manner of bias as well). I strongly suspect that before we can rule on when it is ok to lie, or when it is ok to use a half truth we need to perfect the art of communication i.e. develop a system where we can keep perfect score of what words truly mean and how much deviation there is from the intent as well as how much effect the said deviation will have.
Thanks!
Eliezer Yudkowsky is a 1001 year old vampire, that grows old faster than you.
“I was just making a simple factual observation. Why did some people think it was an argument in favor of regulation?”
A (tiny) note of dissonance here. As noted earlier, any knowledge/understanding naturally constrains anticipation. Wont it naturally follow that a factual observation shall naturally concentrate the probability density in favour of one side of the debate (assuming, of course, that the debate is viewed as having only two possible outcomes, even if each outcome is very broad and contains many variants).
In this particular example, if the object of the debate is to decide whether maximum gain (or benefit, or however else it is to be called) can be gained from regulation, then the point about Dr. Snakeoil’s sulphuric acid being harmful to a (very real) section of the population, certainly implies an argument in favour of one side, even if not made with that intention.
I realise of course that this is an honest attempt to understand the problem and discuss it thoroughly before proposing a solution/ coming to a decision, but is there truly a way to be 100% neutral? Especially when in reality, most facts do have consequences that usually point to one side or another (even if the debate is much balanced in the eyes of the public).
What (if any) can be the “litmus test” to distinguish between a factual consideration and a clearly formed opinion? And are there shades of grey in between?
Make your bad habits the villains
What do I mean by ‘ambition’?
I know this is completely outta sync with what you were going for, but I couldnt resist quoting good ol’ rational Quirell:
There was a half-smile on Professor Quirrell’s face as he replied, “Not really, Miss Davis. In truth I do not care about that sort of thing in the slightest. But it is futile to count the witches among Ministers of Magic and other such ordinary folk leading ordinary existences, when Grindelwald and Dumbledore and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were all men.” The Defense Professor’s fingers idly spun the button, turning it over and over. “Then again, only a very few folk ever do anything interesting with their lives. What does it matter to you if they are mostly witches or mostly wizards, so long as you are not among them? And I suspect you will not be among them, Miss Davis; for although you are ambitious, you have no ambition.”
“That’s not true! ” said Tracey indignantly. “And what’s it mean?”
Professor Quirrell straightened from where he had been leaning against the wall. “You were Sorted into Slytherin, Miss Davis, and I expect that you will grasp at any opportunity for advancement which falls into your hands. But there is no great ambition that you are driven to accomplish, and you will not make your opportunities. At best you will grasp your way upward into Minister of Magic, or some other high position of unimportance, never breaking the bounds of your existence.”
Holmes: “What’s the matter? You’re not looking quite yourself. This Brixton Road affair has upset you.”
Watson: “To tell the truth, it has,” I said. “I ought to be more case-hardened after my Afghan experiences. I saw my own comrades hacked to pieces in Maiwand without losing my nerve.”
Holmes: “I can understand. There is a mystery about this which stimulates the imagination; where there is no imagination there is no horror .”
From Conan Doyle’s “a study in scarlet” (bold added by me for emphasis)
I loved the exaplanation about using it to control your temper. In fact, just after reading the part where you talk about the party, my very first thought was how I could use this to get a hold of my temper. This happened before I finished reading that paragraph.
It sort of does.. I haven’t read snow crash, but the quote prima facie seems to support the virtue of narrowness
Meetup : Bangalore LW Meetup
Uhm, I kind of felt the pigeon experiment was a little misleading.
Yes, the pigeons did a great job of switching doors and learning through LR.
Human RL however (seems to me) takes place in a more subtle manner. While the pigeons seemed to focus on a more object level prouctivity, human RL would seem to take up a more complicated route.
But even that’s kind of besides the point.
In the article that Kaj had posted above, with the Amy Sutherland trying the LRS on her husband, it was an interesting point to note that the RL was happening at a rather unconscious level. In the monty hall problem solving type of cognition, the brain is working at a much more conscious active level.
So it seems more than likely to me that while LR works in humans, it gets easily over-ridden if you will by conscious deliberate action.
One other point is also worth noting in my opinion.
Human brains come with a lot more baggage than pigeon brains. Therefore, it is more than likely than humans have learnt not to switch through years of re-enforced learning. It makes it much harder to unlearn the same thing in a smaller period of time. The pigeons having lesser cognitive load may have a lot less to unlearn and may have made it easier for them to learn the switching pattern.
On an off-note, Adams has also suggested exercise and diet as simple and yet important components of beating Akrasia. For this specific goal, I think they are more important than affirmations.
For overall performance though, I’m not so sure.
Stephen King in his book “On Writing—A memoir of the craft” states that he prefers it when people avoid the passive form of writing.
He also further goes on to “speculate” that people like the passive voice for the same reason that people like to be passive lovers.
Typo: at the bottom of the post, where the previous post is referred. Underconfidence has an extra ‘e’
Have you checked this out : http://lesswrong.com/lw/7i/rationality_is_systematized_winning/
If Desire for Cake stages a protest outside the White House equivalent of my brain and manages to get a petition signed by a bunch of other agents that happen to be friends with it such as Desire to visit Cake World with the lovely scenery, Desire not to anger friend who loves to cook, and Desire to fill stomach by avoiding mess food etc., would Desire to stay healthy be entitled to manipulate internal brain politics for it’s own end?
I hear Desire for Cake is also a bit of a conspiracy theorist and an excellent litigator. It often gets its way at the expense of all other sub-agents.
DONE.
Hopefully, i’ll be able to change a few of my answers regarding the LW meetup frequency by next year. And the answers regarding donations should change drastically within 3 years.
Was pretty happy that I knew a bunch of the answers wrt the calibration section. :)
Now hand over them Karma points.