From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Wed Jun 27 2001 - 14:33:34 MDT
On Wed, 27 Jun 2001, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
> This invokes an inherently irrational definition of ROI - the desirability
> of a belief that "natural is better" should be contingent on natural
> actually *being* better. That is, for a rational being, the belief is not
> desirable in itself, but is rather desirable because the belief is
> currently the best available approximation to reality.
I'd posit that many people would rather be "right" and "dead" than
"wrong" and "alive". Highly irrational -- but to run around joyfully
admitting how wrong you are creates a lot of cognitive dissonance --
you would have to face up to & live with the decisions you made in error.
I've known a lot of people whose minds "live" in the past. I think
getting up every day thinking about the many past positions and decisions
were wrong would tend to induce mental paralysis -- "Oh my god,
I've been wrong all those times, statistically speaking I'm
likely to be wrong again today... Oh why bother, better to
stay in bed and be wrong than go out into the dangerous
universe and be wrong there too."
Its only if you can take your past wrongness as experience to
be used for navigating and creating a better future that you
can motivate yourself to confront the reality. That and the
fact that your biochemistry is pushing the "I'm hungry" or
"I'm thirsty" need buttons.
Ding dong, I'm wrong, I'm wrong, I'm wrong again todaaay. Hooray.
Robert
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