From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Sun Jul 28 2002 - 08:47:22 MDT
Damien Broderick wrote:
> At 02:09 PM 7/27/02 -0400, Eliezer wrote of:
>
>>I come down heavily on Lee's side in this. Trust content, not speakers.
>>Although: I was recently very surprised when, after arguing briefly with
>>a novice about evolutionary psychology, that person looked me up online
>>and then complained about my having NOT said who I was!
>
> Whaaa? Wait a minute--this discussion is getting totally derailed. When did
> you get your PhD in evolutionary psychology? What chair or other academic
> post in this discipline do you hold? Why would anyone regard you as an
> *authority* on evolutionary psychology, rather than as a bright person who
> has read some books on the topic (like many of the other amateurs here)?\
He was the one who was upset "that you didn't say who you were". From
my perspective this is obviously another reason not to appeal to authority.
But, for the record, I would regard the *theoretical* aspect of my work
as "constructing an evolutionary psychology of general intelligence".
Over time, EP has overtaken all the other fields I draw upon in the
usefulness, relevance, and precision of the advice it offers. Since I
don't believe in authority I don't care whether you describe me as an
authority, but I can't say I consider myself a bright person who has
read some books on the topic. I am trying to apply and extend EP theory
in my work; whether I've succeeded, of course, is a separate matter.
Have you read _Levels of Organization_ yet, BTW?
-- Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/ Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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