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The Virtue of Narrowness — LessWrong

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What is true of one apple may not be true of another apple; thus more can be said about a single apple than about all the apples in the world. —“The Twelve Virtues of Rationality” Within their own professions, people grasp the importance of narrowness; a car mechanic knows the difference between a carburetor and a radiator, and would not think of them both as “car parts.” A hunter-gatherer knows the difference between a lion and a panther. A janitor does not wipe the floor with window cleaner, even if the bottles look similar to one who has not mastered the art. Outside their own professions, people often commit the misstep of trying to broaden a word as widely as possible, to cover as much territory as possible. Is it not more glorious, more wise, more impressive, to talk about all the apples in the world? How much loftier it must be to explain human thought in general, without being distracted by smaller questions, such as how humans invent techniques for solving a Rubik’s Cube. Inde

x The Virtue of Narrowness — LessWrong Seeing with Fresh Eyes Virtues Reductionism Frontpage 156 The Virtue of Narrowness by Eliezer Yudkowsky 7th Aug 2007 4 min read 66 156 What is true of one apple may not be true of another apple; thus more can be said about a single apple than about all the apples in the world. —“The Twelve Virtues of Rationality” Within their own professions, people grasp the importance of narrowness; a car mechanic knows the difference between a carburetor and a radiator, and would not think of them both as “car parts.” A hunter-gatherer knows the difference between a li

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