✳flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

Rationalization — LessWrong

lesswrong.com · 2,710 words · saved by 2 readers

In “The Bottom Line,” I presented the dilemma of two boxes, only one of which contains a diamond, with various signs and portents as evidence. I dichotomized the curious inquirer and the clever arguer. The curious inquirer writes down all the signs and portents, and processes them, and finally writes down, “Therefore, I estimate an 85% probability that box B contains the diamond.” The clever arguer works for the highest bidder, and begins by writing, “Therefore, box B contains the diamond,” and then selects favorable signs and portents to list on the lines above. The first procedure is rationality. The second procedure is generally known as “rationalization.” “Rationalization.” What a curious term. I would call it a wrong word. You cannot “rationalize” what is not already rational. It is as if “lying” were called “truthization.” On a purely computational level, there is a rather large difference between: What fool devised such confusingly similar words, “rationality” and “rationalizati

x Rationalization — LessWrong Pitfalls of Human Cognition Rationalization Rationality Frontpage 147 Rationalization by Eliezer Yudkowsky 30th Sep 2007 3 min read 29 147 In “The Bottom Line,” I presented the dilemma of two boxes, only one of which contains a diamond, with various signs and portents as evidence. I dichotomized the curious inquirer and the clever arguer. The curious inquirer writes down all the signs and portents, and processes them, and finally writes down, “ Therefore, I estimate an 85% probability that box B contains the diamond.” The clever arguer works for the highest bidder

Explore this link on the map →

saved by

related reading