I can give examples of great rationalists who never admitted to being wrong in particular debates. Some defenders of the phlogiston theory whose names I can’t remember. Einstein. Numerous famous biologists in their attacks on sociobiology. Other famous biologists in their attacks on group selection. I’m pretty sure you could come up with a nonending stream of examples if you studied the history of science.
There are a few people here on LessWrong whom I think are great rationalists, in an absolute sense; but who AFAIK have never acknowledged being caught in a mistake. That indicates something wrong. Even if you really never have made a mistake, that would indicate that you haven’t tried anything hard.
(P.S. - You get no credit for changing your mind by realizing your error yourself, partial credit for changing your mind after reading something written by a non-threatening dead person, and full credit for admitting to someone during an argument that they were right and you were wrong.)
There are a few people here on LessWrong whom I think are great rationalists, in an absolute sense; but who AFAIK have never acknowledged being caught in a mistake. That indicates something wrong.
I’d agree with that assessment.
You get no credit for changing your mind by realizing your error yourself
Ok, I think I understand your meaning of “great rationalist” now. You are talking about people who helped humanity make great advances but at some point claimed certainty where they should have said “I don’t know.” They failed to discern the edge of their knowledge, ran off a cliff and then denied it. Would that be fair?
I can give examples of great rationalists who never admitted to being wrong in particular debates. Some defenders of the phlogiston theory whose names I can’t remember. Einstein. Numerous famous biologists in their attacks on sociobiology. Other famous biologists in their attacks on group selection. I’m pretty sure you could come up with a nonending stream of examples if you studied the history of science.
There are a few people here on LessWrong whom I think are great rationalists, in an absolute sense; but who AFAIK have never acknowledged being caught in a mistake. That indicates something wrong. Even if you really never have made a mistake, that would indicate that you haven’t tried anything hard.
(P.S. - You get no credit for changing your mind by realizing your error yourself, partial credit for changing your mind after reading something written by a non-threatening dead person, and full credit for admitting to someone during an argument that they were right and you were wrong.)
I’d agree with that assessment.
But I give plenty of credit for that. :)
Ok, I think I understand your meaning of “great rationalist” now. You are talking about people who helped humanity make great advances but at some point claimed certainty where they should have said “I don’t know.” They failed to discern the edge of their knowledge, ran off a cliff and then denied it. Would that be fair?