A, B and C must all come from LessWrong or some other rationality-promoting subset of the human population.
Meanwhile, in the real world we live in:
Persons α, β and γ respectively say, after C:
“C, you’re crazy! That’s not common, sense, that’s madness! If we do that, then Obama gets even more control and will come in our houses and take our guns away from us!”,
“No, what this study shows is that scientists cannot be trusted, one should turn their mind and spirit to the way of {faith}, open your mind and see {faith_symbol}, it is the only way to truly know the Truth.”,
“According to the Dimensionless Liquid Cristallized Aether Wave Lorem Ipsum Something Theory, as it says here {link to blog of commenter, and sole source for the theory}, the resonance of {unknown term} with {misused esoteric term} causes an error in the measurement of the effect of Y, which means that as {math terms, probably misused} the real factor is actually Z, and this is why we should use this theory for everything from now on.”
The real world we live in is large and diverse. No one forces you to listen to alpha, beta, or gamma. Or even to delta who says after C: “Fuck, man, I need a beer. Dude, have you seen the game last night?”
My point is that alpha, beta, gamma and your very good delta are much more representative of the average-person cluster in personspace, or even of the educated, literate, internet-going population.
Then, for the sake of balance, here is one from another tribe: “Both solutions X and Y are mere rationalizations to justify the rich white man’s patriarchal rule. The real solution is to ignore both X and Y, and focus on destroying the system.”
(Last seen: yesterday, in an article about why free online education is actually an evil tool of oppression. A strawmanish summary: It privileges rich white kids with computers and fast internet.)
Yet another tribe: “We don’t need X or Y. Just remove the government and use Bitcoins. Then all the problems will fix themselves!”
(Last seen: two days ago, in a debate about education. I guess, I really live in an insane world.)
A person A uses “common sense” to suggest a solution X, which seems obvious to them.
Research shows that in reality, Y is much better than X, and sometimes X is actually not even helpful.
A person B says: See? This is why you should always collect and evaluate data!
A person C says: No, the real lesson is that we should use common sense which obviously recommends Y! Why didn’t anybody use their common sense?
A, B and C must all come from LessWrong or some other rationality-promoting subset of the human population.
Meanwhile, in the real world we live in:
Persons α, β and γ respectively say, after C: “C, you’re crazy! That’s not common, sense, that’s madness! If we do that, then Obama gets even more control and will come in our houses and take our guns away from us!”,
“No, what this study shows is that scientists cannot be trusted, one should turn their mind and spirit to the way of {faith}, open your mind and see {faith_symbol}, it is the only way to truly know the Truth.”,
“According to the Dimensionless Liquid Cristallized Aether Wave Lorem Ipsum Something Theory, as it says here {link to blog of commenter, and sole source for the theory}, the resonance of {unknown term} with {misused esoteric term} causes an error in the measurement of the effect of Y, which means that as {math terms, probably misused} the real factor is actually Z, and this is why we should use this theory for everything from now on.”
The real world we live in is large and diverse. No one forces you to listen to alpha, beta, or gamma. Or even to delta who says after C: “Fuck, man, I need a beer. Dude, have you seen the game last night?”
My point is that alpha, beta, gamma and your very good delta are much more representative of the average-person cluster in personspace, or even of the educated, literate, internet-going population.
Delta, yes. Alpha, beta, and gamma—not so sure. They look like stereotypes of the Enemy from the Other Tribe to me.
Then, for the sake of balance, here is one from another tribe: “Both solutions X and Y are mere rationalizations to justify the rich white man’s patriarchal rule. The real solution is to ignore both X and Y, and focus on destroying the system.”
(Last seen: yesterday, in an article about why free online education is actually an evil tool of oppression. A strawmanish summary: It privileges rich white kids with computers and fast internet.)
Yet another tribe: “We don’t need X or Y. Just remove the government and use Bitcoins. Then all the problems will fix themselves!”
(Last seen: two days ago, in a debate about education. I guess, I really live in an insane world.)