I got the impression that I wouldn’t enjoy being interviewed by Tyler Cowen. If “I believe that if you go to the beach, but you do not give the ocean a chance to taste you, she will come take her taste when she chooses.” is his favorite answer to the crazy belief question, how is he shooting for anything except the ability to spout BS?
And I’m not saying there isn’t anything in that answer. Jordan Peterson says “if you see a cat you should pet it”. That seems to gesture at exactly the same thing. Do the little nice and relaxing things when the opportunity presents itself as a matter of habit. But of course she can’t give that explanation, because then it wouldn’t be a “crazy belief” anymore.
I would like to answer that question with something like “I checked the chimp-pig-hybrid theory and I believe it to be correct.”. But I can’t give that answer because I didn’t check it. And if I did check it, I fully expect that to not result in positive evidence. So what facts back her “ocean taste theory”? How is this even an answer to a question about beliefs? Is a belief just “I like the sound of these words”?
I fully expect her to be a lovely and creative and competent person with a poetic bent. But I hate the idea that VCs allocate money (ok, I guess status) based on the ability to not actually answer very hard questions, but to use them as jumping-off point to sell yourself as interesting.
Full disclaimer: I applied for Cowen’s AI Venture grant and answered their current “trick question” “which mainstream opinion do you agree with” with “I agree with the mainstream’s disdain for trick questions” and I didn’t get funding. (Yes, not smart, I know.)
I got the impression that I wouldn’t enjoy being interviewed by Tyler Cowen. If “I believe that if you go to the beach, but you do not give the ocean a chance to taste you, she will come take her taste when she chooses.” is his favorite answer to the crazy belief question, how is he shooting for anything except the ability to spout BS?
And I’m not saying there isn’t anything in that answer. Jordan Peterson says “if you see a cat you should pet it”. That seems to gesture at exactly the same thing. Do the little nice and relaxing things when the opportunity presents itself as a matter of habit. But of course she can’t give that explanation, because then it wouldn’t be a “crazy belief” anymore.
I would like to answer that question with something like “I checked the chimp-pig-hybrid theory and I believe it to be correct.”. But I can’t give that answer because I didn’t check it. And if I did check it, I fully expect that to not result in positive evidence. So what facts back her “ocean taste theory”? How is this even an answer to a question about beliefs? Is a belief just “I like the sound of these words”?
I fully expect her to be a lovely and creative and competent person with a poetic bent. But I hate the idea that VCs allocate money (ok, I guess status) based on the ability to not actually answer very hard questions, but to use them as jumping-off point to sell yourself as interesting.
Full disclaimer: I applied for Cowen’s AI Venture grant and answered their current “trick question” “which mainstream opinion do you agree with” with “I agree with the mainstream’s disdain for trick questions” and I didn’t get funding. (Yes, not smart, I know.)