While I respect priming and contamination as a bias, I think you’ve overdramaticized it in this article. Similar exaggerations of scientific findings for shock purposes has up until recently made me paranoid of attacks on my decision making process, and not just cognitive bias either. In fact, this being before I read LW, I don’t think I even considered cognitive biases other than what you call contamination here, and it still seriously screwed me up emotionally and socially.
So yes, concepts will cause someone to think of related, maybe compatible concepts. No, this is not mind control, and no, a flashed image on the screen will not rewrite all your utility functions, make you a paperclip maximizer, and kill your dog.
Re-reading this post just now, I find it funny that I thought your comment over-dramatized, and much more than the post itself.
It’s almost like you’ve been primed to think of rewritten utility functions and paperclip-maximizers by something in this post other than its explicit contents.
While I respect priming and contamination as a bias, I think you’ve overdramaticized it in this article. Similar exaggerations of scientific findings for shock purposes has up until recently made me paranoid of attacks on my decision making process, and not just cognitive bias either. In fact, this being before I read LW, I don’t think I even considered cognitive biases other than what you call contamination here, and it still seriously screwed me up emotionally and socially.
So yes, concepts will cause someone to think of related, maybe compatible concepts. No, this is not mind control, and no, a flashed image on the screen will not rewrite all your utility functions, make you a paperclip maximizer, and kill your dog.
Re-reading this post just now, I find it funny that I thought your comment over-dramatized, and much more than the post itself.
It’s almost like you’ve been primed to think of rewritten utility functions and paperclip-maximizers by something in this post other than its explicit contents.
Thank you. I started to feel like I was reading the patter of a Darren Brown act.