No, it’s not (only) experiential knowledge. It’s about the basic framework through which you view the world. More experience isn’t going to help if you keep on fitting it within the same, inaccurate model.
How do you posit the model is formed or updated if not through experience? The reason why your self of 10 years ago doesn’t believe ‘just be yourself’ will work is that he hasn’t experienced what actually happens yet, and everything you say is purely theoretical for him. Even giving examples of other people following your advice might not work, because those people are not him, and the idea that this will work for him is still theoretical. Now, if the population in question were picked to be as similar as possible to the subject, and the variable (being or not being one’s self) was well defined and well controlled, then a good rationalist would indeed take the result seriously and not just say, “this advice is bullshit,” though he still might be uncertain as to whether or not it would work for him.
No, it’s not (only) experiential knowledge. It’s about the basic framework through which you view the world. More experience isn’t going to help if you keep on fitting it within the same, inaccurate model.
How do you posit the model is formed or updated if not through experience? The reason why your self of 10 years ago doesn’t believe ‘just be yourself’ will work is that he hasn’t experienced what actually happens yet, and everything you say is purely theoretical for him. Even giving examples of other people following your advice might not work, because those people are not him, and the idea that this will work for him is still theoretical. Now, if the population in question were picked to be as similar as possible to the subject, and the variable (being or not being one’s self) was well defined and well controlled, then a good rationalist would indeed take the result seriously and not just say, “this advice is bullshit,” though he still might be uncertain as to whether or not it would work for him.