This seems to be almost the inverse of the My Favourite Liar technique (I initially thought this post was going to be about the suggestion given in this comment that respected posters on this site adopt that technique as a test of the group’s rationality). The issue here, of course, is that you would intersperse some “plausible lies” into your lectures and no-one would be able to tell the difference.
This brings together so many of the ideas from Eliezer’s rationality series that I’m struggling to decide whichposttolink to (probably this one is most relevant).
If your justifications for your beliefs are indistinguishable from fake justifications for false beliefs, they are worthless to a truth-seeker. Any body of knowledge which can’t pass the “Spot the Fakes” Test is no knowledge at all.
This seems to be almost the inverse of the My Favourite Liar technique (I initially thought this post was going to be about the suggestion given in this comment that respected posters on this site adopt that technique as a test of the group’s rationality). The issue here, of course, is that you would intersperse some “plausible lies” into your lectures and no-one would be able to tell the difference.
This brings together so many of the ideas from Eliezer’s rationality series that I’m struggling to decide which post to link to (probably this one is most relevant).
If your justifications for your beliefs are indistinguishable from fake justifications for false beliefs, they are worthless to a truth-seeker. Any body of knowledge which can’t pass the “Spot the Fakes” Test is no knowledge at all.
(I can’t resist linking to this in this context)