There’s a question of what we mean with specific words. The talk about cognitive biases comes out of behavioral economics and in economics the rational actor is one that makes utility maximizing choices. As such a person with a high amount of rationality is a utility maximizer in the terms of economics.
Talking about “the exact amount of rationality” isn’t that useful in that regard.
If you instead ask what amount of using the scout mindset produces the best outcome for a human in the 2020s you have a much more concrete question. You additionally might split that into the question of whether having the scout mindset internally is useful and having it in a externally visible way.
In a heavily political environment a cynical person who says all the bullshit that makes them get ahead but internally knows what’s bullshit might be able to navigate better than the deluded believer. There’s a reason why Venkatesh Rao calls the people who believe the bullshit fully “clueless” and puts them at the bottom of the hierarchy.
A stereotypical programmer who sees themselves as valuing rationality and the truth, might speak up in a project meeting by focusing on what’s truly matters for the business but be ignorant of important truths about the political effects of speaking up. If you model that situation as the programmer being “rational” but the people saying the political bullshit at the meeting being “irrational” you are going to have a poor understanding of the situation.
There’s a question of what we mean with specific words. The talk about cognitive biases comes out of behavioral economics and in economics the rational actor is one that makes utility maximizing choices. As such a person with a high amount of rationality is a utility maximizer in the terms of economics.
Talking about “the exact amount of rationality” isn’t that useful in that regard.
If you instead ask what amount of using the scout mindset produces the best outcome for a human in the 2020s you have a much more concrete question. You additionally might split that into the question of whether having the scout mindset internally is useful and having it in a externally visible way.
In a heavily political environment a cynical person who says all the bullshit that makes them get ahead but internally knows what’s bullshit might be able to navigate better than the deluded believer. There’s a reason why Venkatesh Rao calls the people who believe the bullshit fully “clueless” and puts them at the bottom of the hierarchy.
A stereotypical programmer who sees themselves as valuing rationality and the truth, might speak up in a project meeting by focusing on what’s truly matters for the business but be ignorant of important truths about the political effects of speaking up. If you model that situation as the programmer being “rational” but the people saying the political bullshit at the meeting being “irrational” you are going to have a poor understanding of the situation.