But the knowledge that you miss by wasting your time on things with bad evidence instead of spending your time on something else with good evidence could also range from insignificant to essential. And since it has good evidence, more such things are likely to pan out.
But the knowledge that you miss by wasting your time on things with bad evidence instead of spending your time on something else with good evidence could also range from insignificant to essential.
Assuming everything is instrumental, and that your goals/values themselves aren;t going to be changed by any subjective experience.
I think I should be more explicit: Saying that ignoring bad evidence could lead you miss things “ranging from insignificant to essential”
1) is worded in a lopsided way that emphasizes “essential” too much—almost everything you’ll miss is insignificant, with the essential things being vanishingly rare.
2) Is special pleading—many activities could get you to miss things “ranging from insignificant to essential”, including ignoring bad evidence, ignoring claims because they are fraudulent, or ignoring the scientific theories of a 6 year old, and nobody bothers mentioning them.
3) is probably being said because the speaker really wants to treat his bad evidence as good evidence, and is rationalizing it by saying “even bad evidence could have essential knowledge behind it sometimes”.
I am not proposing wasting time with bad evidence. I am just pointing towards a problem that creates a space of difficult to discover truths. The strategy about dealing with this is for another post. This post is concerned with the identification of the issue.
Yes you are. You say that if you believe bad evidence, you may end up believing something true that ranges from insignificant to essential.
This is correct. But you are conflating the identification of the issue with an action strategy that I haven’t suggested. Also do not forget that I am talking about truths that are experientially verifiable not just believed in.
But any belief with any evidence could range from insignificant to essential. And you aren’t mentioning them.
Of course. If there is evidence a rational approach will lead us to the conclusion that it is worth exploring the belief. I think the LW community is perfectly aware of that kind of assesment.
So you must think there’s something special about beliefs based on bad evidence, that gives you a reason to mention them.
I think there is something special about truths for which the verification is experientially available, but for which there is currently no evidence.
But the knowledge that you miss by wasting your time on things with bad evidence instead of spending your time on something else with good evidence could also range from insignificant to essential. And since it has good evidence, more such things are likely to pan out.
Assuming everything is instrumental, and that your goals/values themselves aren;t going to be changed by any subjective experience.
I think I should be more explicit: Saying that ignoring bad evidence could lead you miss things “ranging from insignificant to essential”
1) is worded in a lopsided way that emphasizes “essential” too much—almost everything you’ll miss is insignificant, with the essential things being vanishingly rare.
2) Is special pleading—many activities could get you to miss things “ranging from insignificant to essential”, including ignoring bad evidence, ignoring claims because they are fraudulent, or ignoring the scientific theories of a 6 year old, and nobody bothers mentioning them.
3) is probably being said because the speaker really wants to treat his bad evidence as good evidence, and is rationalizing it by saying “even bad evidence could have essential knowledge behind it sometimes”.
I am not proposing wasting time with bad evidence. I am just pointing towards a problem that creates a space of difficult to discover truths. The strategy about dealing with this is for another post. This post is concerned with the identification of the issue.
Yes you are. You say that if you believe bad evidence, you may end up believing something true that ranges from insignificant to essential.
But any belief with any evidence could range from insignificant to essential. And you aren’t mentioning them.
So you must think there’s something special about beliefs based on bad evidence, that gives you a reason to mention them.
This is correct. But you are conflating the identification of the issue with an action strategy that I haven’t suggested. Also do not forget that I am talking about truths that are experientially verifiable not just believed in.
Of course. If there is evidence a rational approach will lead us to the conclusion that it is worth exploring the belief. I think the LW community is perfectly aware of that kind of assesment.
I think there is something special about truths for which the verification is experientially available, but for which there is currently no evidence.