There’s this magical click that some people get and some people don’t,
and I don’t understand what’s in the click. There’s the
consequentialist/utilitarian click, and the intelligence explosion
click, and the life-is-good/death-is-bad click, and the cryonics click.
I think it’s a mistake to put all the opinions you agree with in a
special category. Why do some people come quickly to beliefs you agree
with? There is no reason, except that sometimes people come quickly to
beliefs, and some beliefs happen to match yours.
People who share one belief with you are more likely to share others, so
you’re anecdotally finding people who agree with you about non-cryonics
things at a cryonics conference. Young people might be more likely to
change their mind quickly because they’re more likely to hear something
for the first time.
More strongly, is there any reason to believe that people are more likely to “click” to rational beliefs than irrational ones?
As an example, papal infallibility once clicked for me (during childhood religious education), which I think most people here would agree is wrong, even conditioned on the existence of God.
People who share one belief with you are more likely to share others
True. In this case, once you get the consequentialist/utilitarian “click”, you’re more likely to come down with the rest of the clicks—the examples he listed are highly entangled.
I think it’s a mistake to put all the opinions you agree with in a special category. Why do some people come quickly to beliefs you agree with? There is no reason, except that sometimes people come quickly to beliefs, and some beliefs happen to match yours.
People who share one belief with you are more likely to share others, so you’re anecdotally finding people who agree with you about non-cryonics things at a cryonics conference. Young people might be more likely to change their mind quickly because they’re more likely to hear something for the first time.
More strongly, is there any reason to believe that people are more likely to “click” to rational beliefs than irrational ones?
As an example, papal infallibility once clicked for me (during childhood religious education), which I think most people here would agree is wrong, even conditioned on the existence of God.
True. In this case, once you get the consequentialist/utilitarian “click”, you’re more likely to come down with the rest of the clicks—the examples he listed are highly entangled.
This is a great insight.