We are challenging those social systems, which are unaccountable and only provide mysterious explanations when they fail. We aspire to build more robust systems. That’s what I think winning is.
I imagine you feel bad for all the religious people being left out, but that’s only because of their large numbers. No one feels bad for string theorists. A large following doesn’t make religion right. Lots of stupidity is not intelligence.
What I’m basically getting at is that the tendency to emphasize the latter distinction can cause one to undervalue dissimilarity in the human social world.
The point of emphasising this distinction is to put the value of human intelligence on the right order.
And if your main point is recognising the fact that bad or irrational decisions may perhaps be a result of variability in intelligence or its use, then religion only functions to hide that truth. We are at least admitting it and saying it’s not fair.
You seem to be making an argument both for and against our cause in the same breath.
The reason irrationality “wins” for the “many people” you mention is that they re-define winning in hindsight when things don’t work out.
We are challenging those social systems, which are unaccountable and only provide mysterious explanations when they fail. We aspire to build more robust systems. That’s what I think winning is.
I imagine you feel bad for all the religious people being left out, but that’s only because of their large numbers. No one feels bad for string theorists. A large following doesn’t make religion right. Lots of stupidity is not intelligence.
The point of emphasising this distinction is to put the value of human intelligence on the right order.
And if your main point is recognising the fact that bad or irrational decisions may perhaps be a result of variability in intelligence or its use, then religion only functions to hide that truth. We are at least admitting it and saying it’s not fair.
Denial is not a path to improvement.
Does it really matter if the definition of winning shifts, as long as you still experience the warm fuzzies? I think for some people it doesn’t. Quoting Eliezer’s OB post If satisfying your intuitions is more important to you than money, do whatever the heck you want. Drop the money over Niagara falls. Blow it all on expensive champagne. Set fire to your hair. Whatever. If the largest utility you care about is the utility of feeling good about your decision, then any decision that feels good is the right one.