People here usually value having true beliefs for their own sake. It’s hard to imagine convincing someone of the efficacy of NGDP futures targeting or humanitarian military intervention is actually more useless than convincing someone of the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics or Bayesian epistemology. There is no shortage of Less Wrong discussions involving people trying to persuade others to hold beliefs that will have no impact on the world and I don’t think that criteria is diagnostic of whether or not a discussion should take place on Less Wrong.
Perhaps I should note that I have spent many hours engaged in such conversations. It’s just that the utility of the conversion isn’t really relevant to the question of whether or not they’re worthwhile—I don’t think the time spent on such conversations is wasted or anything like that...
People here usually value having true beliefs for their own sake. It’s hard to imagine convincing someone of the efficacy of NGDP futures targeting or humanitarian military intervention is actually more useless than convincing someone of the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics or Bayesian epistemology. There is no shortage of Less Wrong discussions involving people trying to persuade others to hold beliefs that will have no impact on the world and I don’t think that criteria is diagnostic of whether or not a discussion should take place on Less Wrong.
Hey screw you buddy!
(Ha ha, only serious.)
Perhaps I should note that I have spent many hours engaged in such conversations. It’s just that the utility of the conversion isn’t really relevant to the question of whether or not they’re worthwhile—I don’t think the time spent on such conversations is wasted or anything like that...