Nobody else seems to have added this response, so I will. We don’t know that this moment, in the ritual room, is the only test they undergo. Perhaps one’s ability to take a written exam is part of the public procedures. Perhaps a great open exam where anyone who wants to can sit it, running near continuously, is the first stage, and Brennan has had months in a cloisterlike environment in the public secret face of the conspiracy where the people who can study sciences but not generate new true science study?
Perhaps I missed yours? Rationality requires the ability to challenge social pressure, certainly. Are you questioning whether this procedure picks rationalists from nonrationalists? If so, and on its own, I don’t argue that it would, just that it would probably be one member of a larger set of tests.
Thinking about it more now… yes, I was implicitly assuming that failing any of the tests barred further progress, and you’re right that this wasn’t actually said. I stand corrected; thanks for pointing that out.
Nobody else seems to have added this response, so I will. We don’t know that this moment, in the ritual room, is the only test they undergo. Perhaps one’s ability to take a written exam is part of the public procedures. Perhaps a great open exam where anyone who wants to can sit it, running near continuously, is the first stage, and Brennan has had months in a cloisterlike environment in the public secret face of the conspiracy where the people who can study sciences but not generate new true science study?
I assume that there are other tests involved, both before and after, but I don’t see the relevance of that. I may be missing your point.
Perhaps I missed yours? Rationality requires the ability to challenge social pressure, certainly. Are you questioning whether this procedure picks rationalists from nonrationalists? If so, and on its own, I don’t argue that it would, just that it would probably be one member of a larger set of tests.
Thinking about it more now… yes, I was implicitly assuming that failing any of the tests barred further progress, and you’re right that this wasn’t actually said. I stand corrected; thanks for pointing that out.