i) you have inherited the longwindedness of Eliezer. I wonder if this could be elevated to a fallacy? Let’s just raise our hands (on second thoughts not).
ii) the Steve Jobs aphorism is an aphorism—compact, pithy, witty. Like a good metaphor it surprises and sends the mind on a search. The reader himself finds meaning and defies common logic and possible fallacies. Metaphors are dangerous.
iii) it is my strong impression that rational rationalists hate metaphors. Metaphors are not based on evidence or deconstruction but more a pluralistic synthesis mode. Intuitive emergence (oops—bad word) as a tool for irrational rationalists.
iv) the expressionn “Dark Arts” is quickly becoming a weapon of destruction. While I have no wish to do evil things and incant magic rituals I suggest real rationality (and not just the rationality as practised by white male english-speaking twentysomethings with degrees in maths or science) involves other modes of cognition and have more shades of colour than LW allows.
I know I’m long-winded, and apologize. I’m busy, and as Pascal said, “This letter is too long, because I lacked the time to make it shorter.”
I like metaphors. They’re useful for illuminating things. I can go on and on about how failing the IAT doesn’t make you racist because you can hold beliefs on two different levels, or I can say “It’s like running away from a haunted house even if you don’t believe in ghosts.” I haven’t formalized my intuitions on which metaphors are or aren’t good yet, but I should.
IV seems plausible, but I can’t think of exactly how. Sounds like it deserves its own top-level post.
Thanks Yvain for your courteous answer—but in the spirit of your post I do not accept the relevance of your Pascal anecdote. I am sure editing of text in our day takes less time than generating text.
The process of transforming a first draft into a high-quality finished product (which is invariably much shorter) takes far more time than it took to create the draft in the first place.
I also like metaphors. I simply don’t have the mental circuitry to effectively process complex, abstract topics (like LW or OB posts) without some sort of imagery I can relate it to, be it an analogy, example, picture, or whatever. It’s much much easier for me to understand something if it can be imagined it as some sort of real-world situation.
I think it’s important to properly craft metaphors so they illustrate the concept being described while minimizing other, tag-along concepts. But this doesn’t seem like an insurmountable goal.
Yvain -
i) you have inherited the longwindedness of Eliezer. I wonder if this could be elevated to a fallacy? Let’s just raise our hands (on second thoughts not).
ii) the Steve Jobs aphorism is an aphorism—compact, pithy, witty. Like a good metaphor it surprises and sends the mind on a search. The reader himself finds meaning and defies common logic and possible fallacies. Metaphors are dangerous.
iii) it is my strong impression that rational rationalists hate metaphors. Metaphors are not based on evidence or deconstruction but more a pluralistic synthesis mode. Intuitive emergence (oops—bad word) as a tool for irrational rationalists.
iv) the expressionn “Dark Arts” is quickly becoming a weapon of destruction. While I have no wish to do evil things and incant magic rituals I suggest real rationality (and not just the rationality as practised by white male english-speaking twentysomethings with degrees in maths or science) involves other modes of cognition and have more shades of colour than LW allows.
I know I’m long-winded, and apologize. I’m busy, and as Pascal said, “This letter is too long, because I lacked the time to make it shorter.”
I like metaphors. They’re useful for illuminating things. I can go on and on about how failing the IAT doesn’t make you racist because you can hold beliefs on two different levels, or I can say “It’s like running away from a haunted house even if you don’t believe in ghosts.” I haven’t formalized my intuitions on which metaphors are or aren’t good yet, but I should.
IV seems plausible, but I can’t think of exactly how. Sounds like it deserves its own top-level post.
Thanks Yvain for your courteous answer—but in the spirit of your post I do not accept the relevance of your Pascal anecdote. I am sure editing of text in our day takes less time than generating text.
You are indulging in a darkish art!
The process of transforming a first draft into a high-quality finished product (which is invariably much shorter) takes far more time than it took to create the draft in the first place.
Not for me, baby!
I also like metaphors. I simply don’t have the mental circuitry to effectively process complex, abstract topics (like LW or OB posts) without some sort of imagery I can relate it to, be it an analogy, example, picture, or whatever. It’s much much easier for me to understand something if it can be imagined it as some sort of real-world situation.
I think it’s important to properly craft metaphors so they illustrate the concept being described while minimizing other, tag-along concepts. But this doesn’t seem like an insurmountable goal.