I agree completely. If you didn’t read the references or notice the date, the article seems completely legitimate. It makes a couple weird claims (fictional drugs?), but if you didn’t know the literature they wouldn’t necessarily seem any stranger than the actual things people do (like anchoring their estimate of a car’s value to their social security number). Remember that the absurdity heuristic is not a very good mode of reasoning!
So this means that while people who know Less Wrong can have a little inside joke, people who are new to rationalism and behavioral sciences could easily be fooled.
but if you didn’t know the literature they wouldn’t necessarily seem any stranger than the actual things people do (like anchoring their estimate of a car’s value to their social security number)
Funny you should mention that. When I first had the idea for this post back in January or February, I specifically wanted to think up a fictional bias where the examples would be stranger than anchoring, and about as relevant to everyday life if true. I could not think of one. I finally ended up writing this at the last minute when I realized “fictional bias” was a pun and decided to write the post around that title.
What I’d really like to know, is whether anyone saw my tweets or facebook posts about trying to think up a nonexistent bias, and was still fooled by the post.
I agree completely. If you didn’t read the references or notice the date, the article seems completely legitimate. It makes a couple weird claims (fictional drugs?), but if you didn’t know the literature they wouldn’t necessarily seem any stranger than the actual things people do (like anchoring their estimate of a car’s value to their social security number). Remember that the absurdity heuristic is not a very good mode of reasoning!
So this means that while people who know Less Wrong can have a little inside joke, people who are new to rationalism and behavioral sciences could easily be fooled.
Funny you should mention that. When I first had the idea for this post back in January or February, I specifically wanted to think up a fictional bias where the examples would be stranger than anchoring, and about as relevant to everyday life if true. I could not think of one. I finally ended up writing this at the last minute when I realized “fictional bias” was a pun and decided to write the post around that title.
What I’d really like to know, is whether anyone saw my tweets or facebook posts about trying to think up a nonexistent bias, and was still fooled by the post.