Meh. You said yourself that someone behaving irrationally has unpredictable behavior. So downvotes for stupid reasons are just noise, and should in large numbers be countered by either upvotes for stupid reasons, or other comments’ downvotes for stupid reasons. If there is still a considerable amount of voting for good reasons, it should usually show through the noise.
This analysis obviously assumes that there isn’t a systemic bias in the mix, like “always upvote Eliezer” or “always downvote Marshall”.
You’re right—re-reading, I meant to say “people behaving irrationally have collectively unpredictable behavior”, to which I assumed you would agree. I was extrapolating that from here:
Irrational thought patterns can be nearly anything, so there’s no way to specify an argument that will convince everyone.
I had also argued in the past that one could construct arguments that would convince most people since they’re probably irrational in predictable ways, and you disagreed.
Meh. You said yourself that someone behaving irrationally has unpredictable behavior. So downvotes for stupid reasons are just noise, and should in large numbers be countered by either upvotes for stupid reasons, or other comments’ downvotes for stupid reasons. If there is still a considerable amount of voting for good reasons, it should usually show through the noise.
This analysis obviously assumes that there isn’t a systemic bias in the mix, like “always upvote Eliezer” or “always downvote Marshall”.
“You said yourself that someone behaving irrationally has unpredictable behavior.”
No, I didn’t. Someone can be irrational, yet completely predictable and consistent. Go back and re-read what I said—you haven’t understood it.
“This analysis obviously assumes that there isn’t a systemic bias in the mix”
We’re dealing with human beings. There are ALWAYS systemic biases involved.
You’re right—re-reading, I meant to say “people behaving irrationally have collectively unpredictable behavior”, to which I assumed you would agree. I was extrapolating that from here:
I had also argued in the past that one could construct arguments that would convince most people since they’re probably irrational in predictable ways, and you disagreed.