Interesting, thankyou. This phenonemon really should be studied: “The influence of likely sexual reward on logistical problem solving”. Or “would people become munchkins if munchkins got laid?”
(EDIT: I’m genuinely dumbfounded at why several people have come through and downvoted Eliezer’s comments here. They don’t seem particularly worse than mine yet mine are still positive. This is especially surprising since several people have downvoted all of my recent comments yet somehow mine are still positive here while Eliezer’s are negative. Just don’t get it.)
If I had to guess, I’d say the trouble was Eliezer’s claim, in his initial post, that most people don’t go into munchkin mode when confronted with real life problems. No reason was given for thinking that this was true (none has been given since). The result was probably the impression that Eliezer assumed on principle that his reaction to the situation was an unusually intelligent one.
I very much doubt that was Eliezer’s thought (it would be a very bad inference), but there you go.
If I had to guess, I’d say the trouble was Eliezer’s claim, in his initial post, that most people don’t go into munchkin mode when confronted with real life problems. No reason was given for thinking that this was true (none has been given since).
Interesting, that would indicate that in this instance I took Eliezer at his word more than the average voter.
If this means you have some insight into his reasoning, especially toward the conclusion that he behaved unusually, please share it. I think we have ample reason to believe that Eliezer is unusually intelligent, to say the least, but my own impression is that his behavior during this episode was, well, in line with similar episodes in my life. And in the lives of most of the people who shared my dorm floor in college. And we’re a pretty average bunch.
I think we have ample reason to believe that Eliezer is unusually intelligent
More predisposed muchkinism. That’s somewhat distinct from intelligence. The task of of covering the window with junk probably didn’t harness all of his intellectual resources, or even enough of them for them to be particularly significant factor.
I’m not sure it is. Intelligence is at least very roughly a capacity to optimize, and while intelligent people may fail to optimize in everyday situations (and still be called intelligent), I don’t see any real real difference between a straightforward exercise of intelligence (working out a proof or something) and a situation like this. It’s just a matter of knowing what you have available to you, and what you can do with those resources to best and most efficiently achieve an end. ETA: But agreed that one difference is that working out a proof is typically much more demanding then obscuring a door.
In my experience, situations like the one Eliezer was in are thrilling, in the way vaulting around a children’s play structure can feel thrilling. They’re experiences of mastery in circumstances very like those in which we’ve experienced being helpless. It’s really fun to be smart, strong, and mature. It’s the feeling of being an adult, next to which the joys of childhood play are kind of a joke. It’s not therefore the joy of real accomplishment (munchkinism mostly doesn’t matter), but it is an avenue into it. If there’s a rationality trick here, it’s getting people hooked enough on the feelings of munchkinism, while keeping them from being satisfied with trivial exercises of it.
The two people who had been considering putting up curtains there apparently did not interpret all the other objects in the room as potential privacy screen components.
The people who had been considering putting up curtains there were probably looking for a long term, comfortable solution to the problem. For them, piling junk in front of the door would be a terrible way to handle that problem. Way worse than just ignoring it.
I think I’d bet against it at 50-50 odds.
Interesting, thankyou. This phenonemon really should be studied: “The influence of likely sexual reward on logistical problem solving”. Or “would people become munchkins if munchkins got laid?”
(EDIT: I’m genuinely dumbfounded at why several people have come through and downvoted Eliezer’s comments here. They don’t seem particularly worse than mine yet mine are still positive. This is especially surprising since several people have downvoted all of my recent comments yet somehow mine are still positive here while Eliezer’s are negative. Just don’t get it.)
If I had to guess, I’d say the trouble was Eliezer’s claim, in his initial post, that most people don’t go into munchkin mode when confronted with real life problems. No reason was given for thinking that this was true (none has been given since). The result was probably the impression that Eliezer assumed on principle that his reaction to the situation was an unusually intelligent one.
I very much doubt that was Eliezer’s thought (it would be a very bad inference), but there you go.
Interesting, that would indicate that in this instance I took Eliezer at his word more than the average voter.
If this means you have some insight into his reasoning, especially toward the conclusion that he behaved unusually, please share it. I think we have ample reason to believe that Eliezer is unusually intelligent, to say the least, but my own impression is that his behavior during this episode was, well, in line with similar episodes in my life. And in the lives of most of the people who shared my dorm floor in college. And we’re a pretty average bunch.
More predisposed muchkinism. That’s somewhat distinct from intelligence. The task of of covering the window with junk probably didn’t harness all of his intellectual resources, or even enough of them for them to be particularly significant factor.
I’m not sure it is. Intelligence is at least very roughly a capacity to optimize, and while intelligent people may fail to optimize in everyday situations (and still be called intelligent), I don’t see any real real difference between a straightforward exercise of intelligence (working out a proof or something) and a situation like this. It’s just a matter of knowing what you have available to you, and what you can do with those resources to best and most efficiently achieve an end. ETA: But agreed that one difference is that working out a proof is typically much more demanding then obscuring a door.
In my experience, situations like the one Eliezer was in are thrilling, in the way vaulting around a children’s play structure can feel thrilling. They’re experiences of mastery in circumstances very like those in which we’ve experienced being helpless. It’s really fun to be smart, strong, and mature. It’s the feeling of being an adult, next to which the joys of childhood play are kind of a joke. It’s not therefore the joy of real accomplishment (munchkinism mostly doesn’t matter), but it is an avenue into it. If there’s a rationality trick here, it’s getting people hooked enough on the feelings of munchkinism, while keeping them from being satisfied with trivial exercises of it.
The two people who had been considering putting up curtains there apparently did not interpret all the other objects in the room as potential privacy screen components.
[edit: I initially worded that badly]
The people who had been considering putting up curtains there were probably looking for a long term, comfortable solution to the problem. For them, piling junk in front of the door would be a terrible way to handle that problem. Way worse than just ignoring it.