George is a Perfect Bayesian Rationalist, and has recently come to the conclusion that everything Albert Camus says is correct with a probability of greater than 0.99999. Since his realization, George has called himself an absurdist.
One problem here could be that it might not the case that all beliefs and positions can be determined by Bayesian Rationalism. Does absurdism have an objective truth value? Perhaps not. Political positions, to give an example, seem to correlate more with personality traits than with intelligence: Einstein and Von Neumann are widely regarded as two of the smartest people in the 20th century, and yet Einstein campaigned for nuclear disarmament, while Von Neumann campaigned to preemptivly nuke the USSR.
“I’m a republican.” might not mean “I have rationally decided that republicanism is the best philosophy” it might mean “I have high enough ‘aversion to danger’ to want boarder controls and high military spending, low enough ‘openess to experience’ to be uncomfortable with unconventional lifestyles, and am rational enough to realise that free markets are more efficient”
Or it might mean something else. Either way, saying “I’m a republican.” gives object-level information quickly without going into the meta-level underpinnings to your beliefs.
I generally agree, but...
One problem here could be that it might not the case that all beliefs and positions can be determined by Bayesian Rationalism. Does absurdism have an objective truth value? Perhaps not. Political positions, to give an example, seem to correlate more with personality traits than with intelligence: Einstein and Von Neumann are widely regarded as two of the smartest people in the 20th century, and yet Einstein campaigned for nuclear disarmament, while Von Neumann campaigned to preemptivly nuke the USSR.
“I’m a republican.” might not mean “I have rationally decided that republicanism is the best philosophy” it might mean “I have high enough ‘aversion to danger’ to want boarder controls and high military spending, low enough ‘openess to experience’ to be uncomfortable with unconventional lifestyles, and am rational enough to realise that free markets are more efficient”
Or it might mean something else. Either way, saying “I’m a republican.” gives object-level information quickly without going into the meta-level underpinnings to your beliefs.