I’m shocked, because I expect Yudkowsky to be rational and deep.
The original quote should be read in context, where it’s almost a tautology. What shocks me is the immediate “False.”
Sure, within the definitions here, it’s false. But within the context, I don’t want to say that it’s “true,” because I don’t believe in true/false as absolutes, but it is not false. It’s only when it is converted to some general statement, by being abstracted here, that it takes on an obviously false character, because, of course, a group may be “distinguished” by “doing rational things” that differ from expectations.
Yudkowsky then goes on to recognize “grain of truth.”
The statement wasn’t made about just any group, though. It was made about what might be called “sects.” Graham considers truth to be common property. You can’t distinguish a sect, in the conversation Graham is creating, by what’s true about it, i.e., what is common among all, or among all rational thinkers. Sects—predefined group affiliations—are distinguished by the characteristic lies they tell. Or at least the characteristic stories, i.e., beliefs that are not falsifiable.
The original should be read. There is plenty to distinguish in it as to logical errors, but this statement was insightful.
I’m shocked, because I expect Yudkowsky to be rational and deep.
The original quote should be read in context, where it’s almost a tautology. What shocks me is the immediate “False.”
Sure, within the definitions here, it’s false. But within the context, I don’t want to say that it’s “true,” because I don’t believe in true/false as absolutes, but it is not false. It’s only when it is converted to some general statement, by being abstracted here, that it takes on an obviously false character, because, of course, a group may be “distinguished” by “doing rational things” that differ from expectations.
Yudkowsky then goes on to recognize “grain of truth.”
The statement wasn’t made about just any group, though. It was made about what might be called “sects.” Graham considers truth to be common property. You can’t distinguish a sect, in the conversation Graham is creating, by what’s true about it, i.e., what is common among all, or among all rational thinkers. Sects—predefined group affiliations—are distinguished by the characteristic lies they tell. Or at least the characteristic stories, i.e., beliefs that are not falsifiable.
The original should be read. There is plenty to distinguish in it as to logical errors, but this statement was insightful.