6 ms·

what's a "rationalist" (seriously)?

mac01021 6y ago
0> By the dictionary: "a person who bases their opinions and actions on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response." 1> I guess someone who chooses to label themselves as a rationalist likely holds the opinion that most people are not rationalists. 2> And I guess someone who offers up that label in order to introduce himself, before the topic of rationalism has even come up, must see it as a major part of his self-identity. (which probably implies <1>)
- marshmallow_12 6y ago
  thanks for clarifying. A fundamental flaw in rationalism makes itself clear:At a certain point one has to stop relying on his own intellect when deciding on a particular action due to the constraints of the brains ability to accumulate enough information. This is an insurmountable obstacle. A rationalist can at best be described as one who will rely on his own certain knowledge when possible.
drdeca 6y ago
The meaning relevant in this case is generally the community surrounding the LessWrong website and associated other communities (not necessarily exclusive to those who have actually used the website LessWrong though.) (There's also a different older meaning in philosophy which is largely unrelated) a (joke) inductive definition: base case: Elizier Yudkowsky is a rationalist. inductive case: Anyone who frequently argues with rationalists is a rationalist. The community speaks a fair bit about how to deal with psychological bias, and also talks about Bayesian reasoning, decision theory, etc. Also talks about what conversational norms are helpful in facilitating productive discussion especially in the presence of disagreement, etc. There are also those who would be called "rationalist-adjacent" who, well, people who are socially-near "rationalists", but, fairly similar topics discussed. There have been some attempts to use the phrase "aspiring rationalist" rather than "rationalist", and to reserve the term "rationalist" to refer to hypothetical idealized practitioners of the ideas. Also, sometimes people shorten "rationalist" to "rat".

0> By the dictionary: "a person who bases their opinions and actions on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response." 1> I guess someone who chooses to label themselves as a rationalist likely holds the opinion that most people are not rationalists. 2> And I guess someone who offers up that label in order to introduce himself, before the topic of rationalism has even come up, must see it as a major part of his self-identity. (which probably implies <1>)

marshmallow_12 6y ago
thanks for clarifying. A fundamental flaw in rationalism makes itself clear:At a certain point one has to stop relying on his own intellect when deciding on a particular action due to the constraints of the brains ability to accumulate enough information. This is an insurmountable obstacle. A rationalist can at best be described as one who will rely on his own certain knowledge when possible.

drdeca 6y ago

The meaning relevant in this case is generally the community surrounding the LessWrong website and associated other communities (not necessarily exclusive to those who have actually used the website LessWrong though.) (There's also a different older meaning in philosophy which is largely unrelated) a (joke) inductive definition: base case: Elizier Yudkowsky is a rationalist. inductive case: Anyone who frequently argues with rationalists is a rationalist. The community speaks a fair bit about how to deal with psychological bias, and also talks about Bayesian reasoning, decision theory, etc. Also talks about what conversational norms are helpful in facilitating productive discussion especially in the presence of disagreement, etc. There are also those who would be called "rationalist-adjacent" who, well, people who are socially-near "rationalists", but, fairly similar topics discussed. There have been some attempts to use the phrase "aspiring rationalist" rather than "rationalist", and to reserve the term "rationalist" to refer to hypothetical idealized practitioners of the ideas. Also, sometimes people shorten "rationalist" to "rat".