151–160 of 261 posts
First names of elements started being capitalized. Then there was the "Black" thing, followed by the "White" thing. We seem to be headed back to the 1700s, when Important Words were capitalized.
So "Autistic" is capitalized now? First names of elements started being capitalized. Then there was the "Black" thing, followed by the "White" thing. We seem to be headed back to the 1700s, when Important Words were capitalized.
It takes a while to get to the point, but this is what the page is about: As we explained in a recent review paper, researchers have repeatedly found evidence that Autistic individuals are, on average, more consistent, less biased, and more rational than non-autistic individuals in a variety of contexts. Specifically, many Autistic people seem to be less susceptible to cognitive biases, and therefore better able to m…
Emotion is a known irrational effect on decision making, autism is often associated with the lack of emotion in certain contexts (or inability to understand the emotion). Having less of the thing that makes you irrational would make you more rational by default.
Similar to Charlie's Munger devotion in life isn't to be smart, it's to figure out how to not be dumb. How can you not be irrational? Don't let emotion impact your decision making.
* To be clear, I'm not saying those on the spectrum don't have emotions (they do), though in my experience it comes across quite differently. It feels more like "another factor to be analyzed", which can easily be disregarded in some contexts, than an "invisible hand" behind the scenes influencing decisions.
So "Autistic" is capitalized now? First names of elements started being capitalized. Then there was the "Black" thing, followed by the "White" thing. We seem to be headed back to the 1700s, when Important Words were capitalized.
It's the beginning of the sentence.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would argue exactly the contrary: the real world, the seasons and stars and seeds, is pitilessly rational. It cannot be tricked, pleaded with, or emotionally manipulated. It is harsh, but equally so to everyone, and according to an inexorable logic that cannot be altered but can be exploited. It is the special contexts the humans have created, like churches, courts, and tribes, where the laws of rationality can be…
Ah yes, in the long run it's all rational, but in the long run we're also all dead. Even if that were the case, you are not a star, you are not near equilibrium, you are alive and don't have time to play long term rational games.
If you try to walk across the desert without drinking water you will be dead in two days. That's not "the long run."
If you carry water and salt with you, you can make it a week or more, but not if you strategize poorly: walking during the day instead of at night will deplete your water much more rapidly, and if you treat your canteen carelessly you will lose the water. If you have the knowledge to navigate to places with drinkable water along the way, or the knowledge and materials to distill water from crushed plants, you can make it for months, longer if you brought food or can find it. (Me, I caught and ate raw grasshoppers.) You cannot emotionally manipulate the desert; you cannot trick it; it will not treat you more gently because you beg it for mercy. Rationality (knowledge, skill, heedfulness, and above all epistemic humility) is your only hope. It's no guarantee, because a rattlesnake or a hailstone may strike you at random, but it's your only hope.
It's not just the desert. The same is true of the ocean, of mushroom hunting, of wasp's nests, and of the frozen North with its alpine sweetvetch. Nature's ways are subtle and merciless, but they are amenable to understanding, and rationality permits you to order your life in harmony with them and thus survive and prosper a little while; though not, as you say, in the long run.
The whole world is like this, all except for tiny special contexts humans have created where the ruthless laws of Nature are suspended a little bit, where mercy and humanity and fellow-feeling hold sway.
It takes a while to get to the point, but this is what the page is about: As we explained in a recent review paper, researchers have repeatedly found evidence that Autistic individuals are, on average, more consistent, less biased, and more rational than non-autistic individuals in a variety of contexts. Specifically, many Autistic people seem to be less susceptible to cognitive biases, and therefore better able to m…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a strange one. I'd cancel the cheaper one because it'll be easier to go on that cheaper trip at a later date than the more expensive one. Choosing the one you'd rather go on right now shows a lack of planning. It seems less rational to me.
Precisely. It is fully rational to cancel the cheaper trip. Many autistic persons would say that the entire question is stupid.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it could indicate that at least mild Autism is a beneficial adaptation Not picking on you or your post, but it's interesting that we still consider this an adaptation. What if this is humanity's natural state and allistics are the adaptation?
I think you meant this tongue in cheek, but this seems highly unlikely. The neocortex handles rational thinking and reasoning, so an increased reliance on it would put autism further from evolutionary predecessors. Also, you would expect the ratios of allistics:autistic to be reversed as well. Also, as a mildly autistic person, I don't believe autism would be a beneficial trait in the wild. I would probably be fine,…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't mean that at all, its but that real world is not made for rationallity, and even if we have created special contexts where it is, it doesn't mean it can be generalized out of them.
I would argue exactly the contrary: the real world, the seasons and stars and seeds, is pitilessly rational. It cannot be tricked, pleaded with, or emotionally manipulated. It is harsh, but equally so to everyone, and according to an inexorable logic that cannot be altered but can be exploited. It is the special contexts the humans have created, like churches, courts, and tribes, where the laws of rationality can be…
There's no "merely" social consensus, quite on the contrary, the social consensus has always dominated all the things that matter; being exiled from the tribe was effectively a death sentence even if the tribe did not directly kill you, and a dominant position in the tribe gains larger benefits than dominating against the real world, both in a hunter-gatherer environment and in modern society.