I learned from this a new way of thinking about thinking, “cognitive decoupling,” and its role in disagreements.https://twitter.com/everytstudies/status/989544002511949825 …
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The *capacity* to limit inference to a narrow set of considerations is a prerequisite to rationality. But besides that, there is the *propensity*, which seems to be an aspect of temperament, which varies even among those with the capacity.
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There seems to be something of a continuum from high-decouplers to low-decouplers even within high-IQ people who can think rationally when necessary. “Painfully oblivious geeks” are those at one extreme. (I’m close to that, at time at least!)
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Insightful discussion of the high/low decoupling continuum by
@drossbucket, who is near the middle, despite having a physics PhD and working in software development. The comments on this post are well-worth reading too!https://drossbucket.wordpress.com/2018/04/08/the-cognitive-decoupling-elite/ …Show this thread -
Systematic rationality operates *within* circumscription assumptions: a set of principles about what will count as relevant to the reasoning process. The obliviousness of oblivious geeks is in taking circumscription as given, or fixed, not to be questioned or re-examined.
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Choice of circumscription assumptions is a key form of *meta-rational* reasoning. That is: deciding what will count as relevant is a major part of determining *how* rationality will be applied in a particular situation.
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So, to summarize my understanding of
@everytstudies’s analysis of the Harris-Klein debate: We could take Klein as being unable or unwilling to apply rationality (which requires circumscription) at all. Possibly true, but uncharitable. Alternatively…Show this thread -
We could understand Klein as pointing out that Harris is being an “oblivious geek,” i.e. taking a set of circumscription assumptions as a given, and refusing to contemplate alternatives.
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Here is a positive construal of the value of low-decoupled thinking (from
@everytstudies’s post). The opposite of being an oblivious geek is being aware of the richness of the situation.pic.twitter.com/Dmg66Bs5I3
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To summarize my understanding of
@everytstudies’ post in my own jargon: Klein and Harris would have had to have had the meta-rational discussion of what counts as relevant, and why, before getting into the object-level debate. And neither was willing or able to do so.Show this thread
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Interesting point that applying logic to the real world requires tight limits or it stops working. Seems obviously correct but I never thought of it in exactly that way.
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The _Hard Truths_ book I live-tweeted a couple days ago is largely about this point. The first 3-4 chapters are great; it bogs down in the technicalities of analytic metaphysics after that.
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