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Robin Hanson is blogging
Sort of, check out Overcomingbias.com, an on-line forum with posts on how to enhance our orientation toward truth-seeking. Contributors include Robin and also Nick Bostrom, my favorite young philosopher.
This is a noble endeavor. Virtually everyone thinks that the thought processes of others are laden with fallacies and bias. Yet most of us -- once you get past the obligatory lip service to self-doubt -- believe that our epistemic procedures are relatively immune from such problems. That can't be right.
That said, I do not go as far as Robin in my desire to preach truth-seeking. With all due respect to the truth, I find something Quixotic in such a quest. I view Robin as believing in a kind of Archimedean point, from which we could be objective truth-seekers if only we had the will. My view is closer to that of Pascal. Yes we should seek self-improvement, but we are weak and in the dark no matter what. An excessive attachment to "truth-seeking," might even divert us from the pragmatic, skeptical pluralism -- laden with a healthy dose of ego to get the work done -- most likely to lead society closer to truth.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on November 20, 2006 at 07:53 AM in Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
I agree with the concerns Tyler (and Pascal) pointed out. But when I look around me, I see rather too little truth-seeking, than too much.
With respect to reducing bias, what I'd really like to see (from Hanson and others) is some good rules-of-thumb for reducing one's own bias in daily life.
One rule-of-thumb I've tried to apply in my work is: seek to collaborate (and socialize) if possible with people who approach questions differently than you (different training; different political/ ideological leanings..)...
Any other rules-of-thumb proposals are eagerly sought!
Posted by: april at Nov 20, 2006 9:00:28 AM
I think in part I just like truth-seeking, so I'm not exactly unbiased on the issue. And you should too, you low scoundrel corrupting the youth of the blogiverse, so there! But in case you are unpersuaded by my eloquent righteous indignation...
Is it too much of a stretch to claim that truth-fostering institutions seem to work marvellously well? In particular, since the scientific journal culture took off (around the time of Royal Society? dunno, since admiring truth-seeking doesn't keep me from being an ignoramus) the results have been pretty impressive. It's common to give the journals much credit for spreading knowledge. It's less common, but perhaps not too controversial, also to give them credit for (at least being a key part of a system for) making claimed knowledge easier to check.
(If I remember correctly, Robin Hanson himself when wearing his great big thinker hat has written about how the journal culture took off, with a doubling time of every twenty years, or so well before such a short doubling time was visible in the general economy. As I understand it, by reasonable measures recently the journal culture is still doubling about that fast, so perhaps history is on my side, for you are being assimilated by it even as you speak!)
Of course, arrangements which finesse away questions of honesty can also be very handy. "I cut, you choose," for example. So for the pragmatist, a devotion to truth-seeking may seem obsessively narrow-minded, and so I find myself short of rigorous pragmatic arguments to lift you from the fever swamp of wallowing evil that depravity might tempt you into. Note to self: practice persuasive eloquence in righteous indignation for those all-too-common fallback situations.
Posted by: William Newman at Nov 20, 2006 9:02:02 AM
I don't see myself as making any strong claim about how far we can go in this direction - just that we can and should try harder, and that creating and joining a community with this focus might help.
Posted by: Robin Hanson at Nov 20, 2006 10:45:50 AM
That can't be right.
No, it could be, but probably isn't. Those aren't the same.
Posted by: John Jenkins at Nov 20, 2006 11:34:09 AM
It sounds like an interesting blog, but I suspect many people who would care to contribute won't decide to write an original essay on the topic of truth-discovery.
Posted by: Matthew Cromer at Nov 20, 2006 2:27:19 PM
Excuse me, I misread the introductory comments on the new blog.
Overcoming Bias is looking for *contributors*, and if you want to become a contributor, you are asked to submit an original essay.
No essay is required to *comment* on the blog posts.
Posted by: Matthew Cromer at Nov 21, 2006 9:58:11 AM
What does someone with lexicographic preferences for knowing the truth do all day?
Posted by: bob at Nov 22, 2006 12:19:04 AM
Robin Hanson blogging? This sounds like the
end of Western Civilization is imminent, :-).
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Nov 22, 2006 12:59:26 PM
April, if you're looking for quick rules of thumb for the daily-life fight against bias, you might try "Twelve Virtues of Rationality" (http://yudkowsky.net/virtues/).
Posted by: Eliezer Yudkowsky at Nov 28, 2006 1:52:00 PM
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