The Limits To Acceptable Irrationality

[David Sklansky]

Hopefully this short post makes clear the gist of where I am going with many of my statements here.

I understand that no one wants to be Spock. No one believes that every decision has to be put into mathematical terms and calculated. But there are limits.

To illustrate my point, take my post about whether you will accept your boss spitting in your face if it means you can keep your parents out of a nursing home. There is no right answer to that. UNLESS you have previously come to conclusions that logically force one. For instance if you claim that you won't accept the spitting for your parents sake, but you will accept it to avoid a second job, and you also claim that will accept a second job to keep your parents out of a nursing home, you must change one of those positions. (No nitpicks please, as they would be off the subject.)

Now I don't claim that people wouldn't be able to see this if it was explained to them. They would. And only the most argumentative would deny that they have to change one of those stances. I don't even claim that people have to have something like this explained to them at all if they happened to be thinking about all the issues at once. That would spur them to reexamine things.

The only thing that bothers me is that when confronting an issue like this, most people don't even bother to search their own mind to look for possible contradictions of this sort. They fall back on the idea that their instinct or gut feelings will serve them well and to think otherwise makes them too Spockish. That attitude, often spurred on by people who should know better, is really just an excuse to be intellectually lazy.

[Borodog]

David,

It's ok. The market, like the cards, punishes intellectual laziness.

[David Sklansky]

[ QUOTE ]
David,

It's ok. The market, like the cards, punishes intellectual laziness.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know. But in spite of what some people think about me, I'd rather help them then punish them.

[ruken]

This is a surprisingly topical thread title given the ruckus in NVG. Props.

[NotReady]

[ QUOTE ]

That attitude, often spurred on by people who should know better, is really just an excuse to be intellectually lazy.


[/ QUOTE ]

Is that at all like the attitude that if smart people say something others don't have to question it or examine the facts for themselves? Especially if the issue involved is the biggest possible issue there could be?

[PairTheBoard]

There is also a limit to your ability to recognize what is and is not "rational".

PairTheBoard

[chezlaw]

I used to agree with this but am far less sure its true than i used to be. Is it the case that the morons (your definition) are less happy (on any scale) then those who think? If anything they seem happier in general, maybe because they aren't bothered by the morons like the non-morons are, or maybe because its important for people to think they're as good as or better than others - something only available to the elite few and the morons.

[ QUOTE ]
The only thing that bothers me is that when confronting an issue like this, most people don't even bother to search their own mind to look for possible contradictions of this sort. They fall back on the idea that their instinct or gut feelings will serve them well and to think otherwise makes them too Spockish. That attitude, often spurred on by people who should know better, is really just an excuse to be intellectually lazy.

[/ QUOTE ] So maybe its not lazyness (not that lazyness isn't a virtue) but a form of denial that increases their satisfaction.

and if it does increase their satisfaction then its rational, isn't it?

chez

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
David,

It's ok. The market, like the cards, punishes intellectual laziness.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know. But in spite of what some people think about me, I'd rather help them then punish them.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is one of my favorite typos ever.

So you're saying that people think you would rather punish them first?

[PairTheBoard]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
David,

It's ok. The market, like the cards, punishes intellectual laziness.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know. But in spite of what some people think about me, I'd rather help them then punish them.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is one of my favorite typos ever.

So you're saying that people think you would rather punish them first?

[/ QUOTE ]

He punishes them out of spite for what they think of him.

PairTheBoard

[Siegmund]

[ QUOTE ]
I understand that no one wants to be Spock.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you sure?

I can think of a lot of characters less worthy of emulating.