Re:Checklist of Rationality Habits
by Retra on Saturday January 03, 2015 @02:15PM
(#8831668)
The existence of a mechanism for processing fear may be rational, but this doesn't mean fear is rational.
Similarly, if you are trying to destroy a small target and you know it lies in a 10 km^2 area, it may be optimal to employ a carpet-bombing strategy over the whole area. This doesn't mean that any of the individual bombs are optimized: most of them will fall nowhere near the target, and they are 'irrational' in support of a broader rationalization strategy.
This has to do with the fact that you only have enough information to narrow the target to such a wide area. With more information, you can optimize the individual bombs and maybe switch strategies away from carpet bombing.
Our fear processing machinery is a carpet bombing strategy that drops specific fears in our way that we have to deal with. Overall it is better than nothing, but since we are trying to _improve_ our strategy, we are forced to conclude that it is not an ideal methodology. We have to collect more information, and we have to ensure that this new information is accounted for in the decision-making process. This means fighting your reflexes. You cannot do better than nature by idolizing it.
Similarly, if you are trying to destroy a small target and you know it lies in a 10 km^2 area, it may be optimal to employ a carpet-bombing strategy over the whole area. This doesn't mean that any of the individual bombs are optimized: most of them will fall nowhere near the target, and they are 'irrational' in support of a broader rationalization strategy.
This has to do with the fact that you only have enough information to narrow the target to such a wide area. With more information, you can optimize the individual bombs and maybe switch strategies away from carpet bombing.
Our fear processing machinery is a carpet bombing strategy that drops specific fears in our way that we have to deal with. Overall it is better than nothing, but since we are trying to _improve_ our strategy, we are forced to conclude that it is not an ideal methodology. We have to collect more information, and we have to ensure that this new information is accounted for in the decision-making process. This means fighting your reflexes. You cannot do better than nature by idolizing it.