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johnnyFive  ·  2914 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Has anyone read "Rationality: From AI to Zombies" by Eliezer Yudkowsky

    And just now, you pointing out to me to look for a bit of sanctimony and assumed-but-unexplained-premises primed me well to find them.

I think that's pretty much everyone :)

I take that approach on anything trying to teach me something. But some of that is my own priming; my background is in history and then law, both of which train you to be a very skeptical and analytical reader. For fiction I don't care, so don't really worry about it as much.

As you allude to, it's ultimately a question of where to spend your limited hours. If you're getting something out of reading it (even if it's just refining your own thoughts via your disagreements with Yudkowsky), then there's nothing wrong with doing so. And who knows, even a blind squirrel can find nuts, so you may find or two ideas there that are useful. If someone's right they're right, even if they come across as self-important and shallow.