[extropy-chat] Re: Overconfidence and meta-rationality

[Robin Hanson]

At 01:59 AM 3/22/2005, Keith Henson wrote:
>>as the limited humans we are, we can usually only explicitly communicate 
>>a small fraction of the considerations we actually used in choosing our 
>>beliefs.
>
>True.  And some of the reasons we maintain beliefs will be used in an 
>attempt to embarrass you if you are so foolish as to admit you are an 
>evolved social primate with a wired in interest in maintaining your status 
>in the local "tribe."

Yes, we face both internal communication limitations, where our limited 
minds are not capable of keeping track of all our reasons, and 
self-deception incentives, making it not in our interest to know of many of 
our reasons.


Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323