Yes

Chez, did you know that even though Mr. Sklansky's name is still in red, he is not an owner of this site any more?

https://stevenpinker.com/publication...y_full_reviews

For those who did not see the belated inclusion in OP.

Dave, it looks like you're going to run out of friends soon.

You might really want to think about starting to help people with their maths homework.

You seem very needy D2. Hope it help that I raised a glass of 2005 Louis Latour Montagnay 1er cru to you

Cheers. Happy new year

Happy new year, chez. I lifted a few myself, although I am not explicitly familiar with your brand.

I really can't imagine a book more perfectly matched with popping up David's self-identity than this one. No wonder he loved it.

Does he provide examples of real world political issues where "rationality" helps? I'm sort of skeptical of stuff like this in general in the abstract since nobody argues for irrationality. Here is a recent tweet by Marco Rubio. Would anything from the book help in evaluating his argument or position?

I think the most rational reply I've seen in the last couple of days is this one:



Or it might be this one:

Monty doesn't chase Washoe and Luckbox around like a pervert with a van full of candy and TMTroll now thinks he is throwing real punches.

This forum still delivers.

Lots of examples. But most of the book isn't about "arguing for rationality". Rather it is a thorough and often entertaining explanation of the myriad ways that people who think they are being rational, actually are not. (I erred when I said the last chapter captures the essence of the book. The middle part explains varieties of shoddy thinking in much more detail. In fact, the subheading of three of the chapters are Bayesian Reasoning, Signal Detection and Statistical Decision Theory, and Game Theory.)

There is probably nothing in the book you don't already know. Except for techniques and interesting anecdotes that will help you convince your logic challenged colleagues.

Thanks again for pointing out how that book changed your life.



When randos like you post stalky posts like that about others, do you ever stop to think that you are posting a stalky post? Mildly curious, as its not like we have ever had a back and forth that I can recall, though I assume I said something months or years ago that you have yet to recover from for some reason. You have a fairly weird way of fantasizing things about others, but guess that is your issue in the end.

All the best.

Real punches mean different things to different people.

For example, for some people, a real punch is encouraging a vulnerable mid-twenties woman to commit suicide because you were dissatisfied with the quality of the pornography she produced for you in return for your "poker coaching".

We're getting ito enjoy all the classics. You have have to love those who have taken stalking to the traditional obsessive wierdo level, whining about other people chiming in.

They can't be that blind so it has to be admired.

Brandi walked into a door, amirite, chez? So accident-prone!

Not sure 'being right' isn't othoganol to your trolling

Which does't necessarily make even the irrational trolling, irrational.

If you mean "at right angles", the word you are looking for is "orthogonal", sir. But well played in making yourself sound a bit silly.

Do you have any good lines about the parallel ones?

I don't think you have read the whole book yet because there are several things he wrote that I suspect you would have thought I strongly disagreed with. (Actually, I do agree with more stuff than most people would guess.) But the majority of the book is simply not a matter of opinion. And as I said many of the world's problems would be at least partially fixed if everyone understood these not matter of opinion, points. I myself have made, less eloquently, some of these same points in the past. So of course I like the book. But I don't need it to pop up my "self identity" (and obviously the notion that the books is an "epiphany" for me is ridiculous)

Particularly in politcs it's useful to understand rationality so that we can understand why people behave the way they do.

Is beign anti-vax irrational and if so why when being wrong isn't sufficient. Politically understanding rationality can lead to better approaches for the future. Does the book go in this direction at all?

I've read none of the book, and I am literally losing count of how many f/ucks I don't give about your threads, your book recommendations, or about you.

That's as real a punch as I can muster.

Parallel lines good. Particularly picture this

You're not doing a very good impression of someone who doesn't give a ****. Just saying.

The world would be a better place if everyone just listened to you, sir. How did nobody else ever think of this?

And, the reason the poster to whom you replied said that the book props up your self-identity is exactly the reason in the post I am quoting. It's because you've made the same points.

But please, formulate some more epiphanous principles for us plebs. Maybe you can take a break from rinsing 2/5 and banging 15 year olds to impart some more nuggets of wistom on our collective asses.