Interesting Links for 23-06-2014

[andrewducker]

• Labour needs to be candid about the painful cuts it will have to make
  (tags: politics economics UK Labour )
• Women impressed by men who condemn their taste in music
  (tags: funny music relationships viajohnbobshaun )
• RunPee - Because movie theaters don't have pause buttons.
  (tags: movies urination )
• Eigenmorality
  (tags: morality philosophy google )

Comments

[quirkytizzy]

OMG THAT SEX TOY ONE IS AMAZING! AHAHAHHA!!!! People are creative!

Also, my brain is not processing the big words in the rational article, but I've generally found the more rational a person says they are, the less rational and more EMOTIONAL (and less emotionally AWARE) they are.

I wonder if people just peg themselves as "rational" and then decide intuiting and analyzing where their emotions are coming from and what to do with them isn't something they need to do, because they are so "rational".

(And to admit my own bias, I've also met too many dudes who consider themselves Rational and use it as an excuse to be condescending all the while throwing emotional tantrums that they can't track back to the original source of distress - whatever got them emotional.)

[bart_calendar]

If someone says they are rational they are batshit insane. I assume, in general, that they have multiple personality disorder, vote for fascist political candidates and love both Coldplay and Nickelback.

[quirkytizzy]

LOL!

[bart_calendar]

Or else they are axl rose. He did an interview about 10 years ago claiming to be the most rational man in rock.

[quirkytizzy]

There's never been a clearer example of how people who say they are rational are anything BUT!

[bart_calendar]

Right?

[andrewducker]

I believe Axl is a massive Coldplay fan.

[bart_calendar]

There is nothing I wouldn't believe about Axl Rose.

He's very lucky, that he's very, very entertaining on stage (even the second time I saw him which was last year and he and the band were incredibly drunk during their performance.)

If he wasn't insanely charismatic and interesting on stage he'd be a talking to himself homeless dude.

[andrewducker]

I think that's pretty common amongst musicians (and other artists). Very few of them go on to be accountants.

[bart_calendar]

Between bi polar disorder, acrophobia, drug addiction, alcoholism and schizophrenia (all of which he admits he's been diagnosed with) he's be more likely than most to end up on the streets mumbling to himself without tons of money for tons of medication.

[andrewducker]

Between 10% and 15% of people are _more_ rational than most. But there seems to be two kinds of rationality:
1) Being all logical and stuff. This is correlated with intelligence scores, understandably.
2) Being willing to question yourself and admit that you're wrong. This is entirely separate from intelligence.

There are a lot more than 15% of people who consider themselves rational, and the more rational a person is the more likely they are to be aware of their own biases, and the less likely they are to consider themselves to be _really_ rational.

I know the stereotype you're talking about, largely because I used to fit it, and most of those people just aren't aware of their own biases and are wilfully blind to it. They want to be _right_, but they aren't religious, so they can't claim that they're right because of God, so it has to be because of how extra-sensible they are.

[quirkytizzy]

Agreed to all points. I think people put too much stock in intelligence. Being willing to learn is worth way more than a high IQ score.

And OMFG YES to your last paragraph. SO MUCH THAT THING EXACTLY!!!

[steer]

Surely 49.999...% of people are more rational than most.

I think a hallmark of genuinely being rational is to be able to equally well think about claims that support and oppose your world views. [Some people, not you, come up with the most ludicrous criticisms of studies that don't fit how they would like the world to be. Some people accept and pass on the most shonky pieces of argumentation because they happen to agree with the broad conclusion.]

[andrewducker]

Naah "Most people" is that group of 70-odd percent in the middle of the hump. 15% are more rational than them, 15% are less rational :->

(I try not to identify with my theories too much. I find that helps a lot.)

[meaningrequired]

I really like the one with the doll, it's like she's giving you the thumbs up for all your outfits!