Comment by handoflixue
5 days ago
Why is "you can work to avoid cognitive biases" more ridiculous than "you can work to improve your mental health"?
5 days ago
Why is "you can work to avoid cognitive biases" more ridiculous than "you can work to improve your mental health"?
I'm feeling a little frustrated by the derail. My complaint is about some small group claiming to have a monopoly on a normal human faculty, in this case rationality. The small group might well go on to claim that people outside the group lack rationality. That would be absurd. The mental health profession do not claim to be immune from mental illness themselves, they do not claim that people outside their circle are mentally unhealthy, and they do not claim that their particular treatment is necessary for mental health.
I guess it's possible you might be doing some deep ironic thing by providing a seemingly sincere example of what I'm complaining about. If so it was over my head but in that case I withdraw "derail"!
> My complaint is about some small group claiming to have a monopoly on a normal human faculty, in this case rationality.
"Rationalists" don't claim a monopoly any more than Psychiatry does.
> The small group might well go on to claim that people outside the group lack rationality.
Again, something that psychiatry is quite noteworthy about: the entire point of the profession is to tell non-professionals that they're doing Emotionally Healthy wrong.
> The mental health profession do not claim to be immune from mental illness themselves,
Rationalist don't claim to be immune to irrationality, and this is in fact repeatedly emphasized: numerous cornerstone articles are about "wow, I really fucked up at this Rationality thing", including articles by Eliezer.
> they do not claim that people outside their circle are mentally unhealthy
... what?
So if I go to a psychiatrist, you think they're gonna say I'm FINE? No matter what?
Have you ever heard of "involuntary commitment"?
> and they do not claim that their particular treatment is necessary for mental health.
Again, this is about as true as it is for rationalists.