Rationality is overrated

gib

I was nearly going to resurrect this thread myself but it seems I do not have to. I have reused a quote that reminded me of something in the meaning thread and added the surrounding information for it to illustrate what you are saying about too much information rather than not enough.

I also think there is a lot of corruption in science and this corruption is on purpose - not so much conspiracy by a small group but a natural feedback that occurs when we as a race move too fast. There is just so much knowledge we do not need to know - but it seems to be a law that to get something you have to pay more than it is worth - I am not talking about money now either.

As you know I have a theory that there is a natural feedback loop for too much information.

I kind of do mean science working too fast - and I kind of mean that we have accumulated too much information up to 2017 - an information overload - the scales have been broken, so to speak. I still think there is plenty of quality there but to a degree, yes, sacrificing quality for quantity. I imagine that it is the reason why we hear so many science reports only to be refuted or exposed for their sloppy methods a few years later. I would say for every bad report there is plenty more science going on. Some of that science of course would be sloppy. It is probably fair to say that the quality of science has dimished, but by how much? Well we know it was never up to 100% quality, so where would that leave us - lets just play with made up figures to illustrate. If the optimum degree of quality(ODoQ) is usually 92% then I guess taking into consideration the bad science that has not been exposed plus the bad science that has been exposed would drop the ODoQ down to lets say, 83%. Can we afford this level of ODoQ with too much information(aka information overload), am I imagining things, I do not think I am imagining things even as hard as it might be to prove my claim. We know quality in general in life has dropped - not to be confused with quality of life - so why would science be immune?

You know the old saying though - what goes up must come down - there has to be some sort of ceiling for science before it collapses. Many people have been educated in science in recent decades - not everybody can be a scientist for Pete’s sake.

I am now thinking about the argument for not enough information.

:-k

Peace!

Rationality isn’t overrated. Maybe it was overrated in the past.

Irrationality has more and more taken over.

Unfortunately.

Unfortunately.

Exactly.

And you have to manage the integration rightly. :sunglasses:

I’m curious as to the rationality that supports the sentiment that rationality is overrated. Rationally, one can assume that irrationality is overrated if it can not irrationally rationalize itself.

Look no further than the OP.

I am thinking that perhaps, rationality is over the rating of some people . . .

. . . therefore overrated for those who are not rational.

To rate is to consider to be of a certain quality or standard.

Rationality can be rated as higher than its opposite IE irrationality.

Rationality is overrated in a world full of irrational people - perhaps always.

What I meant by rationality is overrated is that we seem to think that we have to be rational, that if we aren’t that’s something to be ashamed of. It’s like we live in a culture where rationality rules over us rather than we ruling over our rationality (I wonder if this goes all the way back to the Greeks). I tried to argue in this thread that being irrational can have its advantages, and one should not be afraid to be irrational if it seems effective sometimes.

It is irrational to think we should only be rational all the time because we are not machines but human beings
Furthermore there is nothing wrong with being irrational as long as it does not negatively impact upon anyone

It’s a drive-by posting, but I thought perhaps OP might appreciate this:

medium.com/@alexanderdouglas/th … 195ab1a5bc

…^^ The liberal racist’s view of rationality, “He is only trying to explain rationality because he is an insecure, untalented white male”. :icon-rolleyes:

One of the comments about this review:

Yeah, really. The reviewer seems to have some personal issues spilling onto the page.

I’m now tempted to read the book just to see if it’s that bad.

That is exactly the same as saying, “What I meant by health is overrated is that we seem to think that we have to be healthy, that if we aren’t that’s something to be ashamed of”.

Of course, it might take an actual rational mind to see that.

The consequences of irrationality depend on the exact situation.

But those who praise irrationality tend to want to apply it in situations when when rationality is the preferred approach. And just by suggesting that there is a “preferred approach” is “forcing” rationality on them against their will.

Please, give an example, Gib.

It is impossible for a human being to go through life not thinking irrationally even if they think of themselves as rational
Also just as irrational decisions are not always bad then rational ones are not always good no matter what the intention

Irrationality is the absence of rationality.

If you are thinking in a wrong way, you aren’t necessarily thinking in an irrational way.

So irrationality doesn’t mean wrong thinking. It means “not thinking” but “bringing some instinctive or emotional drives into thinking”.

I agree. See…we can agree. :mrgreen:

Or someone stuck in a rationalist’s frame of mind. Your analogy doesn’t hold… at all. When is it ever to one’s benefit to not be healthy?

Whereas striving for health is more or less synonymous with striving for survival, striving for rationality is not. 99% of animals on this planet survive quite well without a mechanism in their brain for “rational thinking”. Most of the human brain helps us survive without having to constantly employ “rational thinking”. 90% of the time, we are governed by instinct, intuition, emotion, fantasy, and a lot of irrational thinking–and for the most part it gets us by. I don’t think we can say the same for being unhealthy.

Playing with your kids.

And seeing as how 99% of animals throughout 99% of our collective evolutionary history have employed that approach, I’d say it can (sometimes) be effective.