Re: Interest - re: Yudkowsky

jmcasey@pacific.net.sg
Sat, 26 Jun 1999 01:29 +0000

>> Questions open. Answers close. Consider this statement for me: Openings are
>> better than closings if we wish to evolve.
>
>I disagree - because you can sit in a cave all day asking questions,
>but in the evening you will still not have changed. It is *finding*
>answers that helps us evolve. And surpisingly, each found answer tends
>to lead to ten new questions.

Have you improved at all if your answers merely reiterate what you believed before?

And doesn't the shape of the question itself inform the answer?

The person with all the answers has no need to seek anything. Can we even call this person alive?

As to the last point, where an answer leads to more questions, it would imply that acknowledged or not, your orientation favours questions over answers. I know plenty of people who live happily with the limited answers they already have.