Re: Open Letter to Lee Crocker

paul@i2.to
21 Jul 1999 14:13:44 -0700

On Tue, 20 July 1999, "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:

> Open letter, huh? Well, for what it's worth, Crocker's right and you're
> wrong. You're insufficiently skeptical and most of the "mysteries"
> you've been posting about are known loads of crap.

There is a fine line between being sufficiently skeptical and blindly assuming something isn't the case. And for what its worth you and Crocker are wrong, and this despite your own 300+ IQ and 1600 SAT scores. Assuming you're actually reading this post and I did not end up in your 'bogus' filter a few months back (itself a flattery) then perhaps I'll point out exactly why such consistent dogmatic thinking on your's and Crocker's part does such a great disservice to rational thinkers everywhere.

> Nobody holds this against you. I believed in psychic powers only five
> years ago(*).

Nobody holds your dogmatism against you either, as it is a common behavior amongst high-IQ young people. Just because I don't believe in psychic powers either, does not mean I must dogmatically believe they don't exist because of insufficient evidence. The only rational choice left is *to not believe in anything*.

Paul