Re: Subject: Re: Bacteria question.

From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Sun Dec 31 2000 - 20:08:36 MST


EvMick@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 12/30/2000 8:34:14 PM Central Standard Time,
> altamiratexas@earthlink.net writes:
>
> > I can't see that it would be any healthier for a child to live in a fantasy
> > world than for an adult.
>
> I agree....and while i don't claim to be the worlds greatest anything...much
> less parent...when my son was growing up that was my prime watch word....."
> "Don't lie to the kid".....hence relegion....fairy tales....etc were out.
>
> It seemed to have worked ok....i consider him to be a success...

I doubt I'm typical enough to be worth generalizing from, but for what
it's worth:

1) I was perfectly capable of understanding bacteria at age 5. I don't
remember learning about bacteria in particular, but I do know that I
understood the layers of the Earth's core, the layout of the solar system,
the leaves of the ginko, how a lever works, and all the other things they
explain in Childcraft books.

2) My father always told me that he drove with his eyes closed and
navigated by sonar, so that if I made too much noise the car would crash.
He explained that the screws that held my head on were located in my nose,
so that if I picked my nose, my head would fall off. He claimed that the
beef jerky he was creating was 'bat meat'. (Of these three claims, I only
believed the third, which I think is pretty good going.)

The apparent moral: It's okay to tell the kid ridiculous lies as long as
you go on megadosing them with the truth as well.

The real moral: Kids *will* remember the lies you tell them four years
later.

-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence



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