From: Christopher Healey (chealey@unicom-inc.com)
Date: Fri Oct 22 2004 - 20:43:50 MDT
>
> On Friday, October 22nd, Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote:
>
> ...
> If you learn not to be certain, you also need to learn to live and act
> without certainty, and not demand overwhelming evidence to compel you.
> ...
That did it. My donation has been submitted.
I edited out a large paragraph detailing my reasons for supporting SIAI,
because Eliezer and others covered most of those points very nicely.
What I would like to underscore, is that I already feel I've gotten *my*
money's worth. I am on a different (and, yes, at-least-slightly-more
Bayesian) vector than I was 2 years ago. The publications of SIAI, and also
the associated discussions here on the SL4 list, have prompted me to begin
to expand my knowledge in many areas that I now consider very important to
my future. Whether or not it would have happened another way is
sidestepping the issue; because of SIAI and Eliezer's works it *did* happen.
As Eliezer's quote states above, it's one thing to learn to "not be
certain", but another to motivate yourself when embracing uncertainty. It's
not a terribly comfortable transition. I myself have been a victim to that
debilitating inertia of inactivity, and I'm sick of it.
So it's time I put my money where my mouth is.
-Chris Healey
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