Discussion [Rationality] An Introduction

Yes, a person can develop ASPD. Its absolutely not easy, and there's a higher chance of becoming cognitively impaired through that process than there is of developing APSD. That's medical fact.

A person needs to be put through such a severe trauma that it forces the brain to structurally alter itself to ensure survival. That only happens when the conscious mind is at the brink of collapse. You're basically standing at the edge, and the only two choices available are structural alteration or going into a coma.

After the age of 10, its virtually guaranteed that there'll be cognitive impairment rather than true ASPD.

All of us can ignore our morals and do things. That's not really all that special and everyone can do it without "training". Even when we ignore them, our morals, emotions, and values still enter the reasoning process before we make a decision. ASPD is different in that there is ZERO involvement of morals, emotions and values in decision making.

Pretty simple. Take a newborn baby, and give it all the love, care and attention humanly possible until the child turns 4 or 5. At that point, lock the child in a dark basement, severely beat the child on a regular basis, provide little to no food and water, and do not allow the child to experience any human touch or comfort. You'll induce ASPD in less than 6 months, guaranteed.

 

I was asking how the Biology works though? Not how go create an ASPD patient, but how those with ASPD lose the neural circuitry responsible for emotions, empathy, etc.

 

It is his dogma though. It's his brand of Bayesian rationality. It's his dogma.

There's also a rumour on the net that Lesswrong is a cult. Why I use the word Dogma in particular.

 

I personally substitute "values" with "goals", however, I was quoting Yudkowsky verbatim, as such I left his definition alone.

 

Again, I don't know Cognitive Science, however I do know you can "Override" heuristics; with training, you don't have to succumb to them. I know cause I personally override heuristics and biases that I'm cognisant of.

 

I did use his words verbatim. I mentioned in the OP that it was from RAZ.

You have a copy of RAZ?

Flip to Chapter 1 "What Do I Mean By 'Rationality'"of Book 1; "Map and Territory", on page 45 (7 by the book's numbering; Page 1 starts at page 38)

You'll find the words there in black.

 

.... that. So it isn't very well understood because some parts of it remain intact while other parts are non-functional. All emotions, morals, etc are routed through the limbic system. Specifically the Amygdala. All of the neurotransmitters in the brain excite the neurons to propagate action potentials, except for GABA. This neurotransmitter inhibits brain activity and is supposed to protect against overstimulation and overactivity. Something happens to the developing fetus around week 28 of gestation that causes a GABA surge in the developing brain around the Amygdala. This prevents the proper functioning of the limbic system and depresses all emotional/moral/etc circuits. For some unknown reason, the Amygdala still works perfectly well for its memory related functions. Several neuroscientists have also theorized that the Amygdala continues to tag memories with the emotion that was supposed to be associated with that memory, even if the person with ASPD doesn't actually experience the emotion.


and induce action potentials

 

Amorality is not ASPD.
Someone with ASPD is always amoral to some extent but amorality does not necessarily mean that you are anti-social.

 

My point exactly.

 

lolololol
Wait a minute... what!?!
@Devils Advocate
*Smack Avo with Paper FAN*
Don't make traps on threads!!!
Made up Zen wisdom: Don't seal your cardboard boxes with tape, when you don't even know how empty it is. Don't speak of lids when you have yet to fill your an empty jar~~~~

 

Originally I scrolled to the end because I wanted to say: "I don't know" (with regards to the poll question, I don't know if I want to be more or less rational), but then there was this giant argument/debate/thing. XD

I didn't read it. I'm on vacation.

XD

Though the thought ran through my head in general is that people respond in very predictable ways when discourses turn in certain sour directions, regardless of the substance or subject matter at debate. Perhaps we may all be so similar in this way, regardless of what we know and where we come from.

 

Epistemic Rationality is about forming through beliefs, having an accurate map of the world.

Instrumental Rationality is about making winning decisions.

I'll talk about the concept of map and territory.

Map: The map is your mental model of the world. All beliefs you hold about the world. Everything you think you know about the world constitutes your map.

Territory: The territory is the objective reality. That which is true and exists objectively. That is the territory. The territory is the TRUTH.

Epistemological Rationality is about building a map that accurately reflects the territory as much as possible under the given level of information.