On Jun 7, 2006, at 5:52 PM, Mike Ross wrote:
I think its actually correct to say that (b) is more likely than (a).
Humans dont get this "wrong" because they are bad at reasoning. They
get this "wrong" because of the ambiguities of natural language.
Unlike mathematical language, human speech has many statements which
are implied. I think its fair to say that in most conversational
contexts, when (b) is stated, it creates an implied second clause to
option (a):
a. Linda is a bank teller and NOT active in the feminist movement.
In this case, it is correct to say that (b) is more likely than (a).
When annoyingly logical people insist that this is wrong, they are
actually stating that the implied second argument is:
a. Linda is a bank teller and EITHER active OR not active in the
feminist movement.
This may be true on logic tests, but it aint the case in the real
world. Just something to keep in mind when talking about human
reasoning...
When Richard Loosemore made essentially this same argument on SL4,
Eliezer said that there were lots of experiments designed to show
whether this was the reason for people getting this "wrong", and
that they had showed it wasn't.
That seems odd to me, too. :)
--
Randall Randall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"This is a fascinating question, right up there with whether rocks
fall because of gravity or being dropped, and whether 3+5=5+3
because addition is commutative or because they both equal 8."
- Scott Aaronson
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