What has rationalism ever given us?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

1.  Acid rain.
2.  Atomic bombs.
3.  PD.com (along with all the other rancid shit on the interbutts).

I say it's time for a little IRRATIONALISM, because the only way to fight bullshit is WITH BULLSHIT...And Discordianism is the BEST BULLSHIT that money CAN'T buy.

So all you Voltaire fans out there can just SHUT UP and GET IN THE BACK OF THE VAN ON THE BUS.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

In a world of emotional antiintellectual monkeys there is no choice. We must screech like monkeys too in order to communicate with them. These are not chimps bonobos and gorillas who are curious enough about us to learn a few hand gestures. No. These simians dont want to learn. They just want all the bananas for themselves. We must trick them into thinking that they are getting their bananas.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

In a world of emotional antiintellectual monkeys there is no choice. We must screech like monkeys too in order to communicate with them. These are not chimps bonobos and gorillas who are curious enough about us to learn a few hand gestures. No. These simians dont want to learn. They just want all the bananas for themselves. We must trick them into thinking that they are getting their bananas.

We must trick them into believing that it is better for 1% of them to get all the bananas.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Dont they already? I mean they think theyre going to be part of that 1%

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Irrationalism works best when presented as if it were rational:

A. Human societies ought to be designed for maximum efficiency and minimum waste.
B. KFC chicken farms are already designed for maximum efficiency and minimum waste.
C. We should model Human societies after KFC chicken farms in order maximize efficiency and minimize waste.
D. We should only feed that top 1% of humans real food. The rest of us can live off whatever comes out of them.
E. WORLD HUNGER SOLVED!

[The Johnny]

It has given us rationalization!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalization_%28sociology%29

In sociology, rationalization refers to the replacement of traditions, values, and emotions as motivators for behavior in society with rational, calculated ones. For example, the implementation of bureaucracies in government is a kind of rationalization, as is the construction of high-efficiency living spaces in architecture and urban planning.

BUREOCRACY, BUREOCRACY EVERYWHERE!

[P3nT4gR4m]

It has given us rationalization!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalization_%28sociology%29

In sociology, rationalization refers to the replacement of traditions, values, and emotions as motivators for behavior in society with rational, calculated ones. For example, the implementation of bureaucracies in government is a kind of rationalization, as is the construction of high-efficiency living spaces in architecture and urban planning.

BUREOCRACY, BUREOCRACY EVERYWHERE!

I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that you correct the spelling in the above post and submit it, in triplicate, to the relevant departments, before we can approve it for inclusion in the forum

[Cain]

It's given us Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.  So just shut up.  All of you.

"I can keep secrets," Harry said. "So what does it do?"

"So far as the other students are concerned, this is a Spimster wicket and it is used to treat a rare, non-contagious magical ailment called Spontaneous Duplication. You wear it under your clothes, and while you have no reason to show it to anyone, you also have no reason to treat it as an awful secret. Spimster wickets are not interesting. Do you understand, Mr. Potter?"

Harry nodded, his smile widening. He sensed the work of a competent Slytherin. "And what does it really do?"

"It's a Time-Turner. Each spin of the hourglass sends you one hour back in time. So if you use it to go back two hours every day, you should always be able to get to sleep at the same time."

Harry's suspension of disbelief blew completely out the window.

You're giving me a time machine to treat my sleep disorder.

You're giving me a TIME MACHINE to treat my SLEEP DISORDER.

YOU'RE GIVING ME A TIME MACHINE IN ORDER TO TREAT MY SLEEP DISORDER.

"Ehehehehhheheh..." Harry's mouth said. He was now holding the necklace away from him as though it were a live bomb. Well, no, not as if it were a live bomb, that didn't begin to describe the severity of the situation. Harry held the necklace away from him as though it were a time machine.

Say, Professor McGonagall, did you know that time-reversed ordinary matter looks just like antimatter? Why yes it does! Did you know that one kilogram of antimatter encountering one kilogram of matter will annihilate in an explosion equivalent to 43 million tons of TNT? Do you realise that I myself weigh 41 kilograms and that the resulting blast would leave A GIANT SMOKING CRATER WHERE THERE USED TO BE SCOTLAND?

"Excuse me," Harry managed to say, "but this sounds really really really REALLY DANGEROUS!" Harry's voice didn't quite rise to a shriek, he couldn't possibly scream loud enough to do this situation justice so there was no point in trying.

[Lenin McCarthy]

Rationalism has given us libertarianism, which is logically sound, except it's not because the assumptions it's based on are wrong. Same goes for a whole lot of other -isms that claim to be rational. Rationalism is bad because humans are incapable of doing it right, and as long as we believe we can do it right, we will inevitably come up with huge, steaming piles of horse shit in the name of rationalism.

[Cain]

On the other hand, irrationalism also gave us fascism.

[Cain]

As a matter of fact, many of the critical elements that go into a model of rational behavior  can be identified with particular types of rationality or irrationality. The value system, the communication system, the information system, the collective decision process, or a parameter representing the probability of error or loss of control, can be viewed as an effort to formalize the study of "irrationality."  Hitler, the French Parliament, the commander of a bomber, the radar operators at Pearl Harbor, Khrushchev, and the American electorate may all suffer from some kinds of "irrationality," but by no means the same kinds. Some of them can be accounted for within a theory of rational behavior. (Even the neurotic, with inconsistent values and no method of reconciling them, motivated to suppress rather than to reconcile his conflicting goals, may for some purposes be viewed as a pair of "rational" entities with distinct value systems, reaching collectivedecisions through a voting process that has some haphazard or random element, asymmetrical communications, and so forth.) 

The apparent restrictiveness of an assumption of "rational" behavior -- of a calculating, value-maximizing strategy of decision -- is mitigated by two additional observations. One, which I can only allege at second hand, is that even among the emotionally unbalanced, among the certified "irrationals," there is often observed an intuitive appreciation of the principles of strategy, or at least of particular applications of them. I am told that inmates of mental hospitals often seem to cultivate, deliberately or instinctively, value systems that make them less susceptible to disciplinary threats and more capable of exercising coercion themselves. A careless or even self-destructive attitude toward injury -- "I'll cut a vein in my arm if you don't let me . . ." -- can be a genuine strategic advantage; so can a cultivated inability to hear or to comprehend, or a reputation for frequent lapses of self-control that make punitive threats ineffectual as deterrents. (Again I am reminded of my children.) As a matter of fact, one of the advantages of an explicit theory of "rational" strategic decision in situations of mixed conflict and common interest is that, by showing the strategic basis of certain paradoxical tactics, it can display how sound and rational some of the tactics are that are practiced by the untutored and the infirm. It may not be an exaggeration to say that our sophistication sometimes suppresses sound intuitions, and one of the effects of an explicit theory may  be to restore some intuitive notions that were only superficially "irrational."

IN.

YOUR.

FACE.

[Junkenstein]

It's given us Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.  So just shut up.  All of you.

"I can keep secrets," Harry said. "So what does it do?"

"So far as the other students are concerned, this is a Spimster wicket and it is used to treat a rare, non-contagious magical ailment called Spontaneous Duplication. You wear it under your clothes, and while you have no reason to show it to anyone, you also have no reason to treat it as an awful secret. Spimster wickets are not interesting. Do you understand, Mr. Potter?"

Harry nodded, his smile widening. He sensed the work of a competent Slytherin. "And what does it really do?"

"It's a Time-Turner. Each spin of the hourglass sends you one hour back in time. So if you use it to go back two hours every day, you should always be able to get to sleep at the same time."

Harry's suspension of disbelief blew completely out the window.

You're giving me a time machine to treat my sleep disorder.

You're giving me a TIME MACHINE to treat my SLEEP DISORDER.

YOU'RE GIVING ME A TIME MACHINE IN ORDER TO TREAT MY SLEEP DISORDER.

"Ehehehehhheheh..." Harry's mouth said. He was now holding the necklace away from him as though it were a live bomb. Well, no, not as if it were a live bomb, that didn't begin to describe the severity of the situation. Harry held the necklace away from him as though it were a time machine.

Say, Professor McGonagall, did you know that time-reversed ordinary matter looks just like antimatter? Why yes it does! Did you know that one kilogram of antimatter encountering one kilogram of matter will annihilate in an explosion equivalent to 43 million tons of TNT? Do you realise that I myself weigh 41 kilograms and that the resulting blast would leave A GIANT SMOKING CRATER WHERE THERE USED TO BE SCOTLAND?

"Excuse me," Harry managed to say, "but this sounds really really really REALLY DANGEROUS!" Harry's voice didn't quite rise to a shriek, he couldn't possibly scream loud enough to do this situation justice so there was no point in trying.

Glorious. I read through HPMOR a while ago and it's worth a read if you liked that taste.

I was filled with hope, then frustration after the latest update. Then a quiet rage. Need more Quirrel for the love of Shiva.

[Lenin McCarthy]

On the other hand, irrationalism also gave us fascism.

True. Damn.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

On the other hand, irrationalism also gave us fascism.

I'm okay with that.  As long as it's my kind of fascism.

[hooplala]

1.  Acid rain.
2.  Atomic bombs.
3.  PD.com (along with all the other rancid shit on the interbutts).

I say it's time for a little IRRATIONALISM, because the only way to fight bullshit is WITH BULLSHIT...And Discordianism is the BEST BULLSHIT that money CAN'T buy.

So all you Voltaire fans out there can just SHUT UP and GET IN THE BACK OF THE VAN ON THE BUS.

Why you think they call me Rex Bologna? 

Actually... only I call myself that, but someday they will...