Minds Almost Meeting cover image

Why is Truth Good? (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with William Eliot)

Minds Almost Meeting

CHAPTER

Is There a Useful Fiction in the Universe?

So how about this concept of a useful fiction so I think that's kind of what we've been approaching here with this idea of debate candidates each promising something which isn't actually actionable at least when viewed as a group but for them that's a useful fiction. How do we know if there are useful fictions in the universe? The question is just to whom and are they net useful for everyone which maybe that's the interesting questionYeah maybe that like I mean there you know there definitely some fictions that are not useful to everyone or like not definitely is too strong but like plausibly just the fictions that have we stood the test of time like Homer's Iliad or the Bible

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