enqueue "Peering Through Reverent Fingers" and "Teleology"

[Ultimately_Untrue_Thought.git] / content / 2020 / teleology.md

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+Title: Teleology
+Date: 2020-04-29 05:00
+Category: other
+Tags: epistemology
+
+"I mean, if that explanation actually makes you feel happier, then fine."
+
+"Feeling happier isn't what explanations are for. Explanations are for [predicting our observations](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/a7n8GdKiAZRX86T5A/making-beliefs-pay-rent-in-anticipated-experiences).
+
+"Emotions, too, are functional: happiness measures whether things in your life are going well or going poorly, but does not _constitute_ things going well, much as a high reading on a thermometer measures heat as 'temperature' without itself _being_ heat.
+
+"If the explanation that predicts your observations makes you unhappy, then the explanation—and the unhappiness—are functioning as designed."