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In a study of bias blindness, experimental subjects predicted that they would have a harder time neutrally evaluating the quality of paintings if they knew the paintings were by famous artists. And indeed, these subjects exhibited the very bias they had predicted when the experimenters later tested their prediction. When asked afterward, however, the very same subjects claimed that their assessments of the paintings had been objective and unaffected by the bias.³
Also interesting to note that this mirrors how some LLMs work when asked to judge the work of acclaimed artists. If you present the work with the context of it being by someone widely recognized for their talent, the LLM will resort to praise over criticism and will return very shallow, surface-level observations and then hastily append the reassurance that of course, art is subjective and everyone has their own opinions, so really there is no criticism that can be done at all.
It is only when the text is given independent of its author that the LLM actually conducts some form of criticism upon it. And just like how it's written here, LLMs deny having bias blindness when confronted and claim to be entirely neutral in their takeaways.
Only fifteen comments on a post with 804 upvotes? I guess I'll add the sixteenth. Thank you for writing the Sequences; going by others' comments it seems to be quite a transformative experience to read them, and I can't wait to get started.
Also, thank you for recognizing the flaws in choosing impressive-sounding examples in your writing. That was refreshing and validating to hear.
Biting my nails writing this as the welcome and FAQ made this site sound quite intimidating... I hope this is the right place for this...
Hi, I'm Mohit Gore. I'm a little younger than the main demographic for this forum skews, but I figured now was as good a time as any to get into rationality and the like. As a concept, rationality has interested me for a while, even before I knew it had a name. I first discovered LessWrong whilst reading a Gwern article and decided to create an account out of curiosity. I'm a few months into my grand plan of becoming (at least a wannabe) polymath, so LessWrong fit perfectly.
As the new user guide suggested, I will lurk for a while (whilst slowly, slowly trudging through The Sequences) before actually raising any points or engaging in any discussion, unless something specifically strikes my fancy.
Aside from select essays from my own amateurish philosophical ramblings, I've never really engaged with or read philosophy specifically focusing on rationality, so this will be a new experiment for me. In my own time, I can typically be found writing narrative fiction, writing essays, programming, filmmaking, reading, or engaging in abject nonsense. In 2024, I self-published two books of free-verse poetry. The first one was distinctly amateurish and had many flaws, but I am pleased to say that the second one improves immensely upon it. I am also working on a few novels and a couple other top-secret projects. Not sure what the rules on self-promo are, so I'll refrain from linking them.