We might be miscommunicating about information bias. Here is a specific description of information bias: “information bias is believing that the more information that can be acquired to make a decision, the better, even if that extra information is irrelevant for the decision.”
In other words, if we have sufficient evidence to make a decision, then we shouldn’t worry about acquiring additional evidence, since that evidence is irrelevant for making decisions. This was in response to Michael’s earlier points about nothing being certain and the concerns about acting when nothing is certain.
Now, this doesn’t mean we can’t think about these issues, and try to gain robustly better coherence and understanding of the issues, as you say. It only speaks to the difference between thinking and actions. If we spend too much time thinking and gathering information, we don’t spend that time acting to advance human flourishing. Thinking is resource-intensive, and we need to understand that as an opportunity cost. It might be a very worthwhile activity, but it’s a trade-off against other worthwhile activities. That’s my whole point.
We might be miscommunicating about information bias. Here is a specific description of information bias: “information bias is believing that the more information that can be acquired to make a decision, the better, even if that extra information is irrelevant for the decision.”
In other words, if we have sufficient evidence to make a decision, then we shouldn’t worry about acquiring additional evidence, since that evidence is irrelevant for making decisions. This was in response to Michael’s earlier points about nothing being certain and the concerns about acting when nothing is certain.
Now, this doesn’t mean we can’t think about these issues, and try to gain robustly better coherence and understanding of the issues, as you say. It only speaks to the difference between thinking and actions. If we spend too much time thinking and gathering information, we don’t spend that time acting to advance human flourishing. Thinking is resource-intensive, and we need to understand that as an opportunity cost. It might be a very worthwhile activity, but it’s a trade-off against other worthwhile activities. That’s my whole point.