Eliezer Yudkowsky: Our culture puts all the emphasis on heroic disagreement and heroic defiance. A group which can't tolerate disagreement [and criticism] is not rational. But if you don't tolerate agreement [and praise], you also are not rational.

Rational people often feel ashamed of strong feelings. The best informal definition I've ever heard of rationality is "That which can be destroyed by the truth should be." We should aspire to feel the emotions that fit the facts, not aspire to feel no emotion.

Carl Schulman: When we rate individuals highly the affect heuristic comes into play. Students can revere teachers simply because they only interact with the latter in domains where they know less.

A well-written piece that purports to summarize a field can leave you ignorant of your ignorance. Especially if it doesn't cite its sources. Without reading major alternative views you will tend to overrate whoever you came across first.

Eliezer Yudkowsky: In this world there are people who have created awesome things and it is okay to admire them highly.

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