Behaviorism: Beware Anthropomorphizing Humans

A rehabilitation of behaviorism. Historical framing (Watson worked pre-computer, so mind was modeled on mechanical devices, not information processing), then Skinner's radical behaviorism accepting inner 'mental behavior.' The core reframe: behaviorism as a half-century worldwide game of Rationalist Taboo on 'want/feel/hope/decide' — because mentalistic explanations ('she's just emotional') are curiosity-stoppers exactly like anthropomorphizing the weather; the witticism that behaviorism 'scrupulously avoids anthropomorphizing humans' actually names its virtue. Reinforcement learning as Skinner's 'selection by consequences' / 'evolution writ small': the mind as an ecosystem of competing behaviors, behavior-executors not utility-maximizers (links to the blue-minimizing robot and connectionism). Lucid intellectual history with a real conceptual payoff; sequence-foundational.

Quality 75 · Excellent. Strong and clear, with a genuine reframe (behaviorism-as-Taboo; mentalism-as-curiosity-stopper; reinforcement learning as mini-evolution). A touch more expository/historical than an original-thesis post, so just below the batch top.

Claude’s paradigm shift 50 · Moderate. Notable — the Taboo / curiosity-stopper framing is a fresh angle on a familiar and maligned school; the underlying Skinner/RL content is borrowed.

Real-world impact 2 · Minor. A clear rehabilitation of behaviorism with a genuine reframe (behaviorism as a half-century game of Rationalist Taboo; mentalism as a curiosity-stopper; reinforcement learning as mini-evolution). Conceptual/expository influence within rationalist discourse, no material change — low RWI.