Noticing is a useful habit and skill that has been touched on from time to time here: for example, noticing when you are confused.
I should have paid more attention to that sensation of still feels a little forced. It’s one of the most important feelings a truthseeker can have, a part of your strength as a rationalist. It is a design flaw in human cognition that this sensation manifests as a quiet strain in the back of your mind, instead of a wailing alarm siren and a glowing neon sign reading “EITHER YOUR MODEL IS FALSE OR THIS STORY IS WRONG.”
Situational Awareness looks like a special case of this, applied to life-threatening situations. Does it have a relevance to rationality more than that of being a case study in the general skill of noticing?
Situational Awareness looks like a special case of this, applied to life-threatening situations. Does it have a relevance to rationality more than that of being a case study in the general skill of noticing?
Well, let me put it like this. Your ability to make a correct decision or formulate a correct belief is based on two things—the information that you collect and your skills at deriving benefit from that information. Most rationality training that I’ve seen pertains to increasing your various deriving benefit from information skills. Many probably conceptualize those skills as encompassing the whole of rationality.
However, it strikes me that if the broader goal of rationality is to formulate correct beliefs, collecting more information may in many cases be lower-hanging fruit than further improving your ability to make decisions based on the information that you have. Situational awareness seems like a good step in that direction.
Noticing is a useful habit and skill that has been touched on from time to time here: for example, noticing when you are confused.
Situational Awareness looks like a special case of this, applied to life-threatening situations. Does it have a relevance to rationality more than that of being a case study in the general skill of noticing?
Well, let me put it like this. Your ability to make a correct decision or formulate a correct belief is based on two things—the information that you collect and your skills at deriving benefit from that information. Most rationality training that I’ve seen pertains to increasing your various deriving benefit from information skills. Many probably conceptualize those skills as encompassing the whole of rationality.
However, it strikes me that if the broader goal of rationality is to formulate correct beliefs, collecting more information may in many cases be lower-hanging fruit than further improving your ability to make decisions based on the information that you have. Situational awareness seems like a good step in that direction.