There are a couple of problems with the premise. First, anything that was really as effective as a cycle of infinite wish spells would quickly violate energy conservation and the second law of thermodynamics. But even toning it down a little, if anything really were unreasonably effective, wouldn’t almost everyone be doing it already? And thinking about it that way, are there ridiculously effective things that we’re already doing? Well, yes, in fact there are.
The first one that comes to mind is reading and writing. Reading and writing is an incredibly effective, efficient, and cheap means of transmitting and storing knowledge. It just blows memory palaces and other techniques right out the window. The reason memory palaces haven’t been much used for the last few hundred years is because we don’t need them any more. Sure there are times when it may be convenient to not have to look a detail up, but it’s certainly not as critical or as common a need as it was pre-literacy.
Another good example of a munchkin technique we all already use is money. Money just beats barter on pretty much every axis you can imagine. It is massively better than the alternative of a no-money society. And it’s so obvious we don’t even think about it. Of course for most of humanity’s time on this planet, there was neither reading and writing nor money. If you think of it like that, there are many other munchkin techniques that we take for granted: electricity, the Internet, modern plumbing, word processors, the scientific method, statistics. The list goes on.
So the real question here is what’s at the margin? What are the unreasonably effective life hacks that a lot of people are doing, and doing successfully, but not everyone? Furthermore, to really qualify it needs to be something that is appropriate for everyone, or at least everyone who wishes to achieve a certain goal; and a large percentage of those people must not be already doing it. For example, an exercise program that works only for people with Type O blood would not qualify if everyone with Type O blood who wanted to be fitter was already doing it. However a 20-minute a day exercise program that could reverse osteoporosis in senior citizens would qualify if only 14% of senior citizens were already doing it.
Are there such reasonably effective, not yet implemented life hacks? I.e. ones for which we have clear evidence that they work, and enough understanding to know who they work for; but that are not yet implemented by a large percentage of the applicable population? Most especially, are there such life hacks that would apply to many LessWrong readers? I can think of at least two. They aren’t as weird and unusual and interesting as some of the suggestions here. Indeed they’re downright boring. However they’re boring because they work, and because they’re well understood and well tested. In keeping with the request to “Post them separately” I’ll introduce each of them in a separate comment.
But even toning it down a little, if anything really were unreasonably effective, wouldn’t almost everyone be doing it already?
Having a AGI that goes FOOM and fulfills all of your orders is comparable to having a circle of infinitive wish spells. The fact that nobody yet has such an AGI doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.
Money just beats barter on pretty much every axis you can imagine. It is massively better than the alternative of a no-money society.
Societies without money aren’t barter societies but gift giving societies. Money doesn’t beat gift giving on every axis.
There are a couple of problems with the premise. First, anything that was really as effective as a cycle of infinite wish spells would quickly violate energy conservation and the second law of thermodynamics. But even toning it down a little, if anything really were unreasonably effective, wouldn’t almost everyone be doing it already? And thinking about it that way, are there ridiculously effective things that we’re already doing? Well, yes, in fact there are.
The first one that comes to mind is reading and writing. Reading and writing is an incredibly effective, efficient, and cheap means of transmitting and storing knowledge. It just blows memory palaces and other techniques right out the window. The reason memory palaces haven’t been much used for the last few hundred years is because we don’t need them any more. Sure there are times when it may be convenient to not have to look a detail up, but it’s certainly not as critical or as common a need as it was pre-literacy.
Another good example of a munchkin technique we all already use is money. Money just beats barter on pretty much every axis you can imagine. It is massively better than the alternative of a no-money society. And it’s so obvious we don’t even think about it. Of course for most of humanity’s time on this planet, there was neither reading and writing nor money. If you think of it like that, there are many other munchkin techniques that we take for granted: electricity, the Internet, modern plumbing, word processors, the scientific method, statistics. The list goes on.
So the real question here is what’s at the margin? What are the unreasonably effective life hacks that a lot of people are doing, and doing successfully, but not everyone? Furthermore, to really qualify it needs to be something that is appropriate for everyone, or at least everyone who wishes to achieve a certain goal; and a large percentage of those people must not be already doing it. For example, an exercise program that works only for people with Type O blood would not qualify if everyone with Type O blood who wanted to be fitter was already doing it. However a 20-minute a day exercise program that could reverse osteoporosis in senior citizens would qualify if only 14% of senior citizens were already doing it.
Are there such reasonably effective, not yet implemented life hacks? I.e. ones for which we have clear evidence that they work, and enough understanding to know who they work for; but that are not yet implemented by a large percentage of the applicable population? Most especially, are there such life hacks that would apply to many LessWrong readers? I can think of at least two. They aren’t as weird and unusual and interesting as some of the suggestions here. Indeed they’re downright boring. However they’re boring because they work, and because they’re well understood and well tested. In keeping with the request to “Post them separately” I’ll introduce each of them in a separate comment.
Having a AGI that goes FOOM and fulfills all of your orders is comparable to having a circle of infinitive wish spells. The fact that nobody yet has such an AGI doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.
Societies without money aren’t barter societies but gift giving societies. Money doesn’t beat gift giving on every axis.