I can think of a lot of caveats to this (you don’t want someone in power to be half a rationalist, or a strong rationalist whose values conflict with yours), but I think the basic principle you’re pointing at makes sense. Something along the lines of: “the more influence a person’s decisions have, the more one wants them to have good decision making methods”. (Assuming that influence means control over things that you (or the person whose perspective you take) value.)
If we’re defining rationality as winning (I get the sense that’s still controversial?), then the best decision making methods a human could use would be those of a strong rationalist who shares your utility function.
A couple other things you could derive from this:
The more influence you have, the more useful it is for you to be a strong rationalist
If you are already a strong rationalist, you should try to increase your influence
I’m not sure if this has been addressed before. I think increasing your influence if you are already a strong rationalist has at least been implied, and 18,000 Hours is a specific case of it. I don’t immediately recognize the version that you stated from any LessWrong articles, but Harry used that reasoning in deciding to befriend/corrupt Draco Malfoy in HP:MOR.
Would one apply this by focusing on influential people, or people who appear likely to become influential, when trying to make more rationalists?
I can think of a lot of caveats to this (you don’t want someone in power to be half a rationalist, or a strong rationalist whose values conflict with yours), but I think the basic principle you’re pointing at makes sense. Something along the lines of: “the more influence a person’s decisions have, the more one wants them to have good decision making methods”. (Assuming that influence means control over things that you (or the person whose perspective you take) value.)
If we’re defining rationality as winning (I get the sense that’s still controversial?), then the best decision making methods a human could use would be those of a strong rationalist who shares your utility function.
A couple other things you could derive from this:
The more influence you have, the more useful it is for you to be a strong rationalist
If you are already a strong rationalist, you should try to increase your influence
I’m not sure if this has been addressed before. I think increasing your influence if you are already a strong rationalist has at least been implied, and 18,000 Hours is a specific case of it. I don’t immediately recognize the version that you stated from any LessWrong articles, but Harry used that reasoning in deciding to befriend/corrupt Draco Malfoy in HP:MOR.
Would one apply this by focusing on influential people, or people who appear likely to become influential, when trying to make more rationalists?