Eliezer’s Class Project has a fictional group of rationality students try to find the true theory of quantum gravity in one month. This always seemed like a cool goal and test for rationality training to aspire to. If you’re not solving difficult open problems faster than science, your Art of Rationality probably isn’t complete.
It’s good for intelligent people to be audaciously ambitious. But is Art of Rationality enough to figure out quantum gravity, or solve “difficult open problems” in the sciences? If not, could you comment on what else is needed?
I mean, depends how you’re defining art of rationality. I think it’ll usually require some kind of domain expertise and skills in the relevant open problems. I also think “rationality” would be important for figuring out what skills to gain, and figuring out how to learn them as quickly as possible, if you were starting from scratch.
As for “is this possible?”, well, I’m not sure. This post is part of sequence (and a possible longterm research project) aimed at figuring out the answer.
It’s good for intelligent people to be audaciously ambitious. But is Art of Rationality enough to figure out quantum gravity, or solve “difficult open problems” in the sciences? If not, could you comment on what else is needed?
I mean, depends how you’re defining art of rationality. I think it’ll usually require some kind of domain expertise and skills in the relevant open problems. I also think “rationality” would be important for figuring out what skills to gain, and figuring out how to learn them as quickly as possible, if you were starting from scratch.
As for “is this possible?”, well, I’m not sure. This post is part of sequence (and a possible longterm research project) aimed at figuring out the answer.