The usage of “try” was heavily addressed in the training I just did. The approach is to notice why a usage exists. What is the value of adding “try”?
Well, it demolishes the possibility of failure to realize the stated goal. After all, if I say, “I’m going to try to express myself coherently,” I can’t actually fail, as long as I do something, anything at all. I can give up at the first tiny obstacle, but, hey, I tried. How about “I tried to overcome my procrastination”?
We use “try” to avoid identifying “failure,” because we have been trained that failure is Bad. It’s not. Failure is inevitable if we undertake anything worth doing that isn’t already so easy that we don’t need to take any risks, we just do it. I don’t “try” to turn on the light in the room, I just flip the switch. (Sure, sometimes a light is burned out or something. But we would never ask someone, “Try to turn on the light.” We just ask them to turn it on.)
Failure is an essential part of the learning process, of the development of skill.
Yudkowsky’s ability to see beyond his original incomplete vision, and to openly acknowledge the former shortcoming, is part of what identifies him as Yudkowsky. That is not necessarily a common ability, most people become increasingly entangled in what they said before.
The usage of “try” was heavily addressed in the training I just did. The approach is to notice why a usage exists. What is the value of adding “try”?
Well, it demolishes the possibility of failure to realize the stated goal. After all, if I say, “I’m going to try to express myself coherently,” I can’t actually fail, as long as I do something, anything at all. I can give up at the first tiny obstacle, but, hey, I tried. How about “I tried to overcome my procrastination”?
We use “try” to avoid identifying “failure,” because we have been trained that failure is Bad. It’s not. Failure is inevitable if we undertake anything worth doing that isn’t already so easy that we don’t need to take any risks, we just do it. I don’t “try” to turn on the light in the room, I just flip the switch. (Sure, sometimes a light is burned out or something. But we would never ask someone, “Try to turn on the light.” We just ask them to turn it on.)
Failure is an essential part of the learning process, of the development of skill.
Yudkowsky’s ability to see beyond his original incomplete vision, and to openly acknowledge the former shortcoming, is part of what identifies him as Yudkowsky. That is not necessarily a common ability, most people become increasingly entangled in what they said before.