Agreed—a write-only journal does not help at all. The payoff comes from the sometimes-startling realization of the difference between one’s current and old views.
And yes, it almost seems easier for the “rationality dojo” to go wrong than right.
I’m new at this; let me expand what I think your point is. It’s easier to argue without referring to ground truth than it is to stay focused on reality. (See: almost any online argument.) The default incentive structure of an argument rewards winning the argument, not finding the truth. Thus, practicing argument will make the practitioner good at arguing, rather than finding truth. Since an incentive structure strongly shapes behavior even when we recognize the structure, the group will not learn rationality unless the group can make incentives to do so. So, the rationality dojo doesn’t solve the problem, it merely defers it to another level of organization.
On the other hand, the rationality dojo affords a wider set of incentives—we can, if careful, use group dynamics to shape the incentive structure. If successful there, we can use the desire to belong to a group to enhance those incentives. The dojo is a possibly useful ingredient in this incentive structure.
Agreed—a write-only journal does not help at all. The payoff comes from the sometimes-startling realization of the difference between one’s current and old views.
I read an account of someone reading their old journals, and the educational surprise was how little their views had changed. They were having what seemed like new revelations again and again, but they were the same revelations. I can’t remember what use the writer made of the overview.
Agreed—a write-only journal does not help at all. The payoff comes from the sometimes-startling realization of the difference between one’s current and old views.
And yes, it almost seems easier for the “rationality dojo” to go wrong than right.
I’m new at this; let me expand what I think your point is. It’s easier to argue without referring to ground truth than it is to stay focused on reality. (See: almost any online argument.) The default incentive structure of an argument rewards winning the argument, not finding the truth. Thus, practicing argument will make the practitioner good at arguing, rather than finding truth. Since an incentive structure strongly shapes behavior even when we recognize the structure, the group will not learn rationality unless the group can make incentives to do so. So, the rationality dojo doesn’t solve the problem, it merely defers it to another level of organization.
On the other hand, the rationality dojo affords a wider set of incentives—we can, if careful, use group dynamics to shape the incentive structure. If successful there, we can use the desire to belong to a group to enhance those incentives. The dojo is a possibly useful ingredient in this incentive structure.
I read an account of someone reading their old journals, and the educational surprise was how little their views had changed. They were having what seemed like new revelations again and again, but they were the same revelations. I can’t remember what use the writer made of the overview.