I am a big believer in this idea of realistic or immersive imagining. I submit that many people in the LW empirical personspace cluster spend far too much time on unrealistic fantasizing (e.g. through reading sci-fi/fantasy books), and that this is highly detrimental to their well-being. I used to live in a fantasy world myself; I’m slowly trying to break the habit.
When I tell people I think they should cut down on their consumption of fantasy novels they say “No, it’s important to be imaginative!” Absolutely, but it’s way more important to imagine realistic outcomes than to imagine castles in the air (I have a soft spot for the idea of cities on the water).
Immersive imagining is probably a good example of an important rationalist technique. I suspect it’s hard to do well, but skill can be achieved through training.
Immersive imagining sounds to me like Detached Detail. Even if your imagined details are “realistic” and “immersive”, those qualities do not move them outside of the realm of Detached.
Compare your “I like seasteading but not castles in the air.” statement with a claim “I like medieval reenactment but only with historical accuracy.” It seems clear to me that this is merely a preference over fantasies, not a fundamental difference in thought process.
I am a big believer in this idea of realistic or immersive imagining. I submit that many people in the LW empirical personspace cluster spend far too much time on unrealistic fantasizing (e.g. through reading sci-fi/fantasy books), and that this is highly detrimental to their well-being. I used to live in a fantasy world myself; I’m slowly trying to break the habit.
When I tell people I think they should cut down on their consumption of fantasy novels they say “No, it’s important to be imaginative!” Absolutely, but it’s way more important to imagine realistic outcomes than to imagine castles in the air (I have a soft spot for the idea of cities on the water).
Immersive imagining is probably a good example of an important rationalist technique. I suspect it’s hard to do well, but skill can be achieved through training.
Immersive imagining sounds to me like Detached Detail. Even if your imagined details are “realistic” and “immersive”, those qualities do not move them outside of the realm of Detached.
Compare your “I like seasteading but not castles in the air.” statement with a claim “I like medieval reenactment but only with historical accuracy.” It seems clear to me that this is merely a preference over fantasies, not a fundamental difference in thought process.