#1 and #2 can both be combined into the same prescription: don’t learn new things if their knowledge doesn’t improve your life satisfaction in some way. This is basically a tautology, and if you’re a rationalist it’s restating the habit of making beliefs pay rent in anticipated experiences, since that’s their only utility.
#3 I think is hitting on something, and I think it’s that we should be broadly skeptical of arguments put forth by people or organizations genuinely capable of manipulating us.
I wouldn’t say #1 and #2 state the same thing, since #1 basically says “If a meme is a new, look for proof of benefits or lack thereof”, #2 says “If a meme is old, look for proof of harm or lack thereof”.
I could combine them in “The newer a wide-spread meme is, the more obvious it’s benefits should be”, but I don’t think your summary does justice to those two statements.
#1 and #2 can both be combined into the same prescription: don’t learn new things if their knowledge doesn’t improve your life satisfaction in some way. This is basically a tautology, and if you’re a rationalist it’s restating the habit of making beliefs pay rent in anticipated experiences, since that’s their only utility.
#3 I think is hitting on something, and I think it’s that we should be broadly skeptical of arguments put forth by people or organizations genuinely capable of manipulating us.
I wouldn’t say #1 and #2 state the same thing, since #1 basically says “If a meme is a new, look for proof of benefits or lack thereof”, #2 says “If a meme is old, look for proof of harm or lack thereof”.
I could combine them in “The newer a wide-spread meme is, the more obvious it’s benefits should be”, but I don’t think your summary does justice to those two statements.