So, I think I need to distinguish between “Feedbackloop-first Rationality”(which is a paradigm for inventing rationality training) and “Ray’s particular flavor of metastrategy”, which I used feedbackloop-first rationality to invent” (which, if I had to give a name, I’d call “Fractal Strategy”[1], but that sounds sort of pretentious and normally I just call it “Metastrategy” even though it’s too vague)
Feedbackloop-first Rationality is about the art of designing exercises, and thinking about what sort of exercises apply across domains, thinking about what feedback loops will turn to out to help longterm, and which feedbackloops will generalize, etc.
“Fractal Strategy” is the art of noticing what goal you’re currently pursuing, whether you should switch goals, and what tactics are appropriate for your current goal, in a very fluid way (while making predictions about those strategy outcomes).
Feedbackloop-first-rationality isn’t actually relevant to most people – it’s really only relevant if you’re a longterm rationality developer. Most people just want some tools that work for them, they aren’t going to invest enough to be inventing their own tools. Almost all my workshops/sessions/exercises are better framed as Metastrategy.
I recently tried to give an impromptu talk that focused on Feedbackloop-first rationality (forcing myself out of a comfort zone of talking about practical metastrategy), and it floundered and sputtered and I eventually pivoted to making it a demo of fractal strategy that worked much better.
This is probably mostly because I just didn’t prepare for the talk. But I think it’s at least partly because I’d previously been conflating them, and also, that I don’t really know that many people who feel like the target audience for feedbackloop-rationality itself.
But it sort of defies having a name because it involves fluidly switching between so many modes and tactics, it’s hard to pin down what the central underlying move is. The “fractal” part is just one
So, I think I need to distinguish between “Feedbackloop-first Rationality” (which is a paradigm for inventing rationality training) and “Ray’s particular flavor of metastrategy”, which I used feedbackloop-first rationality to invent” (which, if I had to give a name, I’d call “Fractal Strategy”[1], but that sounds sort of pretentious and normally I just call it “Metastrategy” even though it’s too vague)
Feedbackloop-first Rationality is about the art of designing exercises, and thinking about what sort of exercises apply across domains, thinking about what feedback loops will turn to out to help longterm, and which feedbackloops will generalize, etc.
“Fractal Strategy” is the art of noticing what goal you’re currently pursuing, whether you should switch goals, and what tactics are appropriate for your current goal, in a very fluid way (while making predictions about those strategy outcomes).
Feedbackloop-first-rationality isn’t actually relevant to most people – it’s really only relevant if you’re a longterm rationality developer. Most people just want some tools that work for them, they aren’t going to invest enough to be inventing their own tools. Almost all my workshops/sessions/exercises are better framed as Metastrategy.
I recently tried to give an impromptu talk that focused on Feedbackloop-first rationality (forcing myself out of a comfort zone of talking about practical metastrategy), and it floundered and sputtered and I eventually pivoted to making it a demo of fractal strategy that worked much better.
This is probably mostly because I just didn’t prepare for the talk. But I think it’s at least partly because I’d previously been conflating them, and also, that I don’t really know that many people who feel like the target audience for feedbackloop-rationality itself.
But it sort of defies having a name because it involves fluidly switching between so many modes and tactics, it’s hard to pin down what the central underlying move is. The “fractal” part is just one