the most benefit i’ve found personally has been from memetic rationality. for example:
“i notice that i am confused”
“0. something i haven’t listed yet”
steelman / ITT
“what do i have? what do i want? how can i use the former to get the latter?”
the list is rather thin. i’d like to see many more of these! each one is a concrete, concise thought with a clear external/observed trigger that serves as a starting point for further inquiry. more mystically, we could call them incantations to bring about a rational state of mind.
some nearby memes that fall short:
list of fallacies (does not encourage further inquiry)
bayes’ rule (hard to remember to check priors in advance. if anyone has operationalized this, please let me know!)
various social observations (e.g. “status games” theory is true, (and a useful frame for understanding specific interactions/reactions!) but not concrete enough to inspire rationality. it goes signal-signal-counter-signal… who can track it?!)
attending a workshop, practicing a bunch of rationality exercises from a handbook, discussing in a group setting, etc. would not have been particularly effective on its own, and potentially even detracting or at least distracting.
this matches my experience. [in person] social forces are extremely strong, and rationality is fragile. it is a single-player game until either (a) all players have a strong baseline, or (b) all players are deeply comfortable with one another. [well, perhaps those requirements apply to the single-player version as well. :) ]
real rationality is something that only i can keep myself honest to. only i know if i’m really doing it: you must be able to testify from inner spirit.
this is not to say that writing down the outcomes, publishing them, or checking with others is not a useful act. but if these mushroom fruits are the purpose, and not a side-consequence of the healthy mycelium, [as i suspect they must be in workshop settings,] then “rationality” is “out the window”.
all this sounds right to me.
the most benefit i’ve found personally has been from memetic rationality. for example:
“i notice that i am confused”
“0. something i haven’t listed yet”
steelman / ITT
“what do i have? what do i want? how can i use the former to get the latter?”
the list is rather thin. i’d like to see many more of these! each one is a concrete, concise thought with a clear external/observed trigger that serves as a starting point for further inquiry. more mystically, we could call them incantations to bring about a rational state of mind.
some nearby memes that fall short:
list of fallacies (does not encourage further inquiry)
bayes’ rule (hard to remember to check priors in advance. if anyone has operationalized this, please let me know!)
various social observations (e.g. “status games” theory is true, (and a useful frame for understanding specific interactions/reactions!) but not concrete enough to inspire rationality. it goes signal-signal-counter-signal… who can track it?!)
this matches my experience. [in person] social forces are extremely strong, and rationality is fragile. it is a single-player game until either (a) all players have a strong baseline, or (b) all players are deeply comfortable with one another. [well, perhaps those requirements apply to the single-player version as well. :) ]
real rationality is something that only i can keep myself honest to. only i know if i’m really doing it: you must be able to testify from inner spirit.
this is not to say that writing down the outcomes, publishing them, or checking with others is not a useful act. but if these mushroom fruits are the purpose, and not a side-consequence of the healthy mycelium, [as i suspect they must be in workshop settings,] then “rationality” is “out the window”.