I’m driven by a passion for self-stimat and self-estime. My work explores motivation by weaving together information theory. I am a dyslexics Brazilian guy living in Argentina, writing in English for LessWrong feels like a paraplegic playing for the major leagues—ambitious, awkward, and, every now and then, a miracle of technology.
Gabriel Brito
P. João
Karma: 182
haha, would be funny, but is my tesis.
here I asked a question before publishing:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/TRcNafiSYdsYQYxnN/could-my-work-beyond-haha-benefit-the-lesswrong-community
You can’t see my name or my profile besides my alias, yes?Sorry for my Spanish. Thank you for showing interest, I will translate the thesis for you.
Field tests of semi-rationality in Brazilian military training
Thanks Lucie Philippon! Follow the video
I’m grateful for your kind words, especially coming from someone who truly appreciates rationality. And that comment—”Your writing is more enjoyable than that of many native English speakers, and I am one”—is just so, so, so sweet!
Maybe my next story is going deeper into logos. Some about “How I Almost Got Arrested for Teaching CPR (And Why ‘Staying Alive’ Could Be Ironic)”—a.k.a.
How to Save Lives & Offend Generals
I’ve even got a video of my classes at the military school for you. Cheers, and thanks again for the encouragement!
Ben, my brother in chaos, you’re about to unlock Level 2 of my military lore.
Training duration:
Imagine a Brazilian telenovela directed by Bear Grylls—1 year total, culminating in a final jungle camp (but with more mosquito-borne diseases).
Cast of characters:
Around 120 firefighters, split into four platoons.
My origin story:
I trained for nine years just to get in—which is ironic, considering I was an asthmatic allergic to:
Pollen
Military hierarchy
Taking life seriously
But first—somes links to you:
That time I almost got arrested for teaching CPR:
Because of that, I ended up working on projects like this:
Could My Work Beyond ‘Haha’ Benefit the LessWrong Community?It wasn’t easy. I even failed the Brazilian Marines’ physical for… acne (true story!). Apparently, making enemy forces too scared wasn’t part of the strategic doctrine.
Want to understand BOPE?
Watch Elite Squad 1 & 2. Their training makes ours look like My Little Pony: Rescue Brigade. Fair warning—their version of “team building” involves fewer beach barbecues and more interrogating drug lords.
Thanks! My goal with this story was to talk about a time when I was running away from rationality. Back then, I thought the adrenaline of military life was the real deal—the peak of intensity. But looking back, it was nothing compared to the kind of thrill I get from tackling complex problems with mathematics.
The Semi-Rational Militar Firefighter
Fascinating post. It reminds me of how the human brain can ‘fake alignment’ through self-deception—rationalizing actions to seem aligned with values while masking deeper misalignment. Could insights into LLM alignment help us understand and mitigate this kind of ‘auto-corruption’ in ourselves?
Curious if you’ve thought about parallels like this.
How often do we risk losing something important by assigning too high a priority to a bad vibe?
Personally, I try not to ignore any vibe or thought, but I also attempt to prioritize them by importance. Maybe I should start a ‘bad vibes journal’—a record of every time I feel something off and then compare it to the actual outcomes. My sense is that I often misjudge, but without tracking it, I can’t really calibrate my accuracy.
when I first encountered Eliezer Yudkowsky, I actually had a bad vibe about him. If I’d followed that feeling, I would’ve missed out on learning from one of the authors who has helped me a lot.
Have you ever been completely wrong about a bad vibe? If so, what did you learn from it?
You make a very good point—there are different ways to create contrasts in information that are quickly recognized, and that’s how I’ve come to understand humor. The faster the brain recognizes the information, the higher the chance it triggers a sense of pleasure, or perhaps falls somewhere along a spectrum of pleasure tied to recognizing patterns or resolving contrasts.
I also agree that many jokes can reduce authority. They signal that someone is not a threat, that they lower themselves to gain acceptance, which is often done by people who aren’t strong or authoritative and who use humor as a way to find their space. On the other hand, humor can also be used by authoritative figures to reinforce their power—when others laugh, it confirms that they don’t perceive the person as a threat. Some studies even suggest that chimpanzee laughter might be linked to this dynamic.
In my case, I would describe myself as someone who, in many ways, felt “weak” and used humor to create space for myself. I wasn’t in a position to demand authority outright. I had to teach skills like first aid in a very short amount of time, and I found that humor as positive reinforcement was much more effective than relying on negative reinforcement.
It’s a complex topic, isn’t it? There are so many variables in humor, but this is the perspective I’ve been able to develop so far: humor as something that operates on a spectrum of pleasure derived from the rapid recognition of information.
Additionally, I plan to share some stories about how humor has helped me stay attentive and better use what a class or learning environment offers in a more constructive way.
Thank you for your interest! My first idea for a post on LessWrong was actually about that—my journey from being a firefighter to discovering rationality. However, I hesitated because it felt very personal, and some of the most interesting parts of my story would be hard to verify. To summarize, I found myself unable to adapt to the “ethics” of the role, which eventually led me to leave and seek rationality as a way to rebuild my life. At the time, it felt like I had nothing left, as I had dedicated my entire life to becoming a firefighter.
Interestingly, there are some parallels between my experiences and the Brazilian movies Tropa de Elite. That kind of intense, complex environment leaves you with stories that are hard to explain but deeply shape who you are.
Thanks to your comment, though, I’m reconsidering publishing my story. Perhaps I could frame it as partly real, partly exaggerated—after all, not everything has to be 100% factual, right? Haha.
Hi! Thank you so much for your comment—it’s incredibly thoughtful and motivating. I couldn’t agree more that humor can be a powerful pedagogical tool, especially for topics like CPR, where emotions play a key role in memory retention. I also laughed at your line, “I first understood that as resuscitating people by telling them jokes. Like, when you laugh hard enough, your heart starts beating again.” 😂 Your humor actually helped me see the ambiguity in my explanation and understand where I might have made that part clearer.
In my case, as a former military firefighter in Brazil, I was often told that humor wasn’t appropriate for serious settings and that I had to maintain a strict demeanor. That left me conflicted because I knew that humor could help people learn and remember better. But I also needed a solid theoretical foundation to justify its use—and, of course, to avoid getting into trouble for making jokes inappropriately! 😅
One interesting finding from my thesis is how humor operates on different levels. The greater the contrast and the quicker the punchline, the higher the chances of eliciting pleasure and laughter. But it’s equally important to adapt humor to the context and the audience.
As for your idea of creating an educational comedy channel, I already have one! It’s called “Academia Engraçada de Comédia Humorística” (which would translate to something like “Funny Academy of Comedic Humor” in English). For now, we’re more active on Instagram, and we’ve even delivered humor-based problem-solving courses to all the prisons in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’m not very strong on YouTube yet because the courses are generally paid—except for prisoners, who don’t have much money… or anywhere to run, haha!
Once again, thank you for your brilliant comment—it’s incredibly relevant and inspiring. 😊
Hey, as a friend, I know my bias could tilt things, but I’ve tried to analyze your work as independently as I can. I’ve thrown some crappy criticisms your way, along with (hopefully) a few useful ones. But, from the very first time you told me about this, I was like: wow! This solves some complex problems, I didn’t even know existed.
[Question] Could my work, “Beyond HaHa” benefit the LessWrong community?
Although I find the text inspiring and its principles interesting, I have some questions:
How were these twelve virtues specifically identified?
Is there a particular reason for this order, starting with curiosity and ending with emptiness?
Are there any studies or practical experiences that support that these particular virtues are more effective than others in improving rational thinking?
I believe that having answers to these questions would significantly strengthen the argument and help in better implementing these virtues in practice.
Has anyone else reflected on these aspects?
It seems you’ve considered a lot of interesting variables, which would likely lower the overall probability.
Mateusz Bagiński, Thank you for showing interest,
I’ll translate for you