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Airedale comments on Too busy to think about life - Less Wrong
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Comments (62)
Well-written post.
But given the relatively high numbers of upvotes received by many of the recent posts in this vein (including yours and the posts you link), it’s not at all clear to me that the particular intellectuals who read Less Wrong are really engaging in “sub-optimal levels of careful introspection.” It’s also possible to go too far in the introspection direction.
I've been reading Less Wrong for about four months now and I haven't really made the effort to optimize my introspection levels. Alicorn's series and this post, plus some other outside influences, have placed doing that higher on my list of priorities. I'm not necessarily the average Less Wrong reader, however.
Data point: I have definitely been engaged in "sub-optimal levels of careful introspection" for most of my life. Articles on Less Wrong prompted me to introspect more, and the benefits I've gained from doing so have definitely been greater than the expected benefit from anyb obvious alternative use of that time would have been.
I'm not sure whether the current amount of resources I spend introspecting (after LW's effect) is greater or less than optimal, but overshooting a little is probably better than undershooting and missing insights.
Yes, that was my thought too. I need less thought and more action.
Phil, that's why I included "Introspect carefully, not constantly" and "Re-evaluate on an appropriate time-scale." I've also experienced over-inactivity due to planning/introspection, so I worked to make my introspection events more efficient and more punctual. Then I felt better about doing them, and got more actual living done.
I thought it sounded like it's meant as an introduction to LessWrong. Especially with those recommended links toward the end. People who already read this site aren't the target audience.
And it could also be a compendium of arguments for LW readers to use to convince non-LW readers to try checking in on quality of life.
sqrt(-1) and Nancy got my intentions :)
I especially want to attract people in academia and positions of intellectual leadership to being actively and morally rational, since their attitudes spread to their students and apprentices. When you have an intelligent mentor who isn't using her intelligence to directly analyze and improve her own life, you're unconsciously less convinced it's a fruitful pursuit. When the opposite happens, it can really start a cascade.
Provided such a cascade preserves peoples' sense of morality, which requires some serious care to ensure, it can be a great thing for them and the people around them.