Had I not been "coming out of the rationality closet" to my family and friends (as a result of college decision conversations) for the past few days, I would be confused about why this is.
I'm intrigued yet confused. What on earth do you mean by coming out of the rationality closet? Making a few well thought out decisions about college doesn't sound especially out there. Or did the coming out also involve confessing apostasy?
My parents already knew that I'm an atheist.
The issue is when you start running into thinking weird things about what you're trying to do, and how you're trying to do it, and when those weird things don't have particularly loyal signals.
The particular example I have in mind is the idea of rationality outreach. I explained that there's some amount that I can do, but that if I help people who have similar goals to mine pursue their more efficiently, and influence other people to have goals more similar to mine, then more utility will be generated over the lo...
Today's post, The Modesty Argument, was originally published on December 10, 2006. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):
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