billswift comments on "Epiphany addiction" - Less Wrong

52 Post author: cousin_it 03 August 2012 05:52PM

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Comment author: billswift 04 August 2012 01:05:47PM 1 point [-]

Even worse, unlike your examples, rationality isn't a single, focussed "skillset", but a broad collection of barely related skills. Learning to avoid base rate neglect helps little if at all with avoiding honoring sunk costs which helps little with avoiding the narrative fallacy. You need to tackle them almost independently. That is one reason why I tend to emphasize the need to stop and think, when you can. Even if you have not mastered the particular fallacy that may be about to trip you up, you are more likely to notice a potential problem if you get in the habit of thinking through what you are doing.