RomanDavis comments on Rationality Quotes September 2012 - Less Wrong

7 Post author: Jayson_Virissimo 03 September 2012 05:18AM

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Comment author: RomanDavis 04 September 2012 01:45:30AM 4 points [-]

You know, I've seen a lot on here about how programming relates to thinking relates to rationality. I wonder if it'd be worth trying and where/how I might get started.

Comment author: cata 04 September 2012 02:01:59AM *  4 points [-]

It's certainly at least worth trying, since among things to learn it may be both unusually instructive and unusually useful. Here's the big list of LW recommendations.

Comment author: RomanDavis 04 September 2012 02:10:30AM *  3 points [-]

Khan Academy has a programming course? I might try it.

Mostly, I want the easiest, most handholdy experience possible. Baby talk if necessary. Every experience informs me that programming is hard.

Comment author: cata 04 September 2012 03:18:24AM *  7 points [-]

This is the easiest, most handholdy experience possible: http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/

A coworker of mine who didn't know any programming, and who probably isn't smarter than you, enjoyed working through it and has learned a lot.

Programming is hard, but a lot of good things are hard.

Comment author: CCC 04 September 2012 08:22:00AM 1 point [-]

The first trick is to be able to describe how to solve a problem; and then break that description down into the smallest possible units and write it out such that there's absolutely no possibility of a misunderstanding, no matter what conditions occur.

Once you've got that done, it's fairly easy to learn how to translate it into a programming language.

Comment author: DaFranker 04 September 2012 03:03:49PM 2 points [-]

Which is also why it helps, conversely, for reduction and rational thinking: The same skill that applies to formulating clear programs applies to formulating clear algorithms and concepts in any format, including thought.

Comment author: RobinZ 04 September 2012 01:55:20AM 2 points [-]

You know, I've seen a lot on here about how programming relates to thinking relates to rationality. I wonder if it'd be worth trying and where/how I might get started.

I would recommend trying, although I'm not really the right person to ask on starting points, if for no other reason than to test the hypothesis that learning programming aids the study of rationality.