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elharo comments on Self-Congratulatory Rationalism - Less Wrong
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Everyone (and every group) thinks they are rational. This is not a distinctive feature of LW. Christianity and Buddhism make a lot of their rationality. Even Nietzsche acknowledged that it was the rationality of Christianity that led to its intellectual demise (as he saw it), as people relentlessly applied rationality tools to Christianity.
My own model of how rational we are is more in line with Ed Seykota's (http://www.seykota.com/tribe/TT_Process/index.htm) than the typical geek model that we are basically rational with a few "biases" added on top. Ed Seykota was a very successful trader, featured in the book "Market Wizards" who concluded that trading success is not that difficult intellectually, the issues are all on the feelings side. He talks about trading but the concepts apply across the board.
For everyone who thinks that they are rational, consider a) Are you in the healthy weight range? b) Did you get the optimum amount of exercise this week? c) Are your retirement savings on track? d) Did you waste zero time today? (I score 2/4).
Personally I think it would be progress if we took as a starting point the assumption that most of the things we believe are not rational. That everything needs to be stringently tested. That taking someone's word for it, unless they have truly earned it, does not make sense.
Also: I totally agree with OP that it is routine to see intelligent people who think of themselves as rational doing things and believing things that are complete nonsense. Intelligence and rationality are, to a first approximation, orthogonal.
a) Why do you expect a rational person would necessarily avoid the environmental problems that cause overweight and obesity? Especially given that scientists are very unclear amongst themselves as to what causes obesity and weight gain? Even if you adhere to the notion that weight gain and loss is simply a matter of calorie consumption and willpower, why would you assume a rational person has more willpower?
b) Why do you expect that a rational person would necessarily value the optimum amount of exercise (presumably optimal for health) over everything else they might have done with their time this week? And again given that scientists have even less certainty about the optimum amount or type of exercise, than they do about the optimum amount of food we should eat.
c) Why do you assume that a rational person is financially able to save for retirement? There are many people on this planet who live on less than a dollar a day. Does being born poor imply a lack of rationality?
d) Why do you assume a rational person does not waste time on occasion?
Rationality is not a superpower. It does not magically produce health, wealth, or productivity. It may assist in the achievement of those and other goals, but it is neither necessary nor sufficient.
The question was directed at people discussing rationality on the internet. If you can afford some means of internet access, you are almost certainly not living on less than a dollar a day.
I receive less in SSI than I'm paying on college debt (no degree), am legally blind, unemployed, and have internet access because these leave me with no choice but to live with my parents (no friends within 100mi). Saving for retirement is way off my radar.
(I do have more to say on how I've handled this, but it seems more appropriate for the rationality diaries. I will ETA a link if I make such a comment.)
A more rational person might have a better understanding of how his mind works and use that understanding to deploy his limited willpower to maximum effect.
Even if producing no external output, one can still use time rather than waste it. waveman's post is about the emotional difficulties of being effective- and so to the extent that rationality is about winning, a rational person has mastered those difficulties.
Most likely because getting regular exercise is a pretty good investment of time. Of course some people might rationally choose not to make the investment for whatever reason, but if someone doesn't exercise regularly there is an excellent chance that it's akrasia at work.
One can ask if rational people are less likely to fall victim to akrasia. My guess is that they are, since a rational person is likely to have a better understanding of how his brain works. So he is in a better position to come up with ways to act consistently with his better judgment.