JulianMorrison comments on Cached Thoughts - Less Wrong

51 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 11 October 2007 11:46PM

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Comment author: JulianMorrison 15 October 2007 07:57:55PM 2 points [-]

Thinking in text...

Change your mode of cache usage. The brain has two conflicting tendencies here, which I'll name "contagion" and "cull". The contagion tendency is the way that related mental objects prime each other. The cull tendency is the way that a firm decision suppresses valid alternates. Your motto should be "first contagion, then never quite cull". If you cull first, that's "jumping to conclusions". If you contagion but don't cull, that's called "woolgathering" and "being a ditherer". But if you can hold down a partial cull, you'll have alternates primed, and you can mentally turn on a dime. So by focusing first on contagion, you can push alternates above a threshold where they can't be culled.

Also, intentionally pump in alternates by using De Bono's "po".

Also, set a mental tripwire on the feeling of "preaching", stop and contagion. Reciting cliches always has that feeling that it ought to be followed by the refrain "amen".