With regards to insight porn, I was actually a bit surprised to see EY say "change your outlook on life", which seems very strong. (He did say, "more than" the alternatives, so perhaps it's a bit uncharitable to critique that.)
Acknowledging that its not a substitute for real understanding, I like insight. There's no reason why I can't have them both.
Also, I'm not sure that it is always true that cheep, quick insights aren't the way intellectual growth happens. There have been many little realizations (and even just exposures to new ideas or topics), that, taken together, made for a more intellectually competent me. Sure, it's harder to "act on that knowledge in our society" (that takes self-discipline), but I consider that separate from "intellectual growth"
I guess I don't view "intellectual growth" separately from "personal growth" (perhaps I should?) And I view personal growth as a kind of chemical reaction, where the input ingredient in smallest amounts is the limit to how far the reaction goes. In (modern, Western, internet-enabled) society, intellectual insight/knowledge is usually not the limiting ingredient. The limiting ingredient is generally the motivation to get work done. Without it, the standard failure mode for "too much insight" is online wankery, basically.
I have started to put together a sort of curriculum for learning the subjects that lend themselves to rationality. It includes things like experimental methodology and cognitive psychology (obviously), along with "support disciplines" like computer science and economics. I think (though maybe I'm wrong) that mathematics is one of the most important things to understand.
Eliezer said in the simple math of everything:
I want to have access to outlook-changing insights. So, what math do I need to know? What are the generally applicable mathematical principles that are most worth learning? The above quote seems to indicate at least calculus, and everyone is a fan of Bayesian statistics (which I know little about).
Secondarily, what are some of the most important of that "drop-dead basic fundamental embarrassingly simple mathematics" from different fields? What fields are mathematically based, other than physics and evolutionary biology, and economics?
What is the most important math for an educated person to be familiar with?
As someone who took an honors calculus class in high school, liked it, and did alright in the class, but who has probably forgotten most of it by now and needs to relearn it, how should I go about learning that math?