I think your post was very appropriate.
Others have adequately addressed your question about learning new things (SarahC and multifoliaterose are doing math in academia, listen to them), but brushed off your question about "feeling dumb". Why ignore this issue when you can solve it? Whenever I need to get sharper and more "toned" for tomorrow, I work through some math problems or some Project Euler tasks. The effect is quite noticeable, and the more I practice the longer it stays afterward. I've found that it's more helpful to solve problems that are slightly below my current limit of ability, but try to do them quickly, switching to the next problem immediately when I finish the last. Getting 'em done makes me feel much more confident about my intelligence. It also carries over to mental agility in conversations, etc.
Reading stuff, on the other hand, doesn't seem to help my mental agility at all, even if it's clever stuff like the Sequences or HP:MoR.
Whenever I need to get sharper and more "toned" for tomorrow, I work through some math problems or some Project Euler tasks. The effect is quite noticeable, and the more I practice the longer it stays afterward. I've found that it's more helpful to solve problems that are slightly below my absolute limit of ability, but try to do them quickly, switching to the next problem immediately when I finish the last. Getting 'em done makes me feel much more confident about my intelligence. It also carries over to mental agility in conversations, etc.
I ...
If this post is inappropriate, I apologize.
I stumbled upon this site after reading "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality". The story so far has really moved me on multiple levels and sent me here in a quest to learn more about rationality as a philosophy/way of thinking about the world. I have read Ayn Rands published works and loved the stories and most of the message. The characters always seemed like titans that were far and above me, but now, I've seen a character that is a bit more approachable.
I've started to go through the "Map and Territory" section of the "Core Sequences" and this whole project and community makes me ecstatic. I'm currently working my way through the Bayes's Theorem article with some success. The more I read, the more I realize I may have a problem.
I'm pretty dumb.
Is higher level reasoning "use it or lose it" ? I like learning new things and love reading but any new ideas require a ton of thought and re-reading. I think I have enough interest to keep plugging away at it, but I'm not sure I'm going at things the right way. Is there a "Kid's Table" for lesswrong.com?
For "Priors": I'm 28 years old, white male, married, no children, poor economic upbringing, solid emotional upbringing, currently lower to middle class, high school diploma, US Navy, currently a civilian electronics technician, raised Baptist currently Agnostic/Atheist (recently).
I guess that's it. Thanks!
--John