Is higher level reasoning "use it or lose it" ?
In some sense I think the answer to this is yes. This is, of course, all the reason you need to start learning now. I have no evidence for this, but in my experience learning becomes easier the more you do it (as in many things...).
Might I recommend Eric Drexler's guidelines for learning "about everything"? He suggests:
This type of learning is probably essential to understanding nature from a rationalist (=scientific) viewpoint, and you will be surprised how naturally the transition from "understanding little but knowing the words" to "partially understanding the words" to "understanding the words" occurs.
A good collection of hints, fits to my experiences in autodidactism. But you need a very good library at hand for such browsing (I used as teenager what a mathematician had designed as "Bibliothekskontinuum" ). "Don’t ... study ... as if you had to pass a test on it" is IMO very good too. Skimming connects with the subconscious procedures of memory and learning and works much better that one usually expects. In a similar way, I would suggest to take interesting looking books at home, laying them aside your bed and browsing like you p...
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