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Qiaochu_Yuan comments on Thoughts on the January CFAR workshop - Less Wrong Discussion

37 Post author: Qiaochu_Yuan 31 January 2013 10:16AM

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Comment author: [deleted] 02 February 2013 02:58:35AM 2 points [-]

tricking your mind into being more curious

that sounds very useful. How exactly does this technique work?

Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 02 February 2013 03:11:39AM 6 points [-]

Stolen from the relevant CFAR worksheet: avoid environments or experiences that limit your ability to feel curious (for me these include time limits, extreme temperatures, and bad smells). Think back to a specific and recent time when you felt curious, try to remember what it felt like, and focus on that feeling. Think of a person (possibly fictional) who is frequently or intensely curious (for me this is MoR!Harry) and pretend to be them. Think about the kind of problems that you feel curious about and try to make the problem you're working on feel more like those problems (e.g. by identifying some conceptual feature they have in common).