Most rationalists are less arrogant in person than they should about their subject areas
You're joking, right? We're arrogant as all hell, most of us are. I know I am. And it needs to fucking stop, because arrogance is ugly even when you're knowledgeable.
From my experiences in person, LWers are humble at LW meetings. However, outside of meeting in person, LWers are arrogant compared to most people On the computer, I can't tell because it's just text.
We looked at the cloudy night sky and thought it would be interesting to share the ways in which, in the past, we made mistakes we would have been able to overcome, if only we had been stronger as rationalists. The experience felt valuable and humbling. So why not do some more of it on Lesswrong?
An antithesis to the Bragging Thread, this is a thread to share where we made mistakes. Where we knew we could, but didn't. Where we felt we were wrong, but carried on anyway.
As with the recent group bragging thread, anything you've done wrong since the comet killed the dinosaurs is fair game, and if it happens to be a systematic mistake that over long periods of time systematically curtailed your potential, that others can try to learn avoiding, better.
This thread is an attempt to see if there are exceptions to the cached thought that life experience cannot be learned but has to be lived. Let's test this belief together!