About Less Wrong [old]

This is an old version of the LessWrong About page. See the current page at www.lesswrong.com/about

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Less Wrong is We’re an online community for people who trydedicated to think rationally. the study of human rationality, the general field of improving our decisions. LessWrong pulls together a variety of material from mathematics, economics, cognitive science, and other disciplines which can all be relevant when considering how we think. We’re also interested in technology, the long-term future of humanity, and philosophy.

Here'LessWrong dates back to 2006 when Eliezer Yudkowsky starting writing about rationality on economist Robin Hanson's blog Overcoming Bias. In February 2009, those posts were used as the seed material for Less Wrong. Since 2006 we have collected many friends.

The best introduction to the ideas on this website is "The Sequences", a collection of posts that introduce cognitive science, philosophy, and mathematics. An abridged and edited epub version called Rationality: From AI to Zombies is also available for download. Eliezer is also well known for writing Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (HPMOR), one of the world’s most popular Harry Potter fanfictions.

The Less Wrong Community

Less Wrong makes heavy use of previously introduced topics for leverage, so you may need to consult the Concepts and Jargon pages on the Less Wrong Wiki. You can also do keyword searches of past posts using the search tool near the top right corner of every page.

The Discussion board on LessWrong is active, and includes links to other posts around the internet that we find interesting, as well as user-submitted essays on varying topics. Main has been closed since mid-2016, and was reserved for posts that were elevated from the discussion forum for their quality. There are still many posts there of high quality but it no longer updates.

If you are new here we like to encourage you to post in the latest welcome thread to introduce yourself and start a conversation, more instructions are in that thread.

You can find a map of our physical meetups on the homepage. If you are in a city with a meetup, it’s a great experience and we love new participants!

If you want to put yourself on the map, we would be delighted if you would join us!

There is active conversation on the LessWrongersslack and in the IRCchat room. We also have a Russianslack if you speak Russian.

If you need a place to commit to studying alongside others - our Study hall is a place to visit.

Several organizations spun off from the community, such as The Center For Applied Rationality (CFAR), the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), and the Effective Altruism movement.

Some other notable businesses include Beeminder, Complice, and Mealsquares.

Some blogs of our friends include Scott Alexander’s Slate Star Codex, Nate Soares’ MindingOurWay, Gwern’s Gwern.net and philosopher Nick Bostrom.

We can’t always keep track of all the...

Less Wrong is a large, active websitean online community for people who try to think rationally. To get a quick idea of why rationality is important and how to develop it, try reading Your Intuitions Are Not Magic, The Cognitive Science of Rationality, or What I've Learned From Less Wrong.

• Like thinking about politics? Try A Fable of Science and Politics.
• Enjoy thought experiments? Here's a good one about the nature of intention.
• Want to teach yourself something? We've compiled a list of the best textbooks on every subject. Try spaced repetition for helping you remember what you read (or don't).
• Not sure if rational thinking has practical applications? Read Less Wrong on driving or buying a house.
• Want to improve your effectiveness? Humans are not automatically strategic, so learning to think more strategically can give you a leg up.
• Feeling altruistic?Looking for greater purpose or meaning in life? Read a Less Wrong user's case for "efficient" charity, or here's an interesting donation schemeeffectivealtruism.
• Are you a busy intellectual? Consider taking time to introspect on whether you're working towards something worth achieving, and how you could operate more effectively.
• Want to make sure your study of biases doesn't backfire? Read how knowing about biases can hurt people.

• Like thinking about politics? Try A Fable of Science and Politics.
• Enjoy thought experiments? Here's a good one about the nature of intention.
• Want to teach yourself something? We've compiled a list of the best textbooks on every subject. Try spaced repetition for helping you remember what you read.read (or don't).
• Not sure if rational thinking has practical applications? Read Less Wrong on driving or buying a house.
• Want to improve your effectiveness? Humans are not automatically strategic, so learning to think more strategically can give you a leg up.
• Feeling altruistic? Read a Less Wrong user's case for "efficient" charity, or here's an interesting donation scheme.
• Are you a busy intellectual? Consider taking time to introspect on whether you're working towards something worth achieving, and how you could operate more effectively.
• Want to make sure your study of biases doesn't backfire? Read how knowing about biases can hurt people.

About Less Wrong

About

Interested in improving your reasoning and decision-making skills? Then you've come to the right place.

Less Wrong

Thinking is a large, active website for people who try to think rationally. To get a quick idea of why rationality is important and decidinghow to develop it, try reading Your Intuitions Are Not Magic, The Cognitive Science of Rationality, or What I've Learned From Less Wrong.

Here's a selection of other posts from the extensive Less Wrong archives that might appeal to you:

• Like thinking about politics? Try A Fable of Science and Politics.
• Enjoy thought experiments? Here's a good one about the nature of intention.
• Want to teach yourself something? We've compiled a list of the best textbooks on every subject. Try spaced repetition for helping you remember what you read.
• Not sure if rational thinking has practical applications? Read Less Wrong on driving or buying a house.
• Want to improve your effectiveness? Humans are centralnot automatically strategic, so learning to our daily lives. think more strategically can give you a leg up.
• Feeling altruistic? Read a Less Wrong user's case for "efficient" charity, or here's an interesting donation scheme.
• Are you a busy intellectual? Consider taking time to introspect on whether you're working towards something worth achieving, and how you could operate more effectively.
• Want to make sure your study of biases doesn't backfire? Read how knowing about biases can hurt people.

And some slightly meatier stuff:

• Bayes' Theorem Illustrated
• Hindsight Devalues Science
• How an Algorithm Feels from the Inside
• Make Your Training Useful
• Scholarship: How to Do It Efficiently
• Attention Control Is Critical for Changing/Increasing/Altering Motivation
• That Alien Message
• Decision Theories: A Semi-Formal Analysis parts 0, 1, 2, and 3

The Less Wrong community aims to gain expertise in how human brains think and decide, so that we can do so more successfully. We use insights from cognitive science, social psychology, probability theory, and decision theory to improve our understanding of how the world works and what we can do to achieve our goals.

Want to know if your doctor's diagnosis is correct? It helps to understand Bayes' Theorem. Want to make a plan for achieving your goals? It helps to know the ways in which we don't know our own desires. Want to make the world a better place? It helps to know about the cognitive bias called 'scope insensitivity', and that some charities are more efficient than others.

We discuss and practice these skills on the main blog, in the discussion area, and in regular meetups around the world.

Where to start

If you want a sampling of the content on the main blog, you could read some posts on beliefs, words, cognitivebiases, evidence, probability, decision theory, excuses, task avoidance, reductionism, evolution, quantum physics, ethics, politics, disease, and procrastination.

To read Less Wrong systematically, read the Sequences, especially the Core Sequences. They are somewhat long, but highly recommended.

Less Wrong makes heavy use of previously introduced topics for...

Thinking and deciding are central to our daily lives. The Less Wrong community aims to gain expertise in how human brains think and decide, so that we can do so more successfully. We use the latest insights from cognitive science, social psychology, probability theory, and decision theory to improve our understanding of how the world works and what we can do to achieve our goals.

Virtues of rationality

Some important aspects of rationality are described in the Twelve Virtues of Rationality:

• Curiosity: a burning itch to know. See The Meditation on Curiosity; Why truth?; Use Curiosity.
• Relinquishment: that which can be destroyed by the truth should be. See The Importance of Saying 'Oops'; Cached Thoughts; Just Lose Hope Already; Crisis of Faith.
• Lightness: let the winds of evidence blow you about, with no direction of your own. See Update Yourself Incrementally; Scientific Evidence, Legal Evidence, Rational Evidence.
• Evenness: do not seek to argue for one side or another, for if you knew your destination, you would already be there. See One Argument Against an Army; How Much Evidence Does It Take?; A Rational Argument; Avoiding Your Belief's Real Weak Points.
• Argument: seek a test that lets reality judge between you. See Argument Screens Off Authority; An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem.
• Empiricism: the roots of knowledge are in observation, and its fruit is prediction. See Making Beliefs Pay Rent; Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions; What is Evidence?; The Lens That Sees Its Flaws; A Priori; Where Recursive Justification Hits Bottom.
• Simplicity: the more steps in your argument, the more likely it is to contain a flaw. See Occam's Razor; Conjunction Fallacy.
• Humility: anticipate your own errors, for you are human. See The Proper Use of Humility; Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People; Leave a Line of Retreat.
• Perfectionism: hold yourself to the highest standard you can imagine. See Tsuyoku Naritai; The Level Above Mine; Shut Up and Do the Impossible.
• Precision: quantify and use probability theory. See The Virtue of Narrowness, The Fallacy of Gray; The Simple Math of Everything; A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation; Probability is in the Mind; An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem.
• Scholarship: study many sciences and absorb their power as your own. See The Neglected Virtue of Scholarship; Scholarship: How to Do It Efficiently.
• The nameless virtue: perhaps you describe incorrectly the nameless virtue. How will you discover your mistake? Not by comparing your description to itself, but by comparing it to that which you did not name. See Lost Purposes; Something to Protect; Zen and the Art of Rationality.

Less Wrong is associated with the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford UniversityUniversity; and the Singularity Institute, where Yudkowsky is a senior researcher. The site is hosted and maintained by Trike Apps.

Thinking and deciding are central to our daily lives. The Less Wrong community aims to gain expertise in how humanshuman brains think and decide, so that we can do so more successfully. We use the latest insights from cognitive science, social psychology, probability theory, and decision theory to improve our understanding of how the world works and what we can do to achieve our goals.

Virtues of rationality

Some important aspects of rationality are described in the Twelve Virtues of Rationality:

• Curiosity: a burning itch to know. See The Meditation on Curiosity; Why truth?; Use Curiosity.
• Relinquishment: that which can be destroyed by the truth should be. See The Importance of Saying 'Oops'; Cached Thoughts; Just Lose Hope Already; Crisis of Faith.
• Lightness: let the winds of evidence blow you about, with no direction of your own. See Update Yourself Incrementally; Scientific Evidence, Legal Evidence, Rational Evidence.
• Evenness: do not seek to argue for one side or another, for if you knew your destination, you would already be there. See One Argument Against an Army; How Much Evidence Does It Take?; A Rational Argument; Avoiding Your Belief's Real Weak Points.
• Argument: seek a test that lets reality judge between you. See Argument Screens Off Authority; An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem.
• Empiricism: the roots of knowledge are in observation, and its fruit is prediction. See Making Beliefs Pay Rent; Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions; What is Evidence?; The Lens That Sees Its Flaws; A Priori; Where Recursive Justification Hits Bottom.
• Simplicity: the more steps in your argument, the more likely it is to contain a flaw. See Occam's Razor; Conjunction Fallacy.
• Humility: anticipate your own errors, for you are human. See The Proper Use of Humility; Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People; Leave a Line of Retreat.
• Perfectionism: hold yourself to the highest standard you can imagine. See Tsuyoku Naritai; The Level Above Mine; Shut Up and Do the Impossible.
• Precision: quantify and use probability theory. See The Virtue of Narrowness, The Fallacy of Gray; The Simple Math of Everything; A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation; Probability is in the Mind; An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem.
• Scholarship: study many sciences and absorb their power as your own. See The Neglected Virtue of Scholarship; Scholarship: How to Do It Efficiently.
• The nameless virtue: perhaps you describe incorrectly the nameless virtue. How will you discover your mistake? Not by comparing your description to itself, but by comparing it to that which you did not name. See Lost Purposes; Something to Protect; Zen and the Art of Rationality.

Thinking and deciding are central to our daily lives. The Less Wrong community aims to gain expertise in how human brainshumans think and decide, so that we can do so more successfully. We use the latest insights from cognitive science, social psychology, probability theory, and decision theory to improve our understanding of how the world works and what we can do to achieve our goals.

Virtues of rationality

Some important aspects of rationality are described in the Twelve Virtues of Rationality:

• Curiosity: a burning itch to know. See The Meditation on Curiosity; Why truth?; Use Curiosity.
• Relinquishment: that which can be destroyed by the truth should be. See The Importance of Saying 'Oops'; Cached Thoughts; Just Lose Hope Already; Crisis of Faith.
• Lightness: let the winds of evidence blow you about, with no direction of your own. See Update Yourself Incrementally; Scientific Evidence, Legal Evidence, Rational Evidence.
• Evenness: do not seek to argue for one side or another, for if you knew your destination, you would already be there. See One Argument Against an Army; How Much Evidence Does It Take?; A Rational Argument; Avoiding Your Belief's Real Weak Points.
• Argument: seek a test that lets reality judge between you. See Argument Screens Off Authority; An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem.
• Empiricism: the roots of knowledge are in observation, and its fruit is prediction. See Making Beliefs Pay Rent; Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions; What is Evidence?; The Lens That Sees Its Flaws; A Priori; Where Recursive Justification Hits Bottom.
• Simplicity: the more steps in your argument, the more likely it is to contain a flaw. See Occam's Razor; Conjunction Fallacy.
• Humility: anticipate your own errors, for you are human. See The Proper Use of Humility; Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People; Leave a Line of Retreat.
• Perfectionism: hold yourself to the highest standard you can imagine. See Tsuyoku Naritai; The Level Above Mine; Shut Up and Do the Impossible.
• Precision: quantify and use probability theory. See The Virtue of Narrowness, The Fallacy of Gray; The Simple Math of Everything; A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation; Probability is in the Mind; An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem.
• Scholarship: study many sciences and absorb their power as your own. See The Neglected Virtue of Scholarship; Scholarship: How to Do It Efficiently.
• The nameless virtue: perhaps you describe incorrectly the nameless virtue. How will you discover your mistake? Not by comparing your description to itself, but by comparing it to that which you did not name. See Lost Purposes; Something to Protect; Zen and the Art of Rationality.

Eliezer describes someSome important aspects of the important parts of rationality are described in the Twelve Virtues of Rationality:

ManyEliezer describes some of us believethe important parts of rationality in the importance of developing qualities described in Twelve Virtues of Rationality:

Virtues of rationality

Many of us believe in the importance of developing qualities described in Twelve Virtues of Rationality:

• Curiosity: a burning itch to know. See The Meditation on Curiosity; Why truth?; Use Curiosity.
• Relinquishment: that which can be destroyed by the truth should be. See The Importance of Saying 'Oops'; Cached Thoughts; Just Lose Hope Already; Crisis of Faith.
• Lightness: let the winds of evidence blow you about, with no direction of your own. See Update Yourself Incrementally; Scientific Evidence, Legal Evidence, Rational Evidence.
• Evenness: do not seek to argue for one side or another, for if you knew your destination, you would already be there. See One Argument Against an Army; How Much Evidence Does It Take?; A Rational Argument; Avoiding Your Belief's Real Weak Points.
• Argument: seek a test that lets reality judge between you. See Argument Screens Off Authority; An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem.
• Empiricism: the roots of knowledge are in observation, and its fruit is prediction. See Making Beliefs Pay Rent; Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions; What is Evidence?; The Lens That Sees Its Flaws; A Priori; Where Recursive Justification Hits Bottom.
• Simplicity: the more steps in your argument, the more likely it is to contain a flaw. See Occam's Razor; Conjunction Fallacy.
• Humility: anticipate your own errors, for you are human. See The Proper Use of Humility; Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People; Leave a Line of Retreat.
• Perfectionism: hold yourself to the highest standard you can imagine. See Tsuyoku Naritai; The Level Above Mine; Shut Up and Do the Impossible.
• Precision: quantify and use probability theory. See The Virtue of Narrowness, The Fallacy of Gray; The Simple Math of Everything; A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation; Probability is in the Mind; An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem.
• Scholarship: study many sciences and absorb their power as your own. See The Neglected Virtue of Scholarship; Scholarship: How to Do It Efficiently.
• The nameless virtue: perhaps you describe incorrectly the nameless virtue. How will you discover your mistake? Not by comparing your description to itself, but by comparing it to that which you did not name. See Lost Purposes; Something to Protect; Zen and the Art of Rationality.

Virtues of rationality

Many of us believe in the importance of developing qualities described in Twelve Virtues of Rationality:

• Curiosity: a burning itch to know. See The Meditation on Curiosity; Why truth?; Use Curiosity.
• Relinquishment: that which can be destroyed by the truth should be. See The Importance of Saying 'Oops'; Cached Thoughts; Just Lose Hope Already; Crisis of Faith.
• Lightness: let the winds of evidence blow you about, with no direction of your own. See Update Yourself Incrementally; Scientific Evidence, Legal Evidence, Rational Evidence.
• Evenness: do not seek to argue for one side or another, for if you knew your destination, you would already be there. See One Argument Against an Army; How Much Evidence Does It Take?; A Rational Argument; Avoiding Your Belief's Real Weak Points.
• Argument: seek a test that lets reality judge between you. See Argument Screens Off Authority; An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem.
• Empiricism: the roots of knowledge are in observation, and its fruit is prediction. See Making Beliefs Pay Rent; Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions; What is Evidence?; The Lens That Sees Its Flaws; A Priori; Where Recursive Justification Hits Bottom.
• Simplicity: the more steps in your argument, the more likely it is to contain a flaw. See Occam's Razor; Conjunction Fallacy.
• Humility: anticipate your own errors, for you are human. See The Proper Use of Humility; Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People; Leave a Line of Retreat.
• Perfectionism: hold yourself to the highest standard you can imagine. See Tsuyoku Naritai; The Level Above Mine; Shut Up and Do the Impossible.
• Precision: quantify and use probability theory. See The Virtue of Narrowness, The Fallacy of Gray; The Simple Math of Everything; A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation; Probability is in the Mind; An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem.
• Scholarship: study many sciences and absorb their power as your own. See The Neglected Virtue of Scholarship; Scholarship: How to Do It Efficiently.
• The nameless virtue: perhaps you describe incorrectly the nameless virtue. How will you discover your mistake? Not by comparing your description to itself, but by comparing it to that which you did not name. See Lost Purposes; Something to Protect; Zen and the Art of Rationality.