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It seems to me that the Hamming problem for developing a formidable art of rationality is, what to do about problems that systematically fight being solved. And in particular, how to handle bad reasoning that resists being corrected. I propose that each such stubborn problem is nearly always, in practice,...
I'll explain my reasoning in a second, but I'll start with the conclusion: I think it'd be healthy and good to pause and seriously reconsider the focus on doom if we get to 2028 and the situation feels basically like it does today. I don't know how to really precisely...
Epistemic status: model-building based on observation, with a few successful unusual predictions. Anecdotal evidence has so far been consistent with the model. This puts it at risk of seeming more compelling than the evidence justifies just yet. Caveat emptor. Imagine you're a very young child. Around, say, three years old....
I thought the linked article ("…Teach a Man to Revolt: Dreams of a Dark Bill of Rights" by Kulak) was a fun and clarifying read. It explained some things about both Islamic political dynamics and the American Constitution that I hadn't fully appreciated before. It occurred to me that some...
Epistemic status: Speculation. An unholy union of evo psych, introspection, random stuff I happen to observe & hear about, and thinking. Done on a highly charged topic. Caveat emptor! Most of my life, whenever I'd felt sexually unwanted, I'd start planning to get fit. Specifically to shape my body so...
I notice my mind runs lots of cached programs. Like "walk", "put away the dishes", "drive home", "go to the bathroom", "check phone", etc. Most of these can run "on autopilot". I don't know how to define that formally. But I'm talking about how, e.g., I can start driving and...
I see a self-reference problem with reductionism. I wonder if this has already been solved. So I'm asking. Best as I can tell, there aren't actually things in reality. That's a human interpretation. It collapses upon almost any inspection, like the Ship of Theseus or the paradox of the heap....