Dabor
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Dabor has not written any posts yet.
I've been going to the gym more or less consistently (barring illness and Hurricane Sandy) the past year and a half, and it's never been an explicit goal. At the start, it was just "something that I should really start doing", and since then it's just been "something that I do." I've been gradually learning a third language with much the same mindset in much the same time frame.
While I'm satisfied with my progress on either front, it feels anti-climatic, and I don't strongly view myself as a person who "sets goals and successfully pursues them."
I tend to be effective at precommitting to small but willpower-demanding tasks, and despite tending to add... (read more)
Given that you want to improve your rationality to begin with, though, is believing that your moral worth depends on it really beneficial?
I'm not sure if you're asking my moral worth of myself or others, so I'll answer both.
If you're referring to my moral worth of myself, I'm assuming that the problem would be that, as I learn about biases, I would consider myself less of an agent, so I wouldn't be motivated to discover my mistakes. You'll have to take my word for it that I pat myself on the back whenever I discover an error in thinking and mark it down, but other than that, I don't have an issue... (read more)
In that sense, I don't know if modelling different people differently is, for me, a morally a right or a wrong thing to do. However, I spoke to someone whose default is not to assign people moral value, unless he models them as agents. I can see this being problematic, since it's a high standard.
From the main post.
I was quoting. It would be more accurate to say that "Would this be done exclusively by idiots?", what with reversed stupidity. Alternatively, if the answer to the default version is yes, that just suggests that you require further consideration. Either way, it's pretty tautological "Would only smart people do this? If not, am I doing it for a smart reason?" but having an extra layer of flags for thinking doesn't hurt.
I've gone through a change much like this over the past couple of years, although not with explicit effort. I would tend to get easily annoyed by crossing inconsequential stupidity or spite somewhere on the internet (not directed at me), and then proceed to be disappointed in myself for having something like that hang on my thoughts for a few hours.
Switching to a model in which I'm responsible for my own reaction to other people does a wonder for self control and saves some needless frustration.
I can only think of one person (that I know personally) whom I treat as possessing as much agency as I expect of myself, and that... (read more)
If you're taking suggestions for corrections, I'd like to make one.
Your definition of... (read more)