Thanks for the compilation. This point was especially useful:

Before you stake your argument on a point, ask yourself in advance what you would say if that point were decisively refuted. If you wouldn't actually change your mind, search for a point that you find more convincing.

I think beginning rationalists should first look to make sure they're willing to change their mind on a subject, period.

I only wish that this post had been in a more visible place, so I could have found it before now. This seems like it will be very useful. Thank you for compiling.

I've been reading Less Wrong for about four months now and I haven't really made the effort to optimize my introspection levels. Alicorn's series and this post, plus some other outside influences, have placed doing that higher on my list of priorities. I'm not necessarily the average Less Wrong reader, however.

It seems like this is based more on the person's ability to optimize. The altruistic person who realized this flaw would then be able to (assuming s/he had the intelligence and rationality to do so) calculate the best possible wish to benefit the most number of people.

This is a little less than a year late, but oh well. I'm an almost-18 year old female who found LessWrong through HPMoR, which a friend of mine recommended to me (he is also interested in LessWrong and regularly reads the site). If you see this, I would love any advice you have to offer about "charting a good education, especially a good rationality education."