As I understand it, Lent is a holiday where we celebrate the scientific method by changing exactly one variable in our lives for 40 days. This seems like a convenient Schelling point for rationalists to adopt, so:
What variable are you going to change for the next 40 days?
(I am really annoyed I didn't think of this yesterday.)
I'm not changing anything for the next 40 days, but I did change one variable about 50 days ago: I stopped reading political news altogether. The experiment, so far, is clearly a success, so I'm going to keep it that way.
Yes, I was a bit imprecise with "political". A better wording would be "I stopped consuming any newslike content except technical, professional and scientific news". So basically I excluded the entire remaining part of the spectrum. Sure, I occasionally get exposed to some political US-related content via tech news outlets, but these bits aren't nearly as toxic as Russian news, at least to me.
BTW, about 3 months before the above experiment I tried a complete disconnection from all dopamine loops I had in my life at that moment (i.e. all games, all social networks, all TV, all news, Reddit -- but not books). As I expected based on my previous off-the-grid vacations, I got an immediate, huge, steady productivity boost that lasted about 40 days, but I was pretty exhausted afterwards, so my current disconnection is not as extreme -- this time I allow myself some technical news and some gaming.
I am not interested in adopting steel-manned Christianity one tradition at a time, though it does provide many convenient rationalist Schelling points. If I need rationalist communion, confession, abstinence, washing of feet, blessing of throats, or Paschal celebration, I will take them up as they appear useful, and not because the church calender makes them salient. That might sound like reverse stupidity. It is. I am intentionally suppressing hypotheses which have been brought to my attention for the wrong reasons.
The line about Lent being scientific is cute, but really Lent is, to observing Christians, a time to practice penance, cleansing, and devotion. Which means that Lent and analogous ceremonies in other religions (Ramadan, Yom Kippur) provide data on the folk psychology of obedience and cleanliness! Let's explore.
The primary evolutionary purpose of disgust is in response to foods and scents which should be avoided because they could cause microbial contamination of one's body. Disgust drives us to avoid elicitors of disgust, such as dirt, wounds, corpses, bodily fluids and discharges (blood, feces, vomit, semen, puss, urine), unprepared foods, certain animals associated wi...
If I need rationalist communion, confession, abstinence, washing of feet, blessing of throats, or Paschal celebration, I will take them up as they appear useful, and not because the church calender makes them salient. That might sound like reverse stupidity. It is. I am intentionally suppressing hypotheses which have been brought to my attention for the wrong reasons.
This seems mildly uncharitable. It's not obvious that traditions that have lasted for a long time are hypotheses that have been brought to your attention for the wrong reasons. At least some of them are probably worth Chesterton's-fencing, although the rest of your comment does that to some extent and is quite informative; thanks!
As I understand it, Lent is a holiday where we celebrate the scientific method by changing exactly one variable in our lives for 40 days.
As I understand it, the other main point is to focus on giving up one thing that may be acting as a superstimulus, the restricting it to 40 days is a great way to make it easier to temporarily quit.
Very well. I will give up my most time consuming occupation. I will give up LessWrong. It takes up about an hour of surfing per day.
I will still work through the ePub of the sequences. And who knows, when I get back, EY might've finally posted another part of the latest sequence! (that whole 'three times per week' hasn't exactly worked out...)
I intend to do a caffeine cut soon because I've reached an insane tolerance rate. I may also cut chocolate and/or sugary foods in general, but am unsure such a life would be worth living.
I may also cut chocolate and/or sugary foods in general, but am unsure such a life would be worth living.
The sources I've been reading suggest that milk chocolate is the devil but 90% dark chocolate might be okay.
I have a candidate and it might be an odd one. I think I'll give up watching the Daily Show for 40 days. I've been watching it for almost its entire existence (before Jon Stewart was the host) and take a certain hipster pride in the fact that I watched the show before it became the widely known, popular thing it is now. But for awhile now, I haven't derived that much enjoyment from actually watching it. Some interviews, an occasional chuckle here and there, but mostly I find myself annoyed at how lazy the writing has become and Stewart's increasing tendency to stretch out bits well past their actual punchline.
But it's been such an ingrained habit for so long and it feels like compromising part of my identity, albeit a small, insignificant part of it. So, for the next 40 days, I won't watch the Daily Show.
Not the Colbert Report though, that show is genius.
This is likely to be a poorly-controlled experiment, isn't it? For instance, my quality of life changes greatly based on sleep quality, which lately is controlled by work schedules, seasonal allergen exposure, and whether or not my baby is teething, none of which I can greatly effect and any of which could overwhelm any experimental variable.
But what the heck:
I was only contemplating this before, but it seems like a good idea and perhaps posting here will make it "official" in my head: I'm going to be a teetotaler for the next 40 days. I've nev...
I'll start: I'm going to give up rice. I eat a lot of rice by default. I've wanted to try cutting out "bad carbs" for awhile, but this has been the main sticking point, so it's got to go.
I was thinking of making February "catch up with people I've been meaning to catch up with" month. But I kept putting it off and failed to think of a catchier name.
So instead I decided to give up procrastinating about social initiation for Lent.
So far it is working well: I'm learning about how difficult it is to schedule things with adults (which more interesting than intimidating upon reflection) and also learning that rejection does hurt a whole bunch but that I am more resilient in the face of it than I suspected.
I'm making the same sacrifice I did during Advent: going to bed by 1am
...The thing I really like about late hours is the flexibility of them. As long as I’m awake and alert feeling, there’s always more time to get things done. It doesn't necessarily take a toll on my life (thankfully, I seem to need less sleep than average), but it’s not great having that time in the open-ended evening instead of the morning.
I like whatever superpowers accrue to me, but enjoying a strength is different than denying a limit. So I’d rather shift my waking time to the morn
This is a great idea!
I'm going to quit LW and doing things other than work at work. I know that's two variables, and therefor more likely to fail, but they can be separate commitments.
See you April 1st. Kick my ass if I'm back before then.
I grew up in a relaxed Christian family, so Lent was kind of always like this for me. Well, more of a challenge than a controlled experiment. I gave up sugar (within reasonable boundaries) last year. My blog post announcing it if you're looking for the details. I was successful, and it was surprising how many products are actually quite sweet.
I kind of forgot, this year, or perhaps I just have so many other changes I'm trying to make that it felt overwhelming to try to do something else too.
How about giving up magical thinking? I don't know if it would be possible though as it seems to creep in at the margins.
I was thinking of making February "catch up with people I've been meaning to catch up with" month. But I kept putting it off and failed to think of a catchier name.
So instead I decided to give up procrastinating about social initiation for Lent.
So far it is working well: I'm learning about how difficult it is to schedule things with adults (which more interesting than intimidating upon reflection) and also learning that rejection does hurt a whole bunch but that I am more resilient in the face of it than I suspected.
That would've been a good proposal for Rationalist Valentine's Day!