If you've never read the LessWrong Sequences (which I read through the book-length compilation Rationality: From AI To Zombies), I suggest that you read the Sequences as if they were written today. Additionally, if you're thinking of rereading the Sequences, I suggest that your agenda for rereading, in addition to what it may already be, should be to read the Sequences as if they were written today. To start, I'd like to take a moment to clarify what I mean. I don't mean "think about what you remember the Sequences talking about, and try to apply those concepts to current events." I don't even mean "read the Sequences and reflect on where the concepts are relevant to things that have happened since they were written." What I mean is that you should read the Sequences as if they were written today. You should imagine that, on January 1, 2025 (or whenever you happen to be reading this post), whatever post you're reading has just been released by some unknown 20-something-year-old alignment researcher, you saw it while scrolling down a bit on the front page of LessWrong, the title caught your eye, and you started reading it. Key advantages of this approach 1. It's easier to notice the contemporary applicability of the Sequences if you think of them as contemporary Many Sequences posts seem to be responding very directly to certain historical events within the rationalist community and Internet culture more broadly, at least if you approach them as a historical document. If you read them as if they were written today, however, they will seem instead to be responding very directly to certain current events within the rationalist community and Internet culture more broadly. Strictly speaking, I don't think either one of these understandings is accurate, especially given how heavily they were based on scholarly work from decades earlier (e.g. the work of Tversky and Kahneman) that was likely in the works for a long time before it was even published. However, it's na