Uhm. this is an rather weird way to describe how I think.. but, I feel like I’ve come full-circle. I’m automatically thinking of ways to optimize, automatically try to better understand the world about me. I’m reading LW articles and I sometimes think “yeah, I know about this”.. I no longer feel the “Aha! How did I not realize this seemingly obvious thing I should have thought of already that hurts me nerd always-be-right ego!” but rather, I read mid-post and just feel like I know this stuff already.
Naturally, I still am not 100% perfect, but I still think I’m on the right path.
I’ve been mostly a lurker and registered not long ago. Has anyone else gotten the same feel? This feeling isn’t really backed up by anything other than having a “I know this already” thought.
Yes. Oftentimes people who played lots of games will describe the feeling as “leveling up,” and it’s a normal and desirable part of growth. This quote is relevant: it’s important to not say “well, I’ve leveled up, no more growth necessary!”, but instead always be on the lookout for the way to get to the next level. But the path that got you from level n-1 to n and the path that gets you from level n to level n+1 may be very different, and the restlessness that comes with feeling like you know this stuff is useful for getting you to look elsewhere.
(I’m not saying that you’re “done with LW,” but I do think you’re “done with lurking” and I think that you’ve done the right thing by registering; it makes for different kinds of interaction, which leads to different kinds of learning.)
I don’t have a link, but something like this was already mentioned on LW… when you have already mastered some kind of thinking, it seems “obvious”, even if it seemed original and awesome when you were reading it for the first time.
Although, this only proves that you have become more familiar with LW style of thinking. It does not automatically follow that “LW style of thinking” is “rationality”. (Although I personally believe it is related.)
Well, that’s a nice thing to point out. Was there any research to how many lives were effectively changed by LW?
Also, have anyone else got the feeling that there’s some sort of innate rationality? It’s the same thing as the awesome flare you feel when the seemingly obvious things are pointed out. I probably wouldn’t be thinking like this if it wasn’t for anything LW-esque. (Maybe LW has something unique going for it?) Maybe it’s something unique for me—but sometimes I feel certain things inside me were either locked or repressed, or in the case of actions, misguided.
I haven’t “come full-circle”, but I’ve had a similar experience. I haven’t read all of LessWrong Sequences, maybe not even half. Some old friends of mine got me into the meetup at a time when I was studying microeconomics, and started majoring in cognitive science. So, I was enthralled by discussion, and went around the Internet and life learning about related topics. Occasionally, I read Sequences essays I haven’t read before, and I realize I get the gist halfway through reading it.
That’s my “yeah, I know about this...”. It works for me epistemically. It might have helped that I tried to rationalize the existence of the Christian God as a child, up to the point of deism not specific to any religion, and finally to virtual atheism. I found by the time I encountered arguments for or against the existence of God in theology or philosophy in university, I wasn’t phased by any of them because I’d generated all of them on my own before. That’s another “yeah, I know about this” set of experiences, rather than a series of “Aha!’s” I expected. These mental exercises may have prepared me for future thinking on LessWrong.
Sometimes I’m not as curious as I used to be, and I don’t often automatically think of ways to optimize. Instrumentally, I don’t believe I’m “on the right path” for fulfilling my own goals. However, that is confounded by other factors of my own life I’m not willing to discuss publicly. So, I’m unsure how instrumentally rational I may or may not be.
Uhm. this is an rather weird way to describe how I think.. but, I feel like I’ve come full-circle. I’m automatically thinking of ways to optimize, automatically try to better understand the world about me. I’m reading LW articles and I sometimes think “yeah, I know about this”.. I no longer feel the “Aha! How did I not realize this seemingly obvious thing I should have thought of already that hurts me nerd always-be-right ego!” but rather, I read mid-post and just feel like I know this stuff already.
Naturally, I still am not 100% perfect, but I still think I’m on the right path. I’ve been mostly a lurker and registered not long ago. Has anyone else gotten the same feel? This feeling isn’t really backed up by anything other than having a “I know this already” thought.
Yes. Oftentimes people who played lots of games will describe the feeling as “leveling up,” and it’s a normal and desirable part of growth. This quote is relevant: it’s important to not say “well, I’ve leveled up, no more growth necessary!”, but instead always be on the lookout for the way to get to the next level. But the path that got you from level n-1 to n and the path that gets you from level n to level n+1 may be very different, and the restlessness that comes with feeling like you know this stuff is useful for getting you to look elsewhere.
(I’m not saying that you’re “done with LW,” but I do think you’re “done with lurking” and I think that you’ve done the right thing by registering; it makes for different kinds of interaction, which leads to different kinds of learning.)
I don’t have a link, but something like this was already mentioned on LW… when you have already mastered some kind of thinking, it seems “obvious”, even if it seemed original and awesome when you were reading it for the first time.
Although, this only proves that you have become more familiar with LW style of thinking. It does not automatically follow that “LW style of thinking” is “rationality”. (Although I personally believe it is related.)
Well, that’s a nice thing to point out. Was there any research to how many lives were effectively changed by LW?
Also, have anyone else got the feeling that there’s some sort of innate rationality? It’s the same thing as the awesome flare you feel when the seemingly obvious things are pointed out. I probably wouldn’t be thinking like this if it wasn’t for anything LW-esque. (Maybe LW has something unique going for it?) Maybe it’s something unique for me—but sometimes I feel certain things inside me were either locked or repressed, or in the case of actions, misguided.
No, only anecdotal evidence.
I haven’t “come full-circle”, but I’ve had a similar experience. I haven’t read all of LessWrong Sequences, maybe not even half. Some old friends of mine got me into the meetup at a time when I was studying microeconomics, and started majoring in cognitive science. So, I was enthralled by discussion, and went around the Internet and life learning about related topics. Occasionally, I read Sequences essays I haven’t read before, and I realize I get the gist halfway through reading it.
That’s my “yeah, I know about this...”. It works for me epistemically. It might have helped that I tried to rationalize the existence of the Christian God as a child, up to the point of deism not specific to any religion, and finally to virtual atheism. I found by the time I encountered arguments for or against the existence of God in theology or philosophy in university, I wasn’t phased by any of them because I’d generated all of them on my own before. That’s another “yeah, I know about this” set of experiences, rather than a series of “Aha!’s” I expected. These mental exercises may have prepared me for future thinking on LessWrong.
Sometimes I’m not as curious as I used to be, and I don’t often automatically think of ways to optimize. Instrumentally, I don’t believe I’m “on the right path” for fulfilling my own goals. However, that is confounded by other factors of my own life I’m not willing to discuss publicly. So, I’m unsure how instrumentally rational I may or may not be.