This post is to raise a question about the demographics of rationality: Is rationality something that can appeal to low-IQ people as well?
This question is best answered if you look from the other direction: do people 10-15 IQ points higher than you benefit more from “rationality” than you do?
Yes they do (Scott H. Young is way smarter than me and he has developed a method of soaking up really complicated ideas in a matter of weeks or days).
I don’t think this is a useful question though, there is no reason to think that the gains in ability to utilize LW-style rationality are linear. I think its more likely that there is some threshold level of intelligence that is needed to make use of the techniques then the gains get smaller. Other skills are similar—calculus, basketball (where the property is height rather than intelligence), physics etc.
This question is best answered if you look from the other direction: do people 10-15 IQ points higher than you benefit more from “rationality” than you do?
Yes they do (Scott H. Young is way smarter than me and he has developed a method of soaking up really complicated ideas in a matter of weeks or days).
I don’t think this is a useful question though, there is no reason to think that the gains in ability to utilize LW-style rationality are linear. I think its more likely that there is some threshold level of intelligence that is needed to make use of the techniques then the gains get smaller. Other skills are similar—calculus, basketball (where the property is height rather than intelligence), physics etc.