I have a Ph.D. in physics, and, needless to say, during the long and painful process of achieving it, I’ve definitely become more rational (in the broader sense) and a clearer thinker. My achievements may sound very basics to LW people, but you can consider them like the foundations of rationality, I guess.
Calculus and Algebra taught me how to clearly apply the hypothesis->proof->thesis process. It might look a not so great achievement, but it is indeed, since it reflects in how I treat everyday issues (it’s like the first step toward rationality in some sense)
Programming courses taught me to break down complex processes in simpler atomic steps.
Lab courses have taught me how to treat the data. Again this skill has been since then applied on a day by day basis
General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics taught me that reality in not what it intuitively appears to be. This is a very important teaching: don’t always trust your intuition, even if you really feel that you’re right.
Doing research activity, finally, taught me to calibrate my judgement (I used to be more often wrong than I expected), collect and elaborate data by myself and that apparently all the referees of Physical Review love to nitpick.
I have a Ph.D. in physics, and, needless to say, during the long and painful process of achieving it, I’ve definitely become more rational (in the broader sense) and a clearer thinker. My achievements may sound very basics to LW people, but you can consider them like the foundations of rationality, I guess.
Calculus and Algebra taught me how to clearly apply the hypothesis->proof->thesis process. It might look a not so great achievement, but it is indeed, since it reflects in how I treat everyday issues (it’s like the first step toward rationality in some sense)
Programming courses taught me to break down complex processes in simpler atomic steps.
Lab courses have taught me how to treat the data. Again this skill has been since then applied on a day by day basis
General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics taught me that reality in not what it intuitively appears to be. This is a very important teaching: don’t always trust your intuition, even if you really feel that you’re right.
Doing research activity, finally, taught me to calibrate my judgement (I used to be more often wrong than I expected), collect and elaborate data by myself and that apparently all the referees of Physical Review love to nitpick.