Why aren’t “rationalists” surrounded by a visible aura of formidability? Why aren’t they found at the top level of every elite selected on any basis that has anything to do with thought? Why do most “rationalists” just seem like ordinary people, perhaps of moderately above-average intelligence, with one more hobbyhorse to ride?
I’m relatively new to rationality, but I’ve been a nihilist for nearly a decade. Since I’ve started taking developing my own morality seriously, I’ve put about 3500 hours of work into developing and strengthening my ethical framework. Looking back at myself when nihilism was just a hobbyhorse, I wasn’t noticeably moral, and I certainly wasn’t happy. I was a guy who knew things, but the things I knew never got put into practice. 5 years later, I’m a completely different person than I was when I started. I’ve made a few discoveries, but not nearly enough to account for the radical shifts in my behavior. My behavior is different because I practice.
I know a few other nihilists. They post pictures of Nietzsche on Facebook, come up with clever arguments against religion, and have read “the Anti-Christ.” They aren’t more moral just because they subscribe to an ethos that requires them to develop their own morality, and from that evidence I can assume that rationalists won’t be more rational just because they subscribe to an ethos that demands the think more rationally. Changing your mind requires more than just reading smart things and agreeing with them. It requires practice.
In the spirit put up or shut up, I’m going to make a prediction. My prediction is that if we keep track of how often we use a rationalist technique in the real world, we will find that frequency of use correlates to the frequency at which we visualize and act out using that technique. Once we start quantifying frequency of use, we’ll be able to better understand how rationalism impacts our abilities to reach our goals. Until we differentiate between enthusiasts and practitioners, we might as well be tracking whether liking a clever article on Facebook correlates to success.
I’m relatively new to rationality, but I’ve been a nihilist for nearly a decade. Since I’ve started taking developing my own morality seriously, I’ve put about 3500 hours of work into developing and strengthening my ethical framework. Looking back at myself when nihilism was just a hobbyhorse, I wasn’t noticeably moral, and I certainly wasn’t happy. I was a guy who knew things, but the things I knew never got put into practice. 5 years later, I’m a completely different person than I was when I started. I’ve made a few discoveries, but not nearly enough to account for the radical shifts in my behavior. My behavior is different because I practice.
I know a few other nihilists. They post pictures of Nietzsche on Facebook, come up with clever arguments against religion, and have read “the Anti-Christ.” They aren’t more moral just because they subscribe to an ethos that requires them to develop their own morality, and from that evidence I can assume that rationalists won’t be more rational just because they subscribe to an ethos that demands the think more rationally. Changing your mind requires more than just reading smart things and agreeing with them. It requires practice.
In the spirit put up or shut up, I’m going to make a prediction. My prediction is that if we keep track of how often we use a rationalist technique in the real world, we will find that frequency of use correlates to the frequency at which we visualize and act out using that technique. Once we start quantifying frequency of use, we’ll be able to better understand how rationalism impacts our abilities to reach our goals. Until we differentiate between enthusiasts and practitioners, we might as well be tracking whether liking a clever article on Facebook correlates to success.