Wow this was a lot harder than I expected. I thought about my favorite technique for a solid fifteen minutes before deciding on this. Mostly because I realized that I don’t have explicit techniques that I usually use. I definitely use certain things like Immunity to Change Mapping, the Ideological Turing Test, and Neutral Hours. However I think (78%) the majority of the benefit I’ve gained from rationality lies in a single hammer, or the ability to update from evidence and think about the best option in a scenario. This mostly happens on the 5-second level although I will quite frequently (multiple times a day) stop to viscerally update my priors.
A rather unsettling realization to find that most of my success in making more rational decisions stems from this one place. I’m not sure whether to be distraught or happy. On one hand this could be an indication that I’m very poorly diversified in my skills, or don’t have enough of them on the reflex level yet. On the other hand this could indicate the value of an approach like A Thousand Heads in a Row suggests; optimizing many small decisions such that they chain together to form systematic and repeatable progress.
The list below is there for the sake of completeness and in hopes that it encourages other people to try the exercise.
Technique: Bayesian Expected Value Calculation
1.) Combining with Murphyjutsu to determine the leverage points on any plans I make
2.) Sifting through a class syllabus and schedule to determine the best use of my time towards the desired grade
3.) Realizing that my urge to read something else and not do the exercise was a policy statement about what I expected myself to do in the future. Doing the exercise makes me more likely to do other exercises in the future and embrace the singularity mindset.
4.) Trying new foods, or suppliments in response to the value of information
5.) I should get a flu shot
6.) Trying to determine the best way to lead a conversation or extract information from someone
7.) Realizing I might need diversified thinking skills
8.) Realizing I should explictly model my rationality techniques
9.) Checking the value and cost of my current action vs my ideal action at regular intervals.
10.) Realizing there is probably a good chance this technique can be upgraded by some means
Wow this was a lot harder than I expected. I thought about my favorite technique for a solid fifteen minutes before deciding on this. Mostly because I realized that I don’t have explicit techniques that I usually use. I definitely use certain things like Immunity to Change Mapping, the Ideological Turing Test, and Neutral Hours. However I think (78%) the majority of the benefit I’ve gained from rationality lies in a single hammer, or the ability to update from evidence and think about the best option in a scenario. This mostly happens on the 5-second level although I will quite frequently (multiple times a day) stop to viscerally update my priors.
A rather unsettling realization to find that most of my success in making more rational decisions stems from this one place. I’m not sure whether to be distraught or happy. On one hand this could be an indication that I’m very poorly diversified in my skills, or don’t have enough of them on the reflex level yet. On the other hand this could indicate the value of an approach like A Thousand Heads in a Row suggests; optimizing many small decisions such that they chain together to form systematic and repeatable progress.
The list below is there for the sake of completeness and in hopes that it encourages other people to try the exercise.
Technique: Bayesian Expected Value Calculation
1.) Combining with Murphyjutsu to determine the leverage points on any plans I make
2.) Sifting through a class syllabus and schedule to determine the best use of my time towards the desired grade
3.) Realizing that my urge to read something else and not do the exercise was a policy statement about what I expected myself to do in the future. Doing the exercise makes me more likely to do other exercises in the future and embrace the singularity mindset.
4.) Trying new foods, or suppliments in response to the value of information
5.) I should get a flu shot
6.) Trying to determine the best way to lead a conversation or extract information from someone
7.) Realizing I might need diversified thinking skills
8.) Realizing I should explictly model my rationality techniques
9.) Checking the value and cost of my current action vs my ideal action at regular intervals.
10.) Realizing there is probably a good chance this technique can be upgraded by some means
You are my hero. I gave up on my own exercise after 2 examples.
+1 for actually doing the exercise!