On uncertainty, yes, LessWrong has made me more explicitly uncertain. But I feel like I’ve learned quite a bit about turning unmasking “unknown” unknowns as known unknowns, about quantifying my uncertainty. I began reading regularly shortly after my confidence took a dive, and the reason it took a dive was due to the effects of misplaced confidence, mistaken beliefs. It’s starting to climb again, and my restoration of confidence comes largely from recognizing the thought processes that brought me down to begin with.
Think of some common failure modes. Think of some that would undermine a person’s confidence. Think of what wrong thought processes lead to them. If you had never read LW, could you see yourself falling into any such traps? Are the odds that you’d make those errors of thought really unchanged after reading a dozen LW posts?
ETA: I had the same deal with the insects in the grass at that age! I tried to walk around grassy areas, and eventually gave up. But I connected the knowledge of how soft dirt is, and how tough exoskeletons are, and felt much better. I felt pretty terrible though when I had to start mowing the lawn.
On uncertainty, yes, LessWrong has made me more explicitly uncertain. But I feel like I’ve learned quite a bit about turning unmasking “unknown” unknowns as known unknowns, about quantifying my uncertainty. I began reading regularly shortly after my confidence took a dive, and the reason it took a dive was due to the effects of misplaced confidence, mistaken beliefs. It’s starting to climb again, and my restoration of confidence comes largely from recognizing the thought processes that brought me down to begin with.
Think of some common failure modes. Think of some that would undermine a person’s confidence. Think of what wrong thought processes lead to them. If you had never read LW, could you see yourself falling into any such traps? Are the odds that you’d make those errors of thought really unchanged after reading a dozen LW posts?
ETA: I had the same deal with the insects in the grass at that age! I tried to walk around grassy areas, and eventually gave up. But I connected the knowledge of how soft dirt is, and how tough exoskeletons are, and felt much better. I felt pretty terrible though when I had to start mowing the lawn.