I think the benefit I’ve reaped by reading OB and LW over the years considrably outweighs any benefit I could have achieved by a measly 1 point increase in IQ without encountering LW/OB. And there are plenty of people who talk about OB/LW in life-changing ways that go far beyond the benefits I feel I’ve experienced. I’m surprised that nobody else seems to have argued that 1 IQ point is far too low.
I have a hard time saying I would sacrifice more, but I think on rational grounds, in terms of the probability of various practical benefits, the true value of something like LW/OB has to be significantly greater than 1 IQ point. I’d guess at least half a SD, assuming one has sufficient intelligence to be able to benefit from the community in the first place. I think my reticence to say that I would sacrifice that much or more to prevent myself from having never actually found LW/OB is mostly irrational, involving self-serving bias and others. I overestimate how much I would have learned anyway and from different sources, because some I already knew, and because other things seemed like especially lucid presentations of things I’ve always believed but not been able to fully articulate. But when I try to think about i critically, I have to admit that OB/LW—in particular, the writings of Eliezer—have probably been the largest intellectual influence of my life, which has been filled with intellectual influences.
I think the benefit I’ve reaped by reading OB and LW over the years considrably outweighs any benefit I could have achieved by a measly 1 point increase in IQ without encountering LW/OB. And there are plenty of people who talk about OB/LW in life-changing ways that go far beyond the benefits I feel I’ve experienced. I’m surprised that nobody else seems to have argued that 1 IQ point is far too low.
I have a hard time saying I would sacrifice more, but I think on rational grounds, in terms of the probability of various practical benefits, the true value of something like LW/OB has to be significantly greater than 1 IQ point. I’d guess at least half a SD, assuming one has sufficient intelligence to be able to benefit from the community in the first place. I think my reticence to say that I would sacrifice that much or more to prevent myself from having never actually found LW/OB is mostly irrational, involving self-serving bias and others. I overestimate how much I would have learned anyway and from different sources, because some I already knew, and because other things seemed like especially lucid presentations of things I’ve always believed but not been able to fully articulate. But when I try to think about i critically, I have to admit that OB/LW—in particular, the writings of Eliezer—have probably been the largest intellectual influence of my life, which has been filled with intellectual influences.