I was literally asking about what in particular makes this topic so important as to qualify it as “something that is more important than—in my estimate − 99% of what your or I have ever read” (and doubting that anything could).
You gave only a meta-reply, saying that if anything important was involved and I chose to ignore it, my strategy would not be a good one. But I don’t know that it’s important, and it’s a relevant fact to consider when selecting a strategy. It’s decision making under uncertainty. Mine is a good strategy a priori: 99 times out of 100 when in fact info is dross, I make room the the sure shots.
I was literally asking about what in particular makes this topic so important as to qualify it as “something that is more important than—in my estimate − 99% of what your or I have ever read” (and doubting that anything could). You gave only a meta-reply
Well, it seems to me that the most important knowledge a person can be given is knowledge that will improve their overall productivity and improve the efficiency with which they achieve their goals. This piece (by Kaj) claims to have found a possible mechanism which prevents humans from applying self-help techniques in general. This knowledge is effectively a universal goal-attainment improver.
What were the 100 last pieces of text you read? Some technical documents about static program analysis, some other LW posts, maybe some news or wikipedia articles, etc. It seems to me that none of these would come close to the increased utility that this piece could offer you—if it is correct.
The info I have gives me good confidence in the belief that studying PCT won’t help me with procrastination (as I mentioned, it was out there for a lot of time without drastically visible applications of this sort, plus I skimmed some highly-cited papers via google scholar, but I can’t be confident in what I read because I didn’t grasp the outline of the field given how little I looked). The things I study and think about these days are good math, tools for better understanding of artificial intelligence. Not terribly good chances for making useful progress, but not woo either (unlike, say, a year ago, much worse two years ago).
I was literally asking about what in particular makes this topic so important as to qualify it as “something that is more important than—in my estimate − 99% of what your or I have ever read” (and doubting that anything could).
You gave only a meta-reply, saying that if anything important was involved and I chose to ignore it, my strategy would not be a good one. But I don’t know that it’s important, and it’s a relevant fact to consider when selecting a strategy. It’s decision making under uncertainty. Mine is a good strategy a priori: 99 times out of 100 when in fact info is dross, I make room the the sure shots.
Well, it seems to me that the most important knowledge a person can be given is knowledge that will improve their overall productivity and improve the efficiency with which they achieve their goals. This piece (by Kaj) claims to have found a possible mechanism which prevents humans from applying self-help techniques in general. This knowledge is effectively a universal goal-attainment improver.
What were the 100 last pieces of text you read? Some technical documents about static program analysis, some other LW posts, maybe some news or wikipedia articles, etc. It seems to me that none of these would come close to the increased utility that this piece could offer you—if it is correct.
The info I have gives me good confidence in the belief that studying PCT won’t help me with procrastination (as I mentioned, it was out there for a lot of time without drastically visible applications of this sort, plus I skimmed some highly-cited papers via google scholar, but I can’t be confident in what I read because I didn’t grasp the outline of the field given how little I looked). The things I study and think about these days are good math, tools for better understanding of artificial intelligence. Not terribly good chances for making useful progress, but not woo either (unlike, say, a year ago, much worse two years ago).