Since becoming a rationalist, I’ve become (on average) happier, more adventurous, more tolerant of other people, more comfortable in a variety of situations, more motivated, more intentional, more understanding, less moody, less nihilistic, less contentious, and lots of other fun things. (Feel free to ask for evidence for these claims, I just didn’t want to write all of that out now and make this reply even longer.)
I think the main ideas that the rest of that sort of latches onto are:
Since becoming a rationalist, I’ve become (on average) happier, more adventurous, more tolerant of other people, more comfortable in a variety of situations, more motivated, more intentional, more understanding, less moody, less nihilistic, less contentious, and lots of other fun things. (Feel free to ask for evidence for these claims, I just didn’t want to write all of that out now and make this reply even longer.)
I think the main ideas that the rest of that sort of latches onto are:
Don’t be afraid of the truth, and don’t look for answers that confirm what you think
You need to understand how things work in order to accomplish youg goals
The universe is allowed to be terrible by human standards
And the more specific useful details that actually had changes in my life are:
You’re allowed to do things to accomplish your goals other than your cached thoughts
Other people are different than me, and I should think from their perspective rather than extrapolating from myself
Working in groups is really, really helpful for accomplishing things
How to dissolve the question
Take other people’s advice
Hold off on proposing solutions
Don’t listen to Bruce
It was addressed earlier here.
I’m fine with talking about it again, because a lot of that thread focused on Xixidu, and I’m all up for hearing more upbeat responses