If you feel like writing about it, I’d like to hear how exactly LW influenced your life.
Hm, maybe I will. : ) It definitely feels like it’s been a tremendously good influence on me, even if it might be more challenging to find hard evidence to support that feeling (and we know how important that is). At the very least, I feel that I’ve learned so much about advanced reasoning skills and about biases and pitfalls that can get in your way if you don’t take them into account.
I’d say the Human’s Guide to Words is a great example of a sequence that’s helped me think in ways that are less likely to be baffled by or misinterpret complicated situations. The notion that a label has no intrinsic importance, and that its applicability is completely irrelevant and uninteresting if you already know all the features that would be implied by your possible usage of that label, sure saves you a lot of trouble when it comes to defining your identity and dealing (or not bothering to deal) with people who are going to insist that you are or are not an X.
Hm, maybe I will. : )
It definitely feels like it’s been a tremendously good influence on me, even if it might be more challenging to find hard evidence to support that feeling (and we know how important that is). At the very least, I feel that I’ve learned so much about advanced reasoning skills and about biases and pitfalls that can get in your way if you don’t take them into account.
I’d say the Human’s Guide to Words is a great example of a sequence that’s helped me think in ways that are less likely to be baffled by or misinterpret complicated situations. The notion that a label has no intrinsic importance, and that its applicability is completely irrelevant and uninteresting if you already know all the features that would be implied by your possible usage of that label, sure saves you a lot of trouble when it comes to defining your identity and dealing (or not bothering to deal) with people who are going to insist that you are or are not an X.
I heartily agree. This xkcd sums it up really nicely I think.