In that case, I’m afraid your goals and the goals of many people here may simply be different. The common definition of rationality here is “systematic winning”. However, this definition is very fuzzy because winning is goal dependent. Whether you are “winning” is dependent on what your goals and values are.
Can’t speak for anyone else, but the reason why I am here is because I like polite but vigorous discussion. Its nice to be able to discuss topics with people on the internet in a way that does not drive me crazy. People here are usually open to new ideas, respectful, yet also uncompromising in the force of their arguments. Such an environment is much more helpful to me in learning about the world than the adversarial nature of most forum discussions. My goal in reading LessWrong is mostly finding likeminded people who I can talk to, share ideas with, learn form and disagree with, all without any bad feelings. That is a rare thing.
If your goal is achieving material success there are certainly very general tools and skills you can learn like getting over procrastination, managing your emotional state, or changing your value system to achieve your goals. CFAR is probably a better resource than Lesswrong for learning about these tools (but I’ve never actually been to a workshop). However, there is no general way to achieve success that is specific enough to be useful to one person’s goals. No one resource can possibly provide that. There are heuristics like “Find someone who is as successful as you would like to be and is willing to help you on your path; if necessary harass them enough so that they help you”. Which I would advocate for medicine or “Find someone who is both very high status and willing to help lesser beings and get them to be your mentor” which I would tentatively advocate for graduate school (my sample size is small though). But I don’t know of a general path.
In that case, I’m afraid your goals and the goals of many people here may simply be different. The common definition of rationality here is “systematic winning”. However, this definition is very fuzzy because winning is goal dependent. Whether you are “winning” is dependent on what your goals and values are.
Can’t speak for anyone else, but the reason why I am here is because I like polite but vigorous discussion. Its nice to be able to discuss topics with people on the internet in a way that does not drive me crazy. People here are usually open to new ideas, respectful, yet also uncompromising in the force of their arguments. Such an environment is much more helpful to me in learning about the world than the adversarial nature of most forum discussions. My goal in reading LessWrong is mostly finding likeminded people who I can talk to, share ideas with, learn form and disagree with, all without any bad feelings. That is a rare thing.
If your goal is achieving material success there are certainly very general tools and skills you can learn like getting over procrastination, managing your emotional state, or changing your value system to achieve your goals. CFAR is probably a better resource than Lesswrong for learning about these tools (but I’ve never actually been to a workshop). However, there is no general way to achieve success that is specific enough to be useful to one person’s goals. No one resource can possibly provide that. There are heuristics like “Find someone who is as successful as you would like to be and is willing to help you on your path; if necessary harass them enough so that they help you”. Which I would advocate for medicine or “Find someone who is both very high status and willing to help lesser beings and get them to be your mentor” which I would tentatively advocate for graduate school (my sample size is small though). But I don’t know of a general path.