Rationality has, in fact, harmed me more than it has helped.
This framing causes me to wonder whether I experience similar effects but attribute them to causes other than Rationality itself. Would you be willing/able to share some examples of harms you expect that you would not have experienced if you hadn’t undertaken this study of correct thought?
To put it as simply as possible, I think that indoctrinating yourself in rationality pushes you further away from the average person, which makes it more difficult to relate emotionally to them.
The vast majority of my major problems stem from my difficulty connecting to other people. Therefore even though I’m really interested in Rationality, and I’ve enjoyed studying it, I think it’s done me net harm.
This won’t be the case for everyone, but I think that many people would be better served spending their time doing something else if their goal is to improve their emotional well-being.
Thank you for explaining. What I hear in this is that rationality also works like an esoteric hobby, and for people who want more friendships built on commonalities, adding an uncommon use of time is counterproductive.
I think I don’t experience the same negative effects because my “it’s good to interact cooperatively with people different from oneself” needs are met instead by some location-based volunteering hobbies. I live in an area with low enough population density that “vaguely competent and willing to show up and do stuff” buys one a lot of goodwill and quality time with others, which is a whole other social hack of its own :)
This framing causes me to wonder whether I experience similar effects but attribute them to causes other than Rationality itself. Would you be willing/able to share some examples of harms you expect that you would not have experienced if you hadn’t undertaken this study of correct thought?
To put it as simply as possible, I think that indoctrinating yourself in rationality pushes you further away from the average person, which makes it more difficult to relate emotionally to them.
The vast majority of my major problems stem from my difficulty connecting to other people. Therefore even though I’m really interested in Rationality, and I’ve enjoyed studying it, I think it’s done me net harm.
This won’t be the case for everyone, but I think that many people would be better served spending their time doing something else if their goal is to improve their emotional well-being.
Thank you for explaining. What I hear in this is that rationality also works like an esoteric hobby, and for people who want more friendships built on commonalities, adding an uncommon use of time is counterproductive.
I think I don’t experience the same negative effects because my “it’s good to interact cooperatively with people different from oneself” needs are met instead by some location-based volunteering hobbies. I live in an area with low enough population density that “vaguely competent and willing to show up and do stuff” buys one a lot of goodwill and quality time with others, which is a whole other social hack of its own :)