Concepts Portal

Here you can find common concepts (also referred to as “tags”) that are used on LessWrong.

RATIONALITY

Theory /​ Concepts

Anticipated Experiences
Aumann’s Agreement Theorem
Bayes Theorem
Bounded Rationality
Conservation of Expected
Contrarianism
Decision Theory
Epistemology
Game Theory
Gears-Level
Hansonian Pre-Rationality
Infra-Bayesianism
Law-Thinking
Map and Territory
Newcomb’s Problem
Occam’s razor
Robust Agents
Solomonoff Induction
Truth, Semantics, & Meaning
Utility Functions

Applied Topics

Alief
Betting
Cached Thoughts
Calibration
Dark Arts
Empiricism
Epistemic Modesty
Forecasting & Prediction
Group Rationality
Identity
Inside/​Outside View
Introspection
Intuition
Practice & Philosophy of Science
Scholarship & Learning
Taking Ideas Seriously
Value of Information

Failure Modes

Affect Heuristic
Aversion/​Ugh Fields
Bucket Errors
Compartmentalization
Confirmation Bias
Fallacies
Goodhart’s Law
Groupthink
Heuristics and Biases
Mind Projection Fallacy
Motivated Reasoning
Pica
Pitfalls of Rationality
Rationalization
Self-Deception
Sunk-Cost Fallacy

Communication

Common Knowledge
Conversation
Decoupling vs Contextualizing
Disagreement
Distillation & Pedagogy
Double-Crux
Good Explanations (Advice)
Ideological Turing Tests
Inferential Distance
Information Cascades
Memetic Immune System
Philosophy of Language
Steelmanning

Techniques

Double-Crux
Fermi Estimation
Focusing
Goal Factoring
Internal Double Crux
Hamming Questions
Murphyjitsu
Noticing
Techniques
Trigger Action Planning/​Patterns

Models of the Mind

Consciousness
Dual Process Theory (System 1 & 2)
General Intelligence
Subagents
Predictive Processing
Perceptual Control Theory
Zombies

Other

Center for Applied Rationality
Curiosity
Rationality A-Z (discussion and meta)
Rationality Quotes
Updated Beliefs (examples of)

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Basic Alignment Theory

AIXI
Coherent Extrapolated Volition
Complexity of Value
Corrigibility
Deceptive Alignment
Decision Theory
Embedded Agency
Fixed Point Theorems
Goodhart’s Law
Goal-Directedness
Gradient Hacking
Infra-Bayesianism
Inner Alignment
Instrumental Convergence
Intelligence Explosion
Logical Induction
Logical Uncertainty
Mesa-Optimization
Multipolar Scenarios
Myopia
Newcomb’s Problem
Optimization
Orthogonality Thesis
Outer Alignment
Paperclip Maximizer
Power Seeking (AI)
Recursive Self-Improvement
Simulator Theory
Sharp Left Turn
Solomonoff Induction
Superintelligence
Symbol Grounding
Transformative AI
Treacherous Turn
Utility Functions
Whole Brain Emulation

Engineering Alignment

Agent Foundations
AI-assisted Alignment
AI Boxing (Containment)
Conservatism (AI)
Debate (AI safety technique)
Eliciting Latent Knowledge (ELK)
Factored Cognition
Humans Consulting HCH
Impact Measures
Inverse Reinforcement Learning
Iterated Amplification
Mild Optimization
Oracle AI
Reward Functions
RLHF
Shard Theory
Tool AI
Transparency /​ Interpretability
Tripwire
Value Learning

Organizations

AI Safety Camp
Alignment Research Center
Anthropic
Apart Research
AXRP
CHAI (UC Berkeley)
Conjecture (org)
DeepMind
Encultured AI (org)
FHI (Oxford)
Future of Life Institute
MIRI
OpenAI
Ought
SERI MATS

Strategy

AI Alignment Fieldbuilding
AI Governance
AI Persuasion
AI Risk
AI Risk Concrete Stories
AI Safety Public Materials
AI Services (CAIS)
AI Success Models
AI Takeoff
AI Timelines
Computing Overhang
Regulation and AI Risk
Restrain AI Development

Other

AI Alignment Intro Materials
AI Capabilities
AI Questions Open Thread
Compute
DALL-E
GPT
Language Models
Machine Learning
Narrow AI
Neuromorphic AI
Prompt Engineering
Reinforcement Learning
Research Agendas

WORLD MODELING

Mathematical Sciences

Abstraction
Anthropics
Category Theory
Causality
Computer Science
Free Energy Principle
Game Theory
Decision Theory
Information Theory
Logic & Mathematics
Probability & Statistics

Specifics
Prisoner’s Dilemma
Sleeping Beauty Paradox

General Science & Eng

Machine Learning
Nanotechnology
Physics
Programming
Space Exploration & Colonization

Specifics
Simulation Hypothesis
The Great Filter

Meta /​ Misc

Academic Papers
Book Reviews
Counterfactuals
Distillation & Pedagogy
Fact Posts
Research Agendas
Scholarship & Learning

Social & Economic

Economics
Financial Investing
History
Politics
Progress Studies
Social and Cultural Dynamics

Specifics
Conflict vs Mistake Theory
Cost Disease
Efficient Market Hypothesis
Industrial Revolution
Moral Mazes
Signaling
Social Reality
Social Status

Biological & Psychological

Aging
Biology
Consciousness
Evolution
Evolutionary Psychology
Medicine
Neuroscience
Qualia

Specifics
Coronavirus
General Intelligence
IQ /​ g-factor
Neocortex

The Practice of Modeling

Epistemic Review
Expertise
Gears-Level Models
Falsifiability
Fermi Estimation
Forecasting & Prediction
Forecasts (Lists of)
Inside/​Outside View
Intellectual Progress (Society-Level)
Intellectual Progress (Individual-Level)
Jargon (meta)
Practice and Philosophy of Science
Prediction Markets
Reductionism
Replicability

WORLD OPTIMIZATION

Moral Theory

Altruism
Consequentialism
Deontology
Ethics & Morality
Metaethics
Moral Uncertainty
Trolley Problem

Causes /​ Interventions

Aging
Animal Welfare
Climate Change
Existential Risk
Futurism
Intellectual Progress
Mind Uploading
Life Extension
S-risks
Transhumanism
Voting Theory

Working with Humans

Coalitional Instincts
Common Knowledge
Coordination /​ Cooperation
Game Theory
Group Rationality
Institution Design
Moloch
Organizational Design and Culture
Signaling
Simulacrum Levels
Social Status

Applied Topics

Acausal Trade
Blackmail
Censorship
Chesterton’s Fence
Death
Deception
Honesty
Hypocrisy
Information Hazards
Meta-Honesty
Pascal’s Mugging
Privacy
War

Value & Virtue

Ambition
Art
Aesthetics
Complexity of Value
Courage
Fun Theory
Principles
Suffering
Superstimuli
Wireheading

Meta

80,000 Hours
Cause Prioritization
Center for Long-term Risk
Effective Altruism
GiveWell
Heroic Responsibility

PRACTICAL

Domains of Well-being

Careers
Emotions
Exercise (Physical)
Financial Investing
Gratitude
Happiness
Human Bodies
Nutrition
Parenting
Slack
Sleep
Well-being

Skills & Techniques

Cryonics
Emotions
Goal Factoring
Habits
Hamming Questions
Intellectual Progress (Individual-Level)
Life Improvements
Meditation
More Dakka
Note-Taking
Planning & Decision-Making
Sabbath
Self Experimentation
Skill Building
Software Tools
Spaced Repetition
Virtues (Instrumental)

Productivity

Akrasia
Attention
Motivations
Prioritization
Procrastination
Productivity
Willpower

Interpersonal
Circling
Conversation (topic)
Communication Cultures
Relationships

COMMUNITY

All

Bounties (active)
Grants & Fundraising
Growth Stories
Online Socialization
Petrov Day
Public Discourse
Reading Group
Research Agendas
Ritual
Solstice Celebration

LessWrong

Events (Community)
Site Meta
GreaterWrong Meta
Intellectual Progress via LessWrong
LessWrong Events
LW Moderation
Meetups (topic)
Moderation (topic)
The SF Bay Area
Tagging

OTHER

Content-Type

Art
Checklists
Dialogue (form)
Eldritch Analogies
Exercises /​ Problem-Sets
Humor
Fiction
Open Problems
Paradoxes
Poetry
Postmortems & Retrospectives
Summaries

Format

Book Reviews
Interviews
List of Links
Newsletters
Open Thread
Q&A (format)
Surveys
Transcripts

Cross-Category

Cooking
Education
Narratives (stories)
Religion
Writing

Miscellaneous

Fiction (topic)
Gaming (videogames/​tabletop)
HPMOR (discussion & meta)

Core Tags

All Tags