The Nonlinear Library LW - Theories of Applied Rationality by Camille Berger
Feb 4, 2024
06:37
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Theories of Applied Rationality, published by Camille Berger on February 4, 2024 on LessWrong.
tl;dr: within the LW community, there are many clusters of strategies to achieve rationality: doing basic exercices, using jargon, reading, partaking workshops, privileging object-level activities, and several other opinions like putting an accent on feedback loops, difficult conversations or altered states of consciousness.
Epistemic status: This is a vague model to help me understand other rationalists and why some of them keep doing things I think are wrong, or suggest me to do things I think are wrong. This is not based on real data. I will update according to possible discussions in the comments. Please be critical.
Spending time in the rationalist community made me realize that there were several endeavors at reaching rationality that seemed to exist, some of which conflicted with others. This made me quite frustrated as I thought that my interpretation was the only one.
The following list is an attempt at distinguishing the several approaches I've noticed. Of course, any rationalist will probably have elements of all theories at the same time. See each theory as the claim that a particular set of elements prevails above others. Believing in one theory usually goes on par with being fairly suspicious of others.
Finally, remember that these categories are an attempt to distinguish what people are doing, not a guide about what side you should pick (if the sides exist at all). I suspect that most people end up applying one theory for practical reasons, more than because they have deeply thought about it at all.
Basics Theory
Partakers of the basics theory put a high emphasis on activities such as calibration, forecasting, lifehacks, and other fairly standard practices of epistemic and instrumental rationality. They don't see any real value in reading extensively LessWrong or going to workshops. They first and foremost believe in real-life, readily available practice.
For them, spending too much time in the rationalist community, as opposed to doing simple exercises, is the main failure mode to avoid.
Speaking Theory
Partakers of the Speaking theory, although often relying on basics, usually put a high emphasis on using concepts met on LessWrong in daily parlance, although they generally do not necessarily insist on reading content on LessWrong. They may also insist on the importance of talking and discussing disagreements in a fairly regular way, while heavily relying on LessWrong terms and references in order to shape their thinking more rationally. They disagree with the statement that jargon should be avoided.
For them, keeping your language, thinking, writing and discussion style the same way that it was before encountering rationality is the main failure mode to avoid.
Reading Theory
Partakers of the Reading theory put a high emphasis on reading LessWrong, more usually than not the " Canon ", but some might go to a further extent and insist on reading other materials as well, such as the books recommended on the CFAR website, rationalist blogs, or listening to a particular set of podcasts. They can be sympathetic or opposed to relying on LessWrong Speak, but don't consider it important. They can also be fairly familiar with the basics.
For them, relying on LW Speak or engaging with the community while not mastering the relevant corpus is the main failure mode to avoid.
Workshop Theory
Partakers of the Workshop Theory consider most efforts of the Reading and Speaking theory to be somehow misleading. Since rationality is to be learned, it has to be deliberately practiced, if not ultralearned, and workshops such as CFAR are an important piece of this endeavor. Importantly, they do not really insist on reading the Sequences. Faced with the question " Do I need to read X...
tl;dr: within the LW community, there are many clusters of strategies to achieve rationality: doing basic exercices, using jargon, reading, partaking workshops, privileging object-level activities, and several other opinions like putting an accent on feedback loops, difficult conversations or altered states of consciousness.
Epistemic status: This is a vague model to help me understand other rationalists and why some of them keep doing things I think are wrong, or suggest me to do things I think are wrong. This is not based on real data. I will update according to possible discussions in the comments. Please be critical.
Spending time in the rationalist community made me realize that there were several endeavors at reaching rationality that seemed to exist, some of which conflicted with others. This made me quite frustrated as I thought that my interpretation was the only one.
The following list is an attempt at distinguishing the several approaches I've noticed. Of course, any rationalist will probably have elements of all theories at the same time. See each theory as the claim that a particular set of elements prevails above others. Believing in one theory usually goes on par with being fairly suspicious of others.
Finally, remember that these categories are an attempt to distinguish what people are doing, not a guide about what side you should pick (if the sides exist at all). I suspect that most people end up applying one theory for practical reasons, more than because they have deeply thought about it at all.
Basics Theory
Partakers of the basics theory put a high emphasis on activities such as calibration, forecasting, lifehacks, and other fairly standard practices of epistemic and instrumental rationality. They don't see any real value in reading extensively LessWrong or going to workshops. They first and foremost believe in real-life, readily available practice.
For them, spending too much time in the rationalist community, as opposed to doing simple exercises, is the main failure mode to avoid.
Speaking Theory
Partakers of the Speaking theory, although often relying on basics, usually put a high emphasis on using concepts met on LessWrong in daily parlance, although they generally do not necessarily insist on reading content on LessWrong. They may also insist on the importance of talking and discussing disagreements in a fairly regular way, while heavily relying on LessWrong terms and references in order to shape their thinking more rationally. They disagree with the statement that jargon should be avoided.
For them, keeping your language, thinking, writing and discussion style the same way that it was before encountering rationality is the main failure mode to avoid.
Reading Theory
Partakers of the Reading theory put a high emphasis on reading LessWrong, more usually than not the " Canon ", but some might go to a further extent and insist on reading other materials as well, such as the books recommended on the CFAR website, rationalist blogs, or listening to a particular set of podcasts. They can be sympathetic or opposed to relying on LessWrong Speak, but don't consider it important. They can also be fairly familiar with the basics.
For them, relying on LW Speak or engaging with the community while not mastering the relevant corpus is the main failure mode to avoid.
Workshop Theory
Partakers of the Workshop Theory consider most efforts of the Reading and Speaking theory to be somehow misleading. Since rationality is to be learned, it has to be deliberately practiced, if not ultralearned, and workshops such as CFAR are an important piece of this endeavor. Importantly, they do not really insist on reading the Sequences. Faced with the question " Do I need to read X...