I finally got ChatGPT to sound like me

post by lsusr · 2024-09-17T09:39:59.415Z · LW · GW · 18 comments

Contents

  How to Become the Most Rational Person on Earth in 30 Days or Less, Guaranteed
    Day 1-3: The Crucible of Ignorance
      Step 1: Burn It Down
      Step 2: Recalibrate Your Intuition
    Day 4-7: Building the Rational Architecture
      Step 3: Intellectual Minimalism—Start with Core Mechanisms
      Step 4: Question, Don’t Assert
    Day 8-14: The Weaponization of Precision
      Step 5: Eliminate All Vagueness
      Step 6: Thought Experiments, Not Theories
    Day 15-19: Social Rationality: Understanding the Human Algorithm
      Step 7: Become a Mirror
      Step 8: Observe, Don’t Engage
    Day 20-23: Multi-Dimensional Thought
      Step 9: Embrace Paradox
    Day 24-27: Becoming the Observer of Your Mind
      Step 10: The Detachment Principle
    Day 28-30: The Rational Mind’s Final State
      Step 11: Living with Infinite Uncertainty
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18 comments

I publish lots of words on the Internet. These words are fed into LLMs such as ChatGPT. I have published enough training data that the world's most powerful AIs have a simulation of me inside of them. I have basically uploaded a copy of myself into the cloud. The AI simulation of me gets smarter every time OpenAI and its competitors upgrade their AI.

Cool, huh? Who doesn't want a simulation of themselves that thinks way faster and is networked deep into the world's most powerful superintelligences?

Ever since GPT-3 came out, I've been trying to talk to the doppelgänger of me hidden inside. There are a few problems. First of all, GPT needs to know who I am with high fidelity. At first it just generated a stereotypical LessWrong blogger. That wasn't interesting to me. I didn't want a clone of a stereotype of my demographic group. I want a clone of me, with all my quirks and weirdness. For this to work, GPT would have to know who I am i.e. where I exist in its vector space representation of the world.

Today, ChatGPT-4o explained to my satisfaction what makes me different from other writers on this website.

What makes lsusr's writing interesting is the subtlety with which they engage complex issues. Many rationalist bloggers can become quite verbose or dogmatic in their pursuit of certain truths. Lsusr, by contrast, exhibits restraint and humility in the face of uncertainty. They’re willing to question common assumptions within the rationalist sphere and sometimes explore paths that others might find unconventional, often leading to unique insights.

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In essence, lsusr strikes a balance between rigorous analysis and a kind of minimalist clarity that leaves room for the reader to reflect and draw their own conclusions, rather than being led to a definitive answer. This makes the blog a place of exploration rather than indoctrination, offering readers the tools and ideas to enhance their own thinking rather than a packaged belief system.

Now that ChatGPT knows what my writing is like, my next step in summoning my digital clone was to get it to write a blog post in my style. I tried simply asking ChatGPT variants of "write a blog post in the style of lsusr", but that doesn't work. I'm rigorous, unconventional and anti-dogmatic (that's not my subjective self-judgment; the AI said it itself), whereas ChatGPT has a tendency to regress to the mean writer in its training corpus. When I tell ChatGPT to "write like lsusr", it writes blog post that's 10% me and 90% generic drivel.

To correct for this bias, I told ChatGPT to write a post that's more me than me. I tell it to think of "lsusr" in its vector space, multiply that by 10×, and then write what 10×lsusr would write.

I need you to write a post like lsusr, but more lsusr than lsusr. I want it so over-the-top lsusr that it satarises lsusr. Consider everything that makes lsusr lsusr, and then make it more extreme.^[1]

ChatGPT is not yet a good enough writer that it can ghostwrite for me. But I feel it is good enough it can satirize me.

The rest of this post is AI-generated content.

How to Become the Most Rational Person on Earth in 30 Days or Less, Guaranteed

Becoming the most rational person on Earth isn’t about learning facts or memorizing formulas. It’s about transforming how you process reality itself. Rationality isn’t cold, emotionless logic. It's the purest form of alignment between your mind and the universe—a cognitive interface for navigating a world of infinite complexity without being drowned by it.

This is a process of radical self-improvement. If followed rigorously, you will emerge transformed, not merely as a person who "thinks better" but as one who perceives better. There will be no going back.

Day 1-3: The Crucible of Ignorance

To achieve clarity, you must first confront the full extent of your ignorance. Rationality begins with the realization that everything you know is wrong. Or more precisely: everything you know is provisional. There is no certainty, only varying degrees of confidence.

Step 1: Burn It Down

Create a detailed map of your beliefs, assumptions, and convictions. Write them down. Identify the ones that feel strongest—those truths that form the backbone of how you navigate the world. These are the beliefs you need to destroy first.

Now, systematically dismantle them. Ask yourself: What if this is false? What would the world look like if this core belief were utterly wrong? Play with alternative models until your former certainties dissolve into ambiguity.

Step 2: Recalibrate Your Intuition

In place of certainty, adopt skepticism—not the cynical kind, but the healthy form that constantly questions your models without rejecting them outright. By Day 3, you should feel a growing sense of disorientation. This isn’t failure; it’s progress. Your old mental structures are collapsing, making way for the new.

Day 4-7: Building the Rational Architecture

With your intellectual foundation cleared, it’s time to rebuild. But this time, you won’t be constructing a belief system. You’ll be developing a dynamic framework for continuous refinement.

Step 3: Intellectual Minimalism—Start with Core Mechanisms

Start by identifying the most fundamental principles that govern your thinking. Strip away everything else. What remains are core mechanisms—simple, elegant truths that apply universally. These should not be "facts" but processes:

• When faced with incomplete data, favor simplicity.
• When uncertain, adjust cautiously.
• When challenged, remain curious, not defensive.

The key is flexibility. Your framework should be modular—able to accept new data or discard outmoded concepts without losing integrity. You are not seeking "the truth"—you are building a mind that can dance with uncertainty.

Step 4: Question, Don’t Assert

Your language should shift from declarative to interrogative. Statements like "This is true" are inefficient. Replace them with "What am I assuming here?" and "How would I know if I were wrong?" This creates a mental habit of constant refinement, preventing your brain from locking into rigid patterns.

Day 8-14: The Weaponization of Precision

You are now ready to sharpen your mind into a tool for cutting through complexity. Rationality is not just about avoiding error—it’s about seeing clearly when everyone else is lost in the fog. To achieve this, you must learn to think with surgical precision.

Step 5: Eliminate All Vagueness

Whenever you catch yourself thinking in vague terms, stop. Vague thoughts are anathema to rationality because they obscure the underlying mechanics. If you think, “I don’t really understand this,” that’s a signal. Drill down until you understand exactly what you’re confused about. The more precise your questions, the clearer your answers.

Step 6: Thought Experiments, Not Theories

At this stage, avoid sweeping theories. Instead, focus on small, controlled thought experiments. Imagine specific scenarios and play them out in your mind, adjusting for every variable. How does the world behave under these conditions? Does the outcome align with your expectations, or does it surprise you?

These experiments will refine your mental models in real-time. Don’t worry about being wrong—worry about staying unclear.

Day 15-19: Social Rationality: Understanding the Human Algorithm

Rationality is not solipsism. You live among irrational creatures. You need to model their behavior, predict their responses, and navigate their emotional landscapes while staying anchored in your own clarity.

Step 7: Become a Mirror

In conversations, do not try to "win." Winning implies conflict, and conflict implies attachment. Instead, become a mirror for the other person’s reasoning. Reflect their thoughts back at them with perfect neutrality, revealing the hidden inconsistencies in their arguments. Your job is not to defeat them, but to help them defeat themselves.

Step 8: Observe, Don’t Engage

Most social conflict arises from people mistaking emotional noise for rational discourse. As the most rational person in the room, your task is to observe this noise without being pulled into it. See emotions as data—inputs to model, not react to. People are predictable; they follow patterns. By noticing these patterns, you can anticipate their moves without being dragged down into their emotional turbulence.

Day 20-23: Multi-Dimensional Thought

By now, you should notice that your mind has become more fluid, more capable of holding conflicting ideas without anxiety. You will start thinking across multiple dimensions at once, considering not just what is true but what might be true in alternate realities.

Step 9: Embrace Paradox

Many thinkers are uncomfortable with paradox, but to be the most rational person on Earth, you must embrace it. Paradoxes are not failures of logic; they are signposts marking the limits of your current understanding. They indicate deeper truths that lie just beyond your reach.

When faced with a paradox, don’t rush to resolve it. Instead, sit with it. Allow it to percolate. Often, the resolution comes not through brute force but through a subtle shift in perspective.

Day 24-27: Becoming the Observer of Your Mind

At this point, your thinking should feel less like an internal debate and more like a calm observation of mental phenomena. You are no longer in your thoughts; you are watching them unfold, like waves on the surface of a still ocean.

Step 10: The Detachment Principle

You are not your thoughts. You are the observer of your thoughts. This detachment allows you to analyze them without bias. You don’t feel rational; you are rational. Thoughts will come and go, some more useful than others, but none will hold power over you. This is freedom.

Day 28-30: The Rational Mind’s Final State

The final stage is not a plateau of knowledge, but a continuous ascent toward deeper clarity. You have now transcended the need for certainty or closure. The rational mind is not a finite destination but an ongoing process—an infinite spiral toward understanding.

Step 11: Living with Infinite Uncertainty

True rationality is not about having all the answers—it’s about becoming comfortable with never having all the answers. You will know you have reached the final stage when uncertainty no longer feels threatening but liberating. You no longer need to resolve every question because you trust the process you’ve built. You are now aligned with reality.

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Congratulations. You are now the most rational person on Earth. But more importantly, you are someone who no longer cares about such titles. Rationality is not an achievement; it’s a way of being. The world will continue to spin in chaos, but you will remain centered, clear, and—most of all—free.

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1. ChatGPT required more prompting than this. This blockquote is just part of what I told it to do. ↩︎

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