Recommendations for Recent Posts/Sequences on Instrumental Rationality?
post by Benjamin Hendricks (benjamin-hendricks) · 2025-01-26T00:41:08.577Z · LW · GW · No commentsThis is a question post.
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Answers 2 David Gross None No comments
I absolutely love the Science of Winning at Life [? · GW] sequence. It's a delightful blend of well-researched cognitive science and Bayesian reasoning. The initial paragraph sums up @lukeprog [LW · GW]'s motivation:
Some have suggested that the Less Wrong community could improve readers' instrumental rationality more effectively if it first caught up with the scientific literature on productivity and self-help, and then enabled readers to deliberately practice self-help skills and apply what they've learned in real life.
Unfortunately, the sequence is almost 15 years old, and so is its greatest reference: the 2000-page, evidence-driven, free-to-read masterpiece, Psychological Self-Help. It's fair to assume that cogsci has made strides since then. Some of Luke's material may have been disproven, or more effective methods have since been discovered.
What are some recent posts or sequences that would fill this gap? Thank you in advance!
Answers
This might scratch your itch: the Notes on Virtues [? · GW] sequence.
Investigating a variety of human virtues, with the hope of learning how we might improve in their practice.
↑ comment by Benjamin Hendricks (benjamin-hendricks) · 2025-01-26T19:03:03.359Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Delightfully lengthy! Out of curiosity, to what degree are rationality and/or cognitive science relied on? Material focusing on that is especially what I'm looking for, with I'll probably check it out regardless.
Replies from: David_Gross↑ comment by David Gross (David_Gross) · 2025-01-27T00:06:22.550Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
The sequence is rationality-informed but also picks up things from folk wisdom, religious traditions, etc. when that seems helpful. It references cogsci studies and insights when those are available.
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