In case it's of interest, my gut rejection (and I think true rejection) of this is based on intuitions from the Roles arc in HPMOR (and also some of the sentiment of this recent facebook post about Feynman). On a gut level playing a role feels wrong. The place where my important decisions come from ought to be a place of just trying to look at what's true, not playing a character. The fundamentals of my epistemology and decision making shouldn't be social. My most important decisions (and most of my decisions) should come from models and fermi estimates and gears.

I imagine one could counter "But have you considered that your hero would agree?" and to that I say, while it may be practical to ask "What would my hero do?" each time, it feels wrong that it's the fundamental level, and not at least one level above the level that is just truth-seeking.

Related posts on the usefulness of identity: Narrative, self-image, and self-communication by Academian, Use Your Identity Carefully by Ben_LandauTaylor, and Strategic choice of identity by Vika

This is kind of like Eliezer's 12th virtue of rationality (the void) taking a human shape.

Thank you for this.

When I first discovered LW and rationality culture it opened up a new way of thinking to me. But this post is one of the first times that reading something here instead makes me feel *heard and understood* (even though I didn't say anything), and I deeply resonate with it. This is how rationality plays out *for me* and it feels validating seeing someone else write explicitly about it.

I am going to be sad to see your 30 say challenge end.

Hello, Atman.

I think the terms Pragmatic Nihilism/Pragmatic Skepticism would work better than Nihilism Prime (too vague) or Mature Nihilism (has a value judgement attached). Also, it's a shame that Keeping your Identity Useful isn't its own post.

For added FDT-ishness you should make sure that your Hero is a team player who is happy in a team of people somewhat like the Hero.

I think the major negative possibility with this approach is that if I try and adopt a Hero I may slide over or reject information that I am not like the Hero.

Seriously grateful for all your posts so far. Very interesting novel content.
Somewhat saddened that we're coming to the end of the regular schedule. :)

Very curious about the particular character you use.
Though a no-comment response is totally legitimate act.

The whispering made me chuckle.

I endorse this technique; I find it useful for generating novel insights into a problem.

Fun fact: Before I actually went through the CFAR canon, I thought the skill mentioned in the OP was what "Inner Simulator" referred to.