Personal Benefits from Rationality

Not proposing solutions for five minutes is something I do every couple of days. I literally have a timer on my watch that is, by default, set to five minutes, and if I am wrestling with a difficult problem, I just sit down, start the timer, close my eyes, and think. In a more general sense, I use techniques like original seeing all the time.

Positive bias is one of the most powerful bits of information I know for determining the truth.

In a general sense, I can't quite stress how much happier I've consistently gotten since I've realized that when I notice I'm not happy, or bored, or whatever, I can just ask myself "What could I be doing right now instead of what I am doing, that I would enjoy more?" This has led me to several impromptu road trips, a number of hiking, biking excursions, etc, and reading several really good new books over the last couple of months alone.

Most of what I've learned here has become background ideas that I can't quite point to real-world direct instances of; most of the thinking I do is ‘intuitive’, or rather, not reflected upon and poorly remembered. That said:

• “Multiplication.” That is, the notion that you actually can compute expected value of real-world choices. Most blandly, I won an iPod in a raffle after a very rough computation that buying tickets was actually worthwhile compared to buying the item at retail, whereas I had previously been ‘irrationally’ opposed to anything resembling ‘gambling’.

• Recognizing the pattern of disputes over definitions has helped me avoid disputing definitions, or caring about the outcome of such disputes, when they are not actually useful.

• It is clear from my experience that working hurts less than procrastinating; I have a poor record of actually applying this knowledge, however.

Since becoming a rationalist, I've become (on average) happier, more adventurous, more tolerant of other people, more comfortable in a variety of situations, more motivated, more intentional, more understanding, less moody, less nihilistic, less contentious, and lots of other fun things. (Feel free to ask for evidence for these claims, I just didn't want to write all of that out now and make this reply even longer.)

I think the main ideas that the rest of that sort of latches onto are:

• Don't be afraid of the truth, and don't look for answers that confirm what you think

• You need to understand how things work in order to accomplish youg goals

• The universe is allowed to be terrible by human standards

And the more specific useful details that actually had changes in my life are:

• You're allowed to do things to accomplish your goals other than your cached thoughts

• Other people are different than me, and I should think from their perspective rather than extrapolating from myself

• Working in groups is really, really helpful for accomplishing things

• How to dissolve the question

• Take other people's advice

• Hold off on proposing solutions

• Don't listen to Bruce

It was addressed earlier here.

I'm fine with talking about it again, because a lot of that thread focused on Xixidu, and I'm all up for hearing more upbeat responses

There was one of these at the start of April:

http://lesswrong.com/lw/52n/q_what_has_rationality_done_for_you/

Want to declare this May's thread?

My April answer still holds. I will add: LessWrong has taught me to separate the process of thinking rationally from believing I have to set goals that pass a test of rationality. "Is it rational to want that?" only makes sense for instrumental values, not terminal ones, and can lead to trouble when you haven't fully resolved which of your values or goals is which (whether you think you have or not).

My housemate has almost completely hacked my brain (liberally apply computer programming and Godel, Escher, Bach to your mind) to think in isomorphisms, efficient algorithms, and the like. This has caused improvements like using a queue instead of a stack for scheduling chores (one bad chore in a stack will cause me to look for other easier chores to stack on top of it) which means my weekly chores get done in an afternoon instead of a week, and a general attitude of thinking about problems instead of solving them. Usually, a bit of thought will reveal some underlying pattern that has an optimal solution ready and waiting.

Rationality gave me this because it told me, at one point, about behavioral hacks. So I looked for my smartest, most effective, and most awesome friend, and made them my housemate.

where have I seen other people talk about specific benefits from Rationality?

Threads on this crop up occasionally. Unfortunately the options for directing new attention to an old topic are very limited.

Most direct parallel is here: http://lesswrong.com/lw/6t/the_benefits_of_rationality/ ,

Not sure if it's specific enough, but mental illness type problems can be cancelled out by it.

I often (weekly, if not more frequently) use the technique "don't evaluate before brainstorming" in my day-to-day work. I consciously look for further alternatives before considering which is best of the ones I've already listed - that is, I sometimes catch myself in the act, and say "hang on, are those really all the options?" Several times this has helped me hit on an alternative superior to my first thoughts.

It's hard to articulate all the benefits it's had in my life, but I'll name some that I've really noticed:

Self evaluation and development: Many of the posts on Bias and human behaviours have helped me understand myself as a very primal creature, and in distinguishing the difference between the rational logic in my head, and the very human part of me that exists in day-to-day, and because I have the tools to understand those subjective parts of me, I can essentially 'manipulate' myself for my own benefit. For example, Luke's article on The Good News of Situational Psychology helped me to understand how influenced I am by my situation, and that I need to pro-actively place myself in situations that will encourage me to make better decisions. Also the ability to be objective about myself and my emotions allows me to do a cost-benefit analysis on what parts of me need the most work.

Social interaction: Many of the same tools have given me a stronger understanding of humans as social creatures, with many similar behaviours and mannerisms as animals, and being able to see things in that light has allowed me to take advantage of these social norms, even in terms of encouraging positive behaviours in my friends and family, and optimizing our lives.

Those are the main two, but they sort of underly everything else that goes on in my life as well....

My main goal at the moment is to utilize "rationality" as a way to map how individuals comes to a decision/belief (what to do, what to say, what to believe, etc.). I am not assuming that these individuals ARE rational, but it's a useful (and quickie) tool for me to retrospectively "map out" the thought process of an individual. Like all tools though, they will be limitations.

I only expect that my communication with others will be easier -- if and when they will be more rational.

Nothing else.