Posts
Comments
S Tier:
Timeless decision theory for humans.
Understanding Newcomb's problem (http://acritch.com/deserving-trust/) especially made me see a bunch of ways I had been 2-boxing. I often tried to approximate the best input instead of maximizing the expectation of my algorithm, or kept trying to recompute the best option (with varying outputs depending on my mood). For example:
1. Juggling lists of rules for socializing better in various contexts. 1-boxing is trying to maximize my own fun.
2. Feeling guilty/unhappy staying with things because there are/will be other options, and I probably didn't pick the best one. Stuff like what math to learn, what self-improvement to do, what girl to date. Now that making a choice feels like 1-boxing, it's easier to pick a smaller number of things and trust the decision.
3. Stressing over how often to do/practice something new (e.g. a new rationality technique) when I can just do as much as I feel like and schedule a self-check-in later.
Also, having regularly scheduled conversations with friends feels like good TDT when it works out.
IDC/typing to self:
For me it goes: I notice confusion, then I IDC/type to myself for a while, then it reliably makes way more sense. IDCing started slow but now feels pretty similar to single-streaming which is why I'm conflating them, also I often single stream for a bit until I find something to IDC. Paper is usually worse than typing, but can be good for finding new topics.
Meh Tier:
TAPs
For me these are just convenience tricks, like "if I need to remember do to something, send myself an email now." They mostly pattern-match to hacky scaffolding in my head, like if I'm starting rationality and have trouble going to bed before 4am, maybe a TAP will help. The manual installation process feels bizarre to me, the ones I have are more organic, so maybe they don't really count. Still I like having the background awareness that TAP-like internal algorithms are good for making simple stuff work consistently.
Aversion/Goal Factoring: I do this occasionally when it feels I'm conflating things in my head and getting confused. I agree that it doesn't feel like the heavy duty part.
Design
Design seems like something I mostly did already. But your writing about it led to a couple of minor life improvements, like putting pretty math pictures on my walls. I'm glad to have it as a named concept.
Want to try in the future:
Focusing (I have decent introspective access but don't really use my body. At least I've never noticed that a specific body part felt a certain way.)
Yoda Timers
Bug hunt
Silence