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Comment by Ndtrip on Welcome to Less Wrong! (7th thread, December 2014) · 2015-03-12T10:35:05.976Z · LW · GW

Hello everyone, first post. My education level is Associate's. My special skills include mathematics and reading comprehension.

I come to this website, because as I look at the rationalist techniques I can't think to myself, "This is a skill that would be beneficial to learn." I have done some preliminary reading of some of the posts here and find that while a lot of it is rather chewy (that is, taking extra time to process mentally), it is genuinely enjoyable to peruse and be made to think.

I have a question. Considering that I am religious, and I fully intend to stay that way, despite any evidence that might otherwise suggest to change that, how much are any rationalist skills that I may build up hampered? I don't want to summon a religious discussion, so if it seems that I might be, please just think of it as Fixed Belief X. I understand that the ability to update beliefs is central to rationality, but one such belief doesn't seem crushing.

I ask because I want to make sure that I am actually obtaining value out of my time. I don't want to find some arbitrary time down the road that my efforts have borne no fruit, and it was impossible from the beginning.