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Big Ideas from Rationality I’ve Found Repeatedly Useful
Rationality is the art and science of two things:
- Making decisions that help you win at life
- Forming accurate beliefs
If you win when you’re happy in your relationships, then that’s where rationality shall take you.
If you win when you’re a billionaire, then that’s where rationality shall take you.
Of course, it isn’t magic. Outcomes aren’t assured. To a rationalist, the world is probabilistic: Rationality aims to increase the probability of you winning.
It’s not just about using statistics and math to solve every problem. Neither is it about becoming a robot and having no emotions “interfere” with decision making. If anything, not taking the clues from your emotions into consideration is irrational — they’re valuable signals from the body.
If the world is fair, I want to believe the world is fair.
If the world is unfair, I want to believe the world is unfair.
Let me not become attached to beliefs I may not want.
All of rationality is figuring out tools and tricks that help you win. Less formally, it’s the…
