Less Wrong posts

Posted on Jul 16, 2012 in English Essays | 0 comments

Less Wrong is “a community blog devoted to the art of human rationality”. In practice, there are all kinds of fascinating discussions on the site, on topics ranging from psychology to game theory and from futurism to self-improvement.

I regularly post and comment on the site. Of the pieces that I’ve written, here are some of my favorites:

• Thoughts on moral intuitions. Attempts to provide a descriptive account about how morality works on a psychological level. Also available here on my site.
• Avoid misinterpreting your emotions. Just because you are feeling bad doesn’t mean that you should. The same also applies to positive emotions.
• The Substitution Principle. Substituting easier questions for harder ones is a core principle of problem-solving, so we shouldn’t be surprised to find out that it’s also at play in human thought.
• The Curse of Identity. Like everyone, I’ve done some stupid stuff in my life. I think that part of the reason was that my brain was more interested in playing a role than being smart.
• Suffering as Attention-Allocational Conflict. What is suffering? The answer, I suspect, has to do with a conflict between attention allocation systems in the brain.
• What data generated that thought? Stupid-sounding advice might actually contain a gem of wisdom, while smart-sounding advice might not be appropriate for your circumstances.
• A four-post sequence on Keith Stanovich’s book What Intelligence Tests Miss, an excellent book about psychological research on human rationality.
• Levels of Communication. Communication fails when people aren’t talking about the same thing. There are at least four different dimensions which people might be operating on.