This is a link post. This is a crosspost for The most basic rationality techniques are often neglected and Rationality and discipline by Stefan Schubert, published on 30 August and 15 September 2021.

The most basic rationality techniques are often neglected and Rationality and discipline

How much can we "debias" ourselves? What should we do to become more rational? When discussing those issues, people usually focus on sophisticated debiasing techniques (“pre-mortem”) and advanced concepts from epistemology and statistics. What's often forgotten is that we already have a bunch of very simple but effective techniques for improving our rationality, such as (cf. Grice's maxims):

“Don’t believe things for which you lack evidence. And don’t say such things in discussions.”

“Don’t make irrelevant personal attacks.”

“Don’t attack straw men."

“Define your terms clearly.”

“Make one point at a time.”

“Try not to be too emotional when thinking about heated issues.”

It seems [...]

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Outline:

(00:22) The most basic rationality techniques are often neglected and Rationality and discipline

(03:09) Rationality and discipline

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First published:
August 26th, 2024

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/YLXhmbjeszjeCzXrz/the-most-basic-rationality-techniques-are-often-neglected

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