Episode Summary
Julia Galef reading from Eliezer Yudkowsky’s How to Actually Change Your Mind and discussing rational reasoning.
Science and economics, two models underpinning society, base their theories on humans being rational people doing rational things. Yeah. You, me … we’re not rational, not even most of the time. But we can dream. Julia Galef is the author of The Scout Mindset, a book that seeks to explain how to improve human reasoning and judgement. In this episode of 2 Pages with MBS we dig into just what is rationality, and how grasping the concept will help with personal growth.
Julia reads two pages from the book ‘How to Actually Change Your Mind’ by Eliezer Yudkowsky. [reading begins at 11:25]
Hear us talk about:
- The emotional satisfaction of having uncertainty in your beliefs: “If you see things in black and white, then you have to fight off any evidence that contradicts your theory.” [17:43]
- Engaging in arguments without feeling personally attacked. [19:52]
- Admitting you’re wrong: “Being wrong doesn’t necessarily mean you did something wrong.” [27:58]
- The role of emotions in bettering your thinking: “There would be no reason to do anything if we had no emotions at all.” [32:35]
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Resources:
Julia Galef | Website | Twitter | Podcast
Julia Galef’s book | The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t
Eliezer Yudkowsky | How to Actually Change Your Mind (Rationality: From AI to Zombies)
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