This is part of a semi-monthly reading group on Eliezer Yudkowsky's ebook, Rationality: From AI to Zombies. For more information about the group, see the announcement post.
Welcome to the Rationality reading group. This fortnight we discuss Part Y: Challenging the Difficult (pp. 1605-1647). This post summarizes each article of the sequence, linking to the original LessWrong post where available.
304. Tsuyoku Naritai! (I Want to Become Stronger) - Don't be satisfied knowing you are biased; instead, aspire to become stronger, studying your flaws so as to remove them. There is a temptation to take pride in confessions, which can impede progress.
305. Tsuyoku vs. the Egalitarian Instinct - There may be evolutionary psychological factors that encourage modesty and mediocrity, at least in appearance; while some of that may still apply today, you should mentally plan and strive to pull ahead, if you are doing things right.
306. Trying to Try - As a human, if you try to try something, you will put much less work into it than if you try something.
307. Use the Try Harder, Luke - A fictional exchange between Mark Hamill and George Lucas over the scene in Empire Strikes Back where Luke Skywalker attempts to lift his X-wing with the force.
308. On Doing the Impossible - A lot of projects seem impossible, meaning that we don't immediately see a way to do them. But after working on them for a long time, they start to look merely extremely difficult.
309. Make an Extraordinary Effort - It takes an extraordinary amount of rationality before you stop making stupid mistakes. Doing better requires making extraordinary efforts.
310. Shut Up and Do the Impossible! - The ultimate level of attacking a problem is the point at which you simply shut up and solve the impossible problem.
311. Final Words - The conclusion of the Beisutsukai series.
This has been a collection of notes on the assigned sequence for this fortnight. The most important part of the reading group though is discussion, which is in the comments section. Please remember that this group contains a variety of levels of expertise: if a line of discussion seems too basic or too incomprehensible, look around for one that suits you better!
The next reading will cover Part Z: The Craft and the Community (pp. 1651-1750). The discussion will go live on Wednesday, 4 May 2016, right here on the discussion forum of LessWrong.