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Rationality Is Systematized Winning

Edited by Zack_M_Davis, Grognor, et al. last updated 10th Mar 2012

The point of all this discussion of rationality is to actually achieve truer beliefs and more effective actions. It's not some arbitrary social fashion; there are actual criteria of success. It is for this reason that it is written that rationalists should win. If some particular ritual of cognition—even one that you have long cherished as "rational"—systematically gives poorer results relative to some alternative, it is not rational to cling to it. The rational algorithm is to do what works, to get the actual answer—in short, to win, whatever the method, whatever the means. If you can detect a systematic mistake in your thinking, then fix it; if you can see a better method, then adopt it.

Blog posts

  • Something to Protect
  • Newcomb's Problem and Regret of Rationality
  • Rationality is Systematized Winning
  • Whining-Based Communities

See also

  • Rationality
  • Challenging the Difficult
  • Problem of verifying rationality
  • Newcomb's problem
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