The Importance of Explicit Reason in a Social Life

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A lot of young rationalists fall into this hall where they've learned a little bit of explicit reasoning and how they use it for everything. They end up alienating people around them. It's a huge barrier to climb. Most people are very not motivated from even starting to climb this. I think the way I'm thinking of rationalist education is how to find some people and maybe like emotionally set them up for climbing this mountain"

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What's the best way to teach rationality? How do you communicate rationalist principles to people who aren't already interested in thinking more clearly? What has COVID taught us about how people typically make decisions and think about problems? Where and how can the rationalist community improve? Does rationalism have anything to say about (for example) exercise, spirituality, art, or other parts of the human experience that aren't typically addressed by rationalists? What are some positive aspects of social media (especially Twitter)? What's going on with recent dating trends? Has dating gotten harder in recent years? How many people does it take to make a pencil? Is there a case to be made for anti-antinatalism?

Jacob is the only rationalist with an MBA. He writes Putanumonit.com and is famous for bringing the idea of decision matrices to the pages of the Economist and the New York Times. Jacob is Russian-Israeli and is currently living in Brooklyn with his wife and two guinea pigs. Follow him on Twitter at @yashkaf.

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