The Utilitarian Calculus: A Sandbox for Social Thinking

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Sally Kohn: For most people, it's such a barrier to overcome their social thinking and start applying its basic reason. She says you can only get better results from using your reason if you're in a place that devalues things like aesthetics or loyalty. Kohn: A lot of people have been in rationality for a while who are now a bit older,. maybe in their mid-30s. They spend most of their time talking about meditation and psychedelics.

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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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