Principles of a Rationality Dojo

Since 2023 I've been directing WARP, the Wandering Applied Rationality Program with the help of ESPR and SPARC staff, which are summer camps I've taught at since 2017. For those that don't know, these are ~10 day programs are hard to summarize well, but are generally meant to create an environment for participants to better understand the world, themselves, and each other by offering a variety of classes ranging from information theory and statistics, to Double Crux and Focusing, to classes like mine, Emotions Make Sense and Philosophy of Therapy.

The camps are a lot more than just the classes, however, which only make up the mornings of each day. The afternoons are unscheduled time for participants and staff to run more ad hoc activities like improv or puzzle hunts, and the evenings include everything from organized Fermithons to impromptu karaoke sessions. Rationality is part of the camps to create a common sense that ideas matter, problems can be solved, and the process of learning and trying new and difficult things can be fun, especially if you find the right people to do them with.

Besides the 20+ camps I've taught or directed, I've also run or helped run [...]

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Outline:

(02:08) The Dojo Principles

(02:55) The Space We Create

(03:40) The Approach We Take

(04:22) The Purpose We Share

(05:34) (Some) Generators of Rationality

(10:04) Atomic Motions

(12:23) Deep Empiricism

(15:16) Paraphrasing

(17:50) Implicit Knowledge

(20:32) Focusing

(23:44) Aliveness

(29:02) Boggling

(31:13) Responsibility

(36:25) Betting

(39:33) Looking Ahead

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First published:
November 26th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fExEphgXGgHExe2NE/principles-of-a-rationality-dojo

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.