Executive summary: Truthseeking and maintaining contact with reality is the most important meta-principle for achieving consequentialist goals, and there are many facets and techniques for pursuing it that are underutilized in the Effective Altruism community.
Key points:
Avoid deferring to “epistemic daddies” and instead delegate opinions while maintaining ultimate responsibility for decisions.
Stick to projects small enough to comprehend to maintain the ability to update beliefs.
Actively seek out and create new information, with short feedback loops.
Protect the epistemic commons by pushing back against anti-truthseeking behavior and supporting others’ truthseeking.
Cultivate an emotional appreciation for contact with reality, even when it involves losing bets or receiving criticism.
Share information openly, including negative information about yourself and others, despite the personal costs, as it benefits the community.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: Truthseeking and maintaining contact with reality is the most important meta-principle for achieving consequentialist goals, and there are many facets and techniques for pursuing it that are underutilized in the Effective Altruism community.
Key points:
Avoid deferring to “epistemic daddies” and instead delegate opinions while maintaining ultimate responsibility for decisions.
Stick to projects small enough to comprehend to maintain the ability to update beliefs.
Actively seek out and create new information, with short feedback loops.
Protect the epistemic commons by pushing back against anti-truthseeking behavior and supporting others’ truthseeking.
Cultivate an emotional appreciation for contact with reality, even when it involves losing bets or receiving criticism.
Share information openly, including negative information about yourself and others, despite the personal costs, as it benefits the community.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.