Less Wrong/2012 Articles

The following is a list of all articles from Less Wrong from 2012, in chronological order. One-paragraph summaries of each post are at Less_Wrong/2012_Articles/Summaries.

The main purpose of this list is to keep track of which concepts introduced in these articles still need pages created for them on this wiki. Also, to keep track of which wiki pages should have these articles listed in their References section.

This list is still in progress. Please feel free to continue filling in this list, or fixing problems with the parts that are already filled in.

Less Wrong Articles

Title	Concepts Introduced/Discussed	Author
So You Want to Save the World		lukeprog
New Year's Prediction Thread (2012)		gwern
Rationality quotes January 2012		Thomas
Quantified Health Prize Deadline Extended		tommccabe
What Curiosity Looks Like		lukeprog
Designing Ritual		Raemon
Rationality meditation theory.		WingedFoe
The Gift I Give Tomorrow		Raemon
On accepting an argument if you have limited computational power.		Dmytry
Can the Chain Still Hold You?		lukeprog
The Savage theorem and the Ellsberg paradox		fool
Completeness, incompleteness, and what it all means: first versus second order logic		Stuart_Armstrong
Leveling Up in Rationality: A Personal Journey		lukeprog
Histocracy: Open, Effective Group Decision-Making With Weighted Voting		HonoreDB
The problem with too many rational memes		Swimmer963
POSITION: Design and Write Rationality Curriculum		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Neurological reality of human thought and decision making; implications for rationalism.		Dmytry
The Human's Hidden Utility Function (Maybe)		lukeprog
How I Ended Up Non-Ambitious		Swimmer963
Urges vs. Goals: The analogy to anticipation and belief		AnnaSalamon
The Substitution Principle		Kaj_Sotala
The Neglected Virtue of Curiosity		vallinder
The Ellsberg paradox and money pumps		fool
Efficient Charity: Cheap Utilons via bone marrow registration		atorm
Terminal Bias		nyan_sandwich
Against Utilitarianism: Sobel's attack on judging lives' goodness		gwern
Risk aversion vs. concave utility function		dvasya
Is risk aversion really irrational ?		kilobug
Rationality Quotes February 2012		GabrielDuquette
Is Sunk Cost Fallacy a Fallacy?		gwern
Diseased disciplines: the strange case of the inverted chart		Morendil
Feed the spinoff heuristic!		CarlShulman
My Algorithm for Beating Procrastination		lukeprog
Avoid misinterpreting your emotions		Kaj_Sotala
The mathematics of reduced impact: help needed		Stuart_Armstrong
Hearsay, Double Hearsay, and Bayesian Updates		Mass_Driver
Quantified Health Prize results announced		Zvi
Ambiguity in cognitive bias names; a refresher		nerfhammer
Logic: the science of algorithm evaluating algorithms		Christian_Szegedy
Get Curious		lukeprog
Deradicalizing Islamist Extremists (DC, March 13)		PhilGoetz
Status and Changing your Mind		jkaufman
Heuristics and Biases in Charity		Kaj_Sotala
Rationality Quotes March 2012		Thomas
The kinesthesia switch		NancyLebovitz
Emotional regulation, Part I: a problem summary		Swimmer963
The Fox and the Low-Hanging Grapes		Strange7
How to Fix Science		lukeprog
Using degrees of freedom to change the past for fun and profit		CarlShulman
Causal diagrams and software engineering		Morendil
Rationally Irrational		HungryTurtle
I Was Not Almost Wrong But I Was Almost Right: Close-Call Counterfactuals and Bias		Kaj_Sotala
Decision Theories: A Less Wrong Primer		orthonormal
Biased Pandemic		freyley
Schelling fences on slippery slopes		Yvain
How to avoid dying in a car crash		michaelcurzi
Fallacies as weak Bayesian evidence		Kaj_Sotala
6 Tips for Productive Arguments		John_Maxwell_IV
Emotional regulation Part II: research summary		Swimmer963
Decision Theories: A Semi-Formal Analysis, Part I		orthonormal
Fundamentals of kicking anthropic butt		Manfred
Brain Preservation		jkaufman
SotW: Check Consequentialism		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Minicamps on Rationality and Awesomeness: May 11-13, June 22-24, and July 21-28		AnnaSalamon
Examine your assumptions		Douglas_Reay
Characterizing the superintelligence which we are concerned about		JoshuaFox
Fictional Bias		thomblake
Rationality Quotes April 2012		Oscar_Cunningham
SotW: Be Specific		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Decision Theories: A Semi-Formal Analysis, Part II		orthonormal
Exploring the Idea Space Efficiently		Elithrion
Attention control is critical for changing/increasing/altering motivation		kalla724
Decision Theories: A Semi-Formal Analysis, Part III		orthonormal
Be Happier		Klevador
To like each other, sing and dance in synchrony		Kaj_Sotala
Crowdsourcing the availability heuristic		kalla724
Recognizing memetic infections and forging resistance memes		Johnicholas
Rationality Quotes May 2012		OpenThreadGuy
Thinking and Deciding: a chapter by chapter review		Vaniver
Thoughts on the Singularity Institute (SI)		HoldenKarnofsky
General purpose intelligence: arguing the Orthogonality thesis		Stuart_Armstrong
Holden's Objection 1: Friendliness is dangerous		PhilGoetz
Sneaky Strategies for TDT		drnickbone
SotW: Avoid Motivated Cognition		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Problematic Problems for TDT		drnickbone
Review: Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids		jsalvatier
When None Dare Urge Restraint, pt. 2		Jay_Schweikert
Avoid inflationary use of terms		lsparrish
Rational Toothpaste: A Case Study		badger
Rationality Quotes June 2012		OpenThreadGuy
"Progress"		PhilGoetz
Ask an experimental physicist		RolfAndreassen
Conspiracy Theories as Agency Fictions		Konkvistador
Reply to Holden on 'Tool AI'		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
How to Run a Successful Less Wrong Meetup		Kaj_Sotala
AGI Impacts conference in Oxford in December, with Call for Papers		Stuart_Armstrong
Local Ordinances of Fun		Alicorn
Why Academic Papers Are A Terrible Discussion Forum		tommccabe
Female Compatriots, Stay For a Week in Berkeley!		ShannonFriedman
Plastination is maturing and needs funding, says Hanson		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
The Power of Reinforcement		lukeprog
A (small) critique of total utilitarianism		Stuart_Armstrong
Introduction to Game Theory: Sequence Guide		Yvain
Nash Equilibria and Schelling Points		Yvain
Introduction to Prisoners' Dilemma		Yvain
Backward Reasoning Over Decision Trees		Yvain
Thoughts on moral intuitions		Kaj_Sotala
Your existence is informative		KatjaGrace
New York Less Wrong: Expansion Plans		tommccabe
Real World Solutions to Prisoners' Dilemmas		Yvain
Rationality Quotes July 2012		RobertLumley
Negative and Positive Selection		tommccabe
Interlude for Behavioral Economics		Yvain
To Learn Critical Thinking, Study Critical Thinking		gwern
Reply to Holden on The Singularity Institute		lukeprog
An Intuitive Explanation of Solomonoff Induction		Alex_Altair
Kurzweil's predictions: good accuracy, poor self-calibration		Stuart_Armstrong
What Is Optimal Philanthropy?		tommccabe
What Is Signaling, Really?		Yvain
Bargaining and Auctions		Yvain
Tips for Starting Group Houses		ShannonFriedman
Welcome to Less Wrong! (July 2012)		ciphergoth
Imperfect Voting Systems		Yvain
SI's Summer 2012 Matching Drive Ends July 31st		lukeprog
Game Theory As A Dark Art		Yvain
Neuroscience basics for LessWrongians		ChrisHallquist
Reinforcement Learning: A Non-Standard Introduction (Part 1)		royf
AGI-12 conference in Oxford in December		Stuart_Armstrong
Reinforcement Learning: A Non-Standard Introduction (Part 2)		royf
Rationality Quotes August 2012		Alejandro1
What are the optimal biases to overcome?		aaronsw
Self-skepticism: the first principle of rationality		aaronsw
Natural Laws Are Descriptions, not Rules		pragmatist
Reinforcement, Preference and Utility		royf
Solving the two envelopes problem		rstarkov
Bayes for Schizophrenics: Reasoning in Delusional Disorders		Yvain
Why Don't People Help Others More?		peter_hurford
Who Wants To Start An Important Startup?		ShannonFriedman
AI timeline predictions: are we getting better?		Stuart_Armstrong
How to get cryocrastinators to actually sign up for cryonics		JGWeissman
AI timeline prediction data		Stuart_Armstrong
The noncentral fallacy - the worst argument in the world?		Yvain
Counterfactual resiliency test for non-causal models		Stuart_Armstrong
Rationality Quotes September 2012		Jayson_Virissimo
How about testing our ideas?		Konkvistador
The Bayesian Agent		royf
Less Wrong Polls in Comments		jimrandomh
New study on choice blindness in moral positions		nerfhammer
Causality: a chapter by chapter review		Vaniver
The Useful Idea of Truth		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Rationality Quotes October 2012		MBlume
Skill: The Map is Not the Territory		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Rationality: Appreciating Cognitive Algorithms		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Raising the waterline		Morendil
Point-Based Value Iteration		royf
Firewalling the Optimal from the Rational		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Raising the forecasting waterline (part 1)		Morendil
The Fabric of Real Things		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Raising the forecasting waterline (part 2)		Morendil
Causal Diagrams and Causal Models		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
How To Have Things Correctly		Alicorn
Stuff That Makes Stuff Happen		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Causal Reference		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
How to Deal with Depression - The Meta Layers		ShannonFriedman
Now I Appreciate Agency		ShannonFriedman
Original Research on Less Wrong		lukeprog
Checking Kurzweil's track record		Stuart_Armstrong
Proofs, Implications, and Models		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Beyond Bayesians and Frequentists		jsteinhardt
Logical Pinpointing		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Sign up to be notified about new LW meetups in your area		Louie
2012 Less Wrong Census/Survey		Yvain
Voting is like donating thousands of dollars to charity		Academian
Rationality Quotes November 2012		GabrielDuquette
Checklist of Rationality Habits		AnnaSalamon
Nov 16-18: Rationality for Entrepreneurs		AnnaSalamon
How can I reduce existential risk from AI?		lukeprog
Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, and Meta-Charity		wdcrouch
AGI-12 and AGI-Impacts - late places available		Stuart_Armstrong
Playing the student: attitudes to learning as social roles		Swimmer963
Overconfident Pessimism		lukeprog
LW Women- Minimizing the Inferential Distance		daenerys
How minimal is our intelligence?		Douglas_Reay
A definition of wireheading		Anja
Thoughts on designing policies for oneself		John_Maxwell_IV
Causal Universes		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Philosophy by Humans, 3: Intuitions Aren't Shared That Way		lukeprog
Philosophy Needs to Trust Your Rationality Even Though It Shouldn't		lukeprog
Rationality Quotes December 2012		Thomas
LessWrong podcasts		Louie
Factions, inequality, and social justice		John_Maxwell_IV
Mixed Reference: The Great Reductionist Project		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Train Philosophers with Pearl and Kahneman, not Plato and Kant		lukeprog
2012 Winter Fundraiser for the Singularity Institute		lukeprog
2012 Survey Results		Yvain
By Which It May Be Judged		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
New Sequences and General Update From Castify		scott_from_castify
Why you must maximize expected utility		Benja
More Cryonics Probability Estimates		jkaufman
Narrative, self-image, and self-communication		Academian
Standard and Nonstandard Numbers		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Ritual Report 2012: Life, Death, Light, Darkness, and Love.		Raemon
Godel's Completeness and Incompleteness Theorems		Eliezer_Yudkowsky
Ritual 2012: A Moment of Darkness		Raemon