Rationality materials

This page will eventually be the "Rationality materials" page requisitioned by Luke. This page is currently a work-in-progress. See the discussion here.

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(will add some intro paragraphs later)

To read Less Wrong systematically, read the Sequences. The Core Sequences are a collection of posts that focus on fundamental rationality skills, and they are the foundation for most of the concepts discussed on Less Wrong. The Core Sequences were written by Eliezer Yudkowsky between 2006 and 2009 on economist Robin Hanson's blog Overcoming Bias.

The best way to read through the Sequences is via the Sequence index, which lists Yudkowsky's posts in logical order.

There is also a dependency tree of all of Eliezer Yudkowsky's posts from November 2006 to December 2008 that can be used as a more thorough index of the material. In addition, Less Wrong users have created several alternative indexes of the Sequences: 1 2

Here is a short sample of posts from the Sequences:

Core Sequences
Map and Territory What Do We Mean By "Rationality"? What is Evidence? An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions Making Beliefs Pay Rent Applause lights Hindsight Devalues Science Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions A Human's Guide to Words Taboo Your Words Disguised Queries How An Algorithm Feels From Inside	How To Actually Change Your Mind A Fable of Science and Politics The Fallacy of Gray Politics is the Mind-Killer Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People The Bottom Line The Proper Use of Humility No One Can Exempt You From Rationality's Laws Reductionism Mind Projection Fallacy Righting a Wrong Question Explaining vs. Explaining Away Reductionism

Other Sequences

Positivism, Self Deception, and Neuroscience The Apologist and the Revolutionary How Not to Lost an Argument The Mystery of the Haunted Rationalist Decision Theory of Newcomblike Problems Confusion About Newcomb is Confusion About Counterfactuals The Science of Winning at Life Scientific Self-Help: The State of Our Knowledge How to Beat Procrastination How to Be Happy Metaethics sequence Where Recursive Justification Hits Bottom No Universally Compelling Arguments Sorting Pebbles Into Correct Heaps Priming and Implicit Association Never Leave Your Room Fun theory Eutopia is Scary Complex Novelty

Living Luminously Seven Shiny Stories Ureshiku Naritai You Are Likely To Be Eaten By A Grue Challenging the Difficult Tsuyoku Naritai! (I Want To Become Stronger) Something to Protect Decision Analysis Value of Information: Four Examples 5 Axioms of Decision Making Rationality and Philosophy Philosophy: A Diseased Discipline Philosophy by Humans, 1 The Craft and the Community Why Our Kind Can't Cooperate Raising the Sanity Waterline Quantum Physics Quantum Explanations Can You Prove Two Particles Are Identical?

(These lists were determined mostly by upvotes and are extremely tentative; more to come on the minor sequences, standalone posts on commonly discussed topics, meetup resources, and other stuff.)