Julia Galef on Bringing Rationalist Movement to Mainstream

extremely wary of any movement that denies such huge amounts of the human experience - every human exists in a space between rationality and irrationality - ‘rational choice’ doesn’t inherently mean correct choice - ‘rational’ is incredibly subjective and culturally specific

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• “Early on, they began conducting a controlled study to determine whether the workshops were demonstrably helpful.” ⤴️
• “rationalism became not only the de facto brand of self-help in Silicon Valley but also an intellectual movement followed by pundits and executives alike” ⤴️
• “Galef argues for what she calls “scout mindset,” which she contrasts with “soldier mindset.” The idea is that evolution has wired our minds to be soldiers (focused on winning) instead of scouts (focused on ensuring our mental maps accurately reflect the territory of reality). To adopt a scout mindset is to resist falling prey to “motivated reasoning,” in which we distort our thoughts to achieve a desired outcome.” ⤴️
• “The stress or shame that accompanies being wrong can cause people to double down on their arguments, but in those situations, Galef reminds herself of a tip she gives in her book: to take pride in being the kind of person who can change their mind.” ⤴️