“Can you live your life 100% guided by reason?”

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Benjamin Davies’s avatar
Benjamin Davies revised 1 day ago·#2899

Reflecting on one's past thought and action seems to be a key component of living a life 100% guided by reason. Thinking about this has inspired me to make an effort to search for methods and tools that help systematise, formalise and improve the quality of my self-reflection.

Benjamin Davies’s avatar

I already have a loose journalling habit, but it is completely free of schedule, structure or method.

Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis HackethalOP revised about 23 hours ago·#2945

Would you like to try formulating an explicit methodology for how you want to use Veritula?
I noticed that you’ve started a bunch of discussions but I don’t believe you’ve reached a resolution on any of them.

Benjamin Davies’s avatar
Benjamin Davies revised about 24 hours ago·#2930

I noticed that you’ve started a bunch of discussions but I don’t believe you’ve reached a resolution on any of them.

I think this is partly to do with the fact that Veritula has no clear way of indicating when a resolution has been reached or a problem has been solved.

For example, I am currently applying #2840, and it is working well. There is no obvious thing I should be doing in Veritula to note that. I would probably only bring it up again if it didn’t solve the problem in the end.

Criticized2oustanding criticisms
Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis HackethalOP, about 23 hours ago·#2949

I think this is partly to do with the fact that Veritula has no clear way of indicating when a resolution has been reached or a problem has been solved.

It does. For example, you could post an idea saying ‘I have decided to do X.’ Like in your discussion on where to move.

You can also indicate resolution of top-level criticisms by archiving them when they have pending counter-criticisms. The meta discussion is an example of top-level ideas reaching resolutions in this way.

Criticism of #2930
Benjamin Davies’s avatar
Benjamin Davies, about 22 hours ago·#2950

As I think about this, I notice that—once I solve a given problem with a new idea—I have no habit to consciously acknowledge that a problem has been solved, much less to write down that it has been solved. The ex-problem fades from my mind as I set my mind on a new problem.

I could try to make it a habit to explicitly acknowledge when I do find solutions to problems. If the solution is found on Veritula, it would be natural to acknowledge it here too.

I like the idea of explicitly acknowledging progress in this way, because it might help me become more prideful in the Objectivist sense.

Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis HackethalOP, about 5 hours ago·#2958

I think this is partly to do with the fact that Veritula has no clear way of indicating when a resolution has been reached or a problem has been solved.

Should take personal responsibility and not blame the tool.

Criticism of #2930
Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis HackethalOP, about 5 hours ago·#2959

Well, he did say “partly”, so that leaves room for personal responsibility.

Criticism of #2958Criticized1oustanding criticism
Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis HackethalOP, about 5 hours ago·#2960

It leaves room for something, but it’s not clear what.

Criticism of #2959
Benjamin Davies’s avatar
Benjamin Davies, about 23 hours ago·#2948

Would you like to try formulating an explicit methodology for how you want to use Veritula?

This seems like a good idea.

Benjamin Davies’s avatar
Benjamin Davies revised about 21 hours ago·#2952

Closing threads is a common problem in my life. I should look for ways to increase my propensity to resolve/finish things I start.

Methods I look for need to allow for the fact that not everything needs to be resolved, i.e. that having some open threads is inevitable, and that some of those threads are acceptable to leave open indefinitely.

Benjamin Davies’s avatar
Benjamin Davies, about 21 hours ago·#2954

Idea: Keep a document tracking open threads, updating it every night. Every morning, feed it to Gemini Flash and have it coach me on what I could work towards resolving today.

Benjamin Davies’s avatar
Benjamin Davies, about 21 hours ago·#2955

This would work well for some open threads, but not others (like anything I have left unaddressed on Veritula).

Criticism of #2954Criticized1oustanding criticism
Benjamin Davies’s avatar
Benjamin Davies, about 21 hours ago·#2956

That doesn’t mean it can’t be part of the solution.

Criticism of #2955
Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis HackethalOP, about 21 hours ago·#2957

If your goal, like mine, is to live a life that is 100% guided by reason, which basically means (#2844) to never adopt ideas that have pending criticisms, you could use Veritula to identify ideas of yours that have pending criticisms so you can either reject those ideas or address the criticisms.

To that end, I suggest you submit a single idea you are confident is correct, and then try your hardest to criticize it. Depending on the idea, I may join you.

It’s a good goal to perfect an idea to the point you’ve mastered it, addressed all objections, understand the objections better than your opponents, etc.

If this sounds up your alley, I recommend starting with something easy. Zelalem tried writing a summary of fallibilism which, after 13 revisions, still contains mistakes.