19-01-30 Different Definitions of Rationality in Use

Category: Idea Lists (Upon Request)

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What people mean when they say rationality differs dramatically from person to person, leading to unnecessary confusion. An attempt to describe major differences:

1. Accords with social convention (what rational person would do such a thing?)
2. Doesn’t accept emotional feedback (cold blooded rationality)
3. Making decision that maximize the probability of your goals being accomplished / expected utility
4. Forming beliefs about the world based on evidence backed by statistical rigor
5. Not based on intuition, but based on logic
6. Rationalism vs. Empiricism
7. Causal thinking (as opposed to narrative, or associative)
8. Not subject to cognitive biases
9. Gets their goals accomplished

Related to:

1. Optimization

2. Achieving alignment between actions and goals

3. Achieving alignment between goals and values

4. Truth

   1. Reality, and alignment of models with reality

      5. Logic

         1. Dataless

         2. Deduction (as opposed to induction)

            6. Reason

               1. Grounded in causality, in reasons

               2. Grounded in logic

Source: Original Google Doc