LessWrong (30+ Karma)

Principles of a Rationality Dojo


Listen Later

Since 2023 I've been directing WARP, the Wandering Applied Rationality Program with the help of ESPR and SPARC staff, which are summer camps I've taught at since 2017. For those that don't know, these are ~10 day programs are hard to summarize well, but are generally meant to create an environment for participants to better understand the world, themselves, and each other by offering a variety of classes ranging from information theory and statistics, to Double Crux and Focusing, to classes like mine, Emotions Make Sense and Philosophy of Therapy.

The camps are a lot more than just the classes, however, which only make up the mornings of each day. The afternoons are unscheduled time for participants and staff to run more ad hoc activities like improv or puzzle hunts, and the evenings include everything from organized Fermithons to impromptu karaoke sessions. Rationality is part of the camps to create a common sense that ideas matter, problems can be solved, and the process of learning and trying new and difficult things can be fun, especially if you find the right people to do them with.

Besides the 20+ camps I've taught or directed, I've also run or helped run [...]

---

Outline:

(02:08) The Dojo Principles

(02:55) The Space We Create

(03:40) The Approach We Take

(04:22) The Purpose We Share

(05:34) (Some) Generators of Rationality

(10:04) Atomic Motions

(12:23) Deep Empiricism

(15:16) Paraphrasing

(17:50) Implicit Knowledge

(20:32) Focusing

(23:44) Aliveness

(29:02) Boggling

(31:13) Responsibility

(36:25) Betting

(39:33) Looking Ahead

---

First published:

November 26th, 2025

Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fExEphgXGgHExe2NE/principles-of-a-rationality-dojo

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

LessWrong (30+ Karma)By LessWrong


More shows like LessWrong (30+ Karma)

View all
The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

112,937 Listeners

Astral Codex Ten Podcast by Jeremiah

Astral Codex Ten Podcast

132 Listeners

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat by New York Times Opinion

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

7,286 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

548 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,365 Listeners

AI Article Readings by Readings of great articles in AI voices

AI Article Readings

4 Listeners

Doom Debates by Liron Shapira

Doom Debates

14 Listeners

LessWrong posts by zvi by zvi

LessWrong posts by zvi

2 Listeners