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comment by goldstarbrotha
goldstarbrotha  ·  3534 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What are you reading? Is it any good?

I'm reading https://intelligence.org/rationality-ai-zombies/. It's a collection of Elizer Yudkowsky's essays on rationality and science. I'm enjoying it immensely, it's been extremely mind opening. He's an extremely good writer, and he has a particular style of passionate rationality that I haven't really seen anywhere else.

I'm also reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It's a self-help and motivational book written in the 30's. It's been extremely motivating so far and I've enjoyed it immensely (I've always had a soft spot for 30's style writing) Some of the advice is a little hokey, but it makes a lot more sense in the context of modern science. I'd definitely recommend reading Thinking Fast and Slow first, it explains why a lot of the things that Hill attributes to God (or "The Infinite Intelligence") actually work - he's basically talking about how to train your subconscious (or the fast system) to motivate and help your conscious mind (the slow system) towards a particular goal. Your subconscious directs your attention, selecting what your conscious notices and also gives your conscious commands (an example from "Thinking Fast and Slow" is a person having a strong urge to brake before they consciously notice the deer about to jump in front of their car), so if your train your subconscious to really really want something you'll be more likely to notice opportunities relating to that thing, and more motivated to work towards it. At least that's my take on it. Apparently a lot of this hokey sounding advice is removed from the abridged version, which probably makes it more palatable to modern audiences but also completely neuters the book, so if you want to read it make sure you get the unabridged version.