# Why I'm Pouring Cold Water in My Left Ear, and You Should Too

Why?
====

A little while ago, I read [these](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ZiQqsgGX6a42Sfpii/the-apologist-and-the-revolutionary) [posts](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/iA2xt6ywvJTzKQmiz/to-become-more-rational-rinse-your-left-ear-with-cold-water) about how pouring really cold water in people's left ear solves an extreme form of rationalizing in patients with Anosognosia and might(?) make people better calibrated in general. Last month, I asked whether [anyone had checked that](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/izX78z38raJDCYsug/has-someone-checked-the-cold-water-in-left-ear-thing), because it seemed like something that would be rather important if true. I got no response, which tells me that even if someone has, it's not common knowledge.

I decided to write up this rough [experimental method](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xrRC6ZS2kqfXnmTrJMKBewYGVHXdmtOXLjCcQnjd44Q/edit?usp=sharing) (copy-pasted below) and made this [google form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKBSgu_u8rgdZ4vE-VntFI6NjPAej6bVS7AQMXgdE3DOFa_Q/viewform?usp=header) to record my results. Originally I was going to be the only participant, but figured I might as well put it out there in case others wanted to help. I'd really appreciate any additional data points people want to add.

After enough data to determine whether it's likely that there's actually a positive effect, I'll publish it in a followup post.

What About Selection Effects/Placebo?
=====================================

Yep, there could be those, this isn't designed to fully narrow down any effects. If the data ends up strongly implying an effect, then more precise experiments are worth doing. If it doesn't, then any effort to deal with those are wasted motion that just slows us down and likely [decreases sample size](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/reitXJgJXFzKpdKyd/beware-trivial-inconveniences).

Is This Safe?
=============

I think so? It's an established [medical procedure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloric_reflex_test), and some people were obviously able to get ethical approval for it, otherwise it wouldn't be in those papers. It does feel very uncomfortable for a little while after, and doing it multiple times could have more of an impact than the once in the papers. If you're concerned about that, avoid doing it multiple times.

Personally, I'm willing to take the risk of potential hearing problems in my left ear for a little while because I expect that to be fixable, and rationality interventions now could potentially add up to a serious impact on our future trajectory. 

Draft Experimental Method
=========================

Materials
---------

*   Ice cubes
*   Glass
*   Water
*   Pipette/syringe (without needle), or some other method of precisely delivering water
*   Timer
*   Coin (or online randomizer)
*   Computer with the credence game: [https://acritch.com/credence-game/](https://acritch.com/credence-game/)

Method
------

1.  Note time, date, potential confounding factors (importantly, ones that could have an impact on the difference between now and 20 mins or so from now)
2.  Get a glass of water, put ice in it, wait until the water is ice-cold (10 min or so, the water should be cold enough that the ice hasn’t melted, but the water isn’t getting noticeably colder)
3.  Flip a coin: heads means cold water first, tails means control first.
4.  Using this [credence calibration game](https://acritch.com/credence-game/), answer as many questions as you can in 10 minutes. Note the total score, total questions, and average score.
5.  Wait 10 minutes
6.  step 4, but whichever one (cold water or control) you didn't do the first time.

### Control

Using this [credence calibration game](https://acritch.com/credence-game/), answer as many questions as you can in 10 minutes. Note the total score, total questions, and average score, then delete the save file.

### Cold Water

1.  Grab the ice water and a pipette or syringe (without needle)
2.  Go to a location where nausea/vertigo would be an acceptable outcome
3.  Lie down with your left side facing upwards
4.  Use the instrument to pour the ice water in your left ear, continue until you feel vertigo/nausea. My personal experience was feeling like the room was spinning a little.
5.  Using this [credence calibration game](https://acritch.com/credence-game/), answer as many questions as you can in 10 minutes. At the end, note the total score, total questions, and average score, then delete the save file.