# Some of the best rationality essays

*Meta: Send this to anyone who is interested in learning more about "rationality"*

**A refresher: what is “rationality?” \[1\]**
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> **Rationality** is the art of thinking in ways that result in [accurate beliefs](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/world-modeling) and [good decisions](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/decision-theory) \[as understood by the LessWrong community; this understanding of rationality differs from [others](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationality), some of which are more common in colloquial usage than “LessWrong rationality”\]. It is the primary topic of LessWrong.
> 
> Rationality is not only about avoiding the vices of [self-deception](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/self-deception) and obfuscation (the failure to [communicate clearly](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/conversation-topic)), but also about the virtue of [curiosity](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/curiosity), seeing the world more clearly than before, and [achieving things](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/ambition) [previously unreachable](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/skill-building) [to you](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/coordination-cooperation). The study of rationality on LessWrong includes a theoretical understanding of ideal cognitive algorithms, as well as building a practice that uses these idealized algorithms to inform [heuristics](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/heuristics-and-biases), [habits](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/habits), and [techniques](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/techniques), to successfully reason and make decisions in the real world.

**Resources and materials**
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To learn more about rationality, I recommend (in order of usefulness per unit of effort): 

*   Subscribing to the [LessWrong digest](https://www.lesswrong.com/) (subscribe at the sidebar),
*   Reading the essays from the list below,
*   Reading [Rationality A to Z](https://www.lesswrong.com/rationality) (podcast form [here](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rationality-from-ai-to-zombies/id1299826696)),
*   Reading [some of the best works from Scott Alexander](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vwqLfDfsHmiavFAGP/the-library-of-scott-alexandria).

To learn more about systematically doing good (i.e. effective altruism) I recommend:

*   Subscribing to the [80,000 Hours mailing list](https://80000hours.org/),
*   Reading [this 80,000 Hours post](https://80000hours.org/make-a-difference-with-your-career/) about the importance of career choice,
*   Participating in an [EA Virtual Program](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/virtual-programs/),
*   Reading/skimming [this comprehensive set of readings on effective altruism](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/s/NKTk9s4tZPiA4aySj).

**Some of the best rationality essays \[2\]**
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Below you can find some of the best writings on rationality, in no particular order:

1.  [Affective Death Spirals](http://lesswrong.com/lw/lm/affective_death_spirals/)
2.  [Uncritical Supercriticality](http://lesswrong.com/lw/lo/uncritical_supercriticality/)
3.  [Cached Thoughts](http://lesswrong.com/lw/k5/cached_thoughts/)
4.  [We Change Our Minds Less Often Than We Think](http://lesswrong.com/lw/jx/we_change_our_minds_less_often_than_we_think/)
5.  [Hold Off On Proposing Solutions](http://lesswrong.com/lw/ka/hold_off_on_proposing_solutions/)
6.  [Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People](http://lesswrong.com/lw/he/knowing_about_biases_can_hurt_people/)
7.  [Update Yourself Incrementally](http://lesswrong.com/lw/ij/update_yourself_incrementally/)
8.  [The Bottom Line](http://lesswrong.com/lw/js/the_bottom_line/)
9.  [Avoiding Your Belief's Real Weak Points](http://lesswrong.com/lw/jy/avoiding_your_beliefs_real_weak_points/)
10.  [Motivated Stopping and Motivated Continuation](http://lesswrong.com/lw/km/motivated_stopping_and_motivated_continuation/)
11.  [Anti-Epistemology](http://lesswrong.com/lw/uy/dark_side_epistemology/)
12.  [The Proper Use of Humility](http://lesswrong.com/lw/gq/the_proper_use_of_humility/)
13.  [You *Can* Face Reality](http://lesswrong.com/lw/id/you_can_face_reality/)
14.  [The Meditation on Curiosity](http://lesswrong.com/lw/jz/the_meditation_on_curiosity/)
15.  [Something to Protect](http://lesswrong.com/lw/nb/something_to_protect/)
16.  [Crisis of Faith](http://lesswrong.com/lw/ur/crisis_of_faith/)
17.  [Mind Projection Fallacy](http://lesswrong.com/lw/oi/mind_projection_fallacy/)
18.  [Reductionism](http://lesswrong.com/lw/on/reductionism/)
19.  [Explaining vs. Explaining Away](http://lesswrong.com/lw/oo/explaining_vs_explaining_away/)
20.  [Angry Atoms](http://lesswrong.com/lw/p3/angry_atoms/)
21.  [Making Beliefs Pay Rent (in Anticipated Experiences)](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/a7n8GdKiAZRX86T5A/making-beliefs-pay-rent-in-anticipated-experiences)
22.  [Humans are not automatically strategic](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PBRWb2Em5SNeWYwwB/humans-are-not-automatically-strategic)
23.  [Local Validity as a Key to Sanity and Civilization](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WQFioaudEH8R7fyhm/local-validity-as-a-key-to-sanity-and-civilization)
24.  [Twelve Virtues of Rationality](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7ZqGiPHTpiDMwqMN2/twelve-virtues-of-rationality)
25.  [The noncentral fallacy - the worst argument in the world?](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yCWPkLi8wJvewPbEp/the-noncentral-fallacy-the-worst-argument-in-the-world)
26.  [Policy Debates Should Not Appear One-Sided](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PeSzc9JTBxhaYRp9b/policy-debates-should-not-appear-one-sided)
27.  ["Other people are wrong" vs "I am right"](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4QemtxDFaGXyGSrGD/other-people-are-wrong-vs-i-am-right)
28.  [On Caring](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ur9TCRnHJighHmLCW/on-caring)
29.  [Outline of Galef's "Scout Mindset"](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yFJ7vCjefBxnTchmG/outline-of-galef-s-scout-mindset)
30.  [Generalizing From One Example](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/baTWMegR42PAsH9qJ/generalizing-from-one-example)
31.  [Diseased thinking: dissolving questions about disease](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/895quRDaK6gR2rM82/diseased-thinking-dissolving-questions-about-disease)
32.  [How An Algorithm Feels From Inside](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yA4gF5KrboK2m2Xu7/how-an-algorithm-feels-from-inside)
33.  [Scope Insensitivity](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/2ftJ38y9SRBCBsCzy/scope-insensitivity)
34.  [Conservation of Expected Evidence](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jiBFC7DcCrZjGmZnJ/conservation-of-expected-evidence)
35.  [Your Strength as a Rationalist](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/5JDkW4MYXit2CquLs/your-strength-as-a-rationalist)
36.  [Your intuitions are not magic](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Psp8ZpYLCDJjshpRb/your-intuitions-are-not-magic)
37.  [How To Convince Me that 2 + 2 = 3](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6FmqiAgS8h4EJm86s/how-to-convince-me-that-2-2-3)
38.  [The simple truth](https://www.lesswrong.com/s/5uZQHpecjn7955faL/p/X3HpE8tMXz4m4w6Rz)
39.  [Circular altruism](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4ZzefKQwAtMo5yp99/circular-altruism)

\[1\] Taken from [the Rationality Tag](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/rationality), though the bracketed words are mine.

\[2\] Half of these are the bolded essays from [here](https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/original-sequences), the other half were recommended by a well-read LessWronger. By “some of the best” I really mean “some of the most useful to read, probably.” This is not authoritative at all; please comment if you think we missed any important essays.