Liberalism and Conservatism (with Cassandra Xia and Hank Racette)
1. Prioritize Impactful Ideas
Focus on ideas that have causal power to improve human well-being, societal betterment, decision-making, emotions, relationships, and thinking skills, rather than just fascinating but non-impactful topics.
2. Focus on Meta-Skills
Emphasize learning the tools and meta-skills for how to get answers and think effectively, such as decision-making and bias, rather than being wedded to specific answers or solutions for complex problems.
3. Embrace Generalism & Cross-Pollination
Actively pick up a variety of skills to enable cross-pollination of ideas and methods between different fields, potentially leading to novel solutions and broader understanding.
4. Cultivate Algorithmic Thinking
Develop problem-solving and algorithmic thinking skills, especially through programming, as these mental tools can be cross-applied to improve performance across many different domains.
5. Adopt Systematic & Probabilistic Thinking
Apply mathematical thinking to break down problems systematically, optimize systems, and think probabilistically, which can change how you approach and understand the world.
6. Automate Repetitive Tasks
If you have a process you will do repeatedly, invest time early on to automate it or turn it into a systematic, documented process to increase efficiency and quality.
7. Document Processes for Improvement
Create written processes or “human algorithms” for tasks you do more than once to standardize, ensure quality control, incorporate learnings, and make them extendable for others.
8. Refactor Your Work
After a first draft, consciously go back to simplify, clean up, and make your work more concise and easier to understand, applying the programming concept of refactoring.
9. Practice Precise Communication
Cultivate the habit of using precise language, as required in programming, to minimize misinterpretation and improve clarity when communicating with both computers and humans.
10. Leverage Reusable Components
Apply the concept of programming libraries by reusing existing solutions, templates, or defining terms (variables) to shorten and clarify complex documents or processes.
11. Temporarily Remove Constraints
When facing a difficult problem, temporarily remove constraints to find a solution, then reintroduce them to see how the initial solution can inform a practical approach.
12. Study Metacognitive Skills
Actively learn about learning and generalizable mental tools from various fields to improve your thinking and problem-solving abilities, as these are often overlooked in traditional education.
13. Practice E-Prime for Clarity
Modify your language to avoid “state of being” verbs (like “is,” “are,” “was”) to force clearer, more nuanced thinking, prevent attachment to fixed identities, and avoid making absolute pronouncements.
14. Describe Properties, Not Fixed Identities
Instead of using “is” to assign fixed labels (e.g., “Josh is a teacher”), describe properties and actions (e.g., “Josh teaches math”) to promote multi-factor thinking and acknowledge the fluid nature of categories.
15. Specify Knowledge Source
When communicating, implicitly or explicitly consider how you came to believe something, as E-Prime encourages, to foster more precise thinking and avoid presenting subjective perceptions as objective truths.
16. Evaluate Ideas Independently
Judge ideas based on their merit and content, rather than being swayed by the credentials or background of the person presenting them.
17. Cultivate Goodwill & Pro-Social Focus
Engage in practices that focus on goodwill towards others, such as prayer (in a psychological sense), to foster pro-social benefits and improve interactions.
18. Seek Community & Rituals
Find or create rituals and communities that provide social support and a sense of belonging, similar to the benefits often found in religious gatherings.
19. Practice Gratitude & Avoid Coveting
Regularly focus on what you have and express gratitude, while consciously avoiding coveting others’ possessions, to gain psychological benefits and contentment.
20. Regularly Study Morality
Establish a regular practice, like daily study or reflection, to keep moral concepts, virtues, and how to be a good person at the forefront of your mind, influencing your interactions.
21. Distinguish Types of Forgiveness
Understand that “forgiveness” can mean either internal peace (letting go of anger for yourself) or external absolution (restoring a relationship), and choose which type is appropriate for a given situation.
22. Identify Reasons for Forgiveness
Consider the various reasons to forgive (understanding, incomprehension, self-interest, justice, philosophical beliefs) to guide your approach when deciding whether and how to forgive someone.
23. Consider Restorative Justice
Advocate for or engage in restorative justice approaches that involve victims in determining outcomes for perpetrators, aiming for rehabilitation and reducing future harm rather than solely retributive punishment.
24. Embrace Interactive Learning
Actively seek out or create educational experiences that are interactive, alternating passive learning with quizzes, games, or practical applications to improve retention and understanding.
25. Integrate Learning with Application
Learn new information by applying it immediately, such as learning about cognitive biases while making a real-life decision, to make the knowledge more impactful and memorable.
26. Utilize Simulations for Intuition
Use interactive simulations and experiments (like Nikki Case’s work or physical phenomena) to build deep, intuitive understanding of complex concepts in a fun and engaging way.
27. Teach to Learn
To truly understand a topic, explain it to someone else; this forces you to structure your thinking, synthesize information, and identify gaps in your own knowledge.
28. Write to Solidify Understanding
Regularly write about new ideas or concepts you’ve learned, such as in a blog post, to force structured thinking, deepen understanding, and identify areas where your knowledge is incomplete.