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This is: Rational Toothpaste: A Case Study, published by badger on the AI Alignment Forum.
Inspired by Konkvistador's comment
Posts titled "Rational ___-ing" or "A Rational Approach to ____" induce groans among a sizeable contingent here, myself included. However, inflationary use of "rational" and its transformation into an applause light is only one part of the problem. These posts tend to revolve around specific answers, rather than the process of how to find answers. I claim a post on "rational toothpaste buying" could be on-topic and useful, if correctly written to illustrate determining goals, assessing tradeoffs, and implementing the final conclusions. A post detailing the pros and cons of various toothpaste brands is for a dentistry or personal hygiene forum; a post about algorithms for how to determine the best brands or whether to do so at all is for a rationality forum. This post is my shot at showing what this would look like.
At one point or another, we've all asked ourselves, "what is the most rational toothpaste?" After all, despite the length of the sequences, I've yet to see Eliezer's endorsed personal hygiene products. What is an aspiring rationalist to do?
Step one is to throw out the question entirely. The most rational toothpaste does not exist, nor does the best toothpaste nor the optimal toothpaste. These adjectives are only applicable relative to particular goals, constraints, and contexts. Avoid the mistake of assuming optimality is a trait inherent to toothpaste, rather than a joint function of the toothpaste and who is using it. Similarly, the best programming language, the best footwear, the best way to write, and the best job are all under-specified.
Even before determining what you are looking for in toothpaste, take one more step back. Is optimizing your toothpaste worth the time and attention? First, there is the issue of whether improved dental care is worth it, and then, whether better toothpaste is the best means of improving your teeth.
While recognizing "optimal" varies across individuals, goals might be aligned closely enough that something can be identified as approximately optimal. The search costs of finding the perfect solution could outweigh going with an approximate solution. Toothpaste seems like a product where users have essentially the same needs or fall into a small number of categories, unlike the best place to reside, which depends on a large number of individual factors. As a result, toothpaste is probably already well optimized for you and picking anything up off the shelf of a supermarket should do fine, but a product you use everyday still deserves a few minutes of deliberate analysis.
One basic algorithm for tackling these issue:
What do you actually want to accomplish? Two approaches for determining goals: 1. (Bottom-up) List all the goals your current actions or the first proposed solution might fulfill. 2. (Top-down) List your basic values, major goals, mid-level goals, etc until you reach the relevant scope.
How much are you actually willing to spend in time and experimentation costs for improvements to these goals? Quickly estimate the value of information.
Generate actions that might suit each goal. Focus on quantity.
Gather information. Is there published research on the topic? Who might have good advice? Are there quick experiments that can be run?
Filter actions and form a plan.
Are you satisfied with implementing the conclusion reached? If you feel a hang-up, try optimizing specifically for that.1
Following a bottom-up approach, why do I use toothpaste at all? Toothpaste can decrease risk of cavities, whiten teeth, improve bad breath, or make brushing more pleasant. A change I make could be relevant for at least five years. Beyond that point, I discount the future enough not to worry about it, with the chances ...
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