What is Rationality?

Category: Rationality

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Ugh. Definitions. Here goes. A web of related concepts are implied by ‘rationality’.

Related to:

1. Achieving alignment between actions and goals
2. Achieving alignment between goals and values
3. Truth
   1. Reality, and alignment of models with reality
4. Logic
   1. Dataless
   2. Deduction (as opposed to induction)
5. Reason
   1. Grounded in causality, in reasons
   2. Grounded in logic
6. Optimization
7. Causality

I tend to see rationality as 1. Aligning goals with actions that will fulfill those goals and 2. Aligning values with goals that will fulfill those values. (Please don't ask me to define values... it sits in a deeply important yet conflated section of concept space, acting as an attractor that disallows competing similar concepts)

There are these associated implications of rationality - Optimization (achieve the goal with minimal resource (time, price, pain)), Truth (alignment of models with reality, so as to more effectively plan and act in support of goals), Logic (dataless, deductive rather than inductive), Reason (groundedness in causality, in reasons), and a few others.

You may appreciate Naive Rationality if you're interested in this question:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IiExjpBQowWM1JtJlbpsrBdf9caYcUgq2TVcdwfhGE8/edit?usp=sharing

Source: Original Google Doc