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Mental software updates — LessWrong

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I feel like items on your current list have < 10 % of the responsibility for what I'd consider software updates in humans, and that it sorta fails to address almost all the ordinary stuff that goes on when individual humans are learning stuff (from others or independently) or when "humanity is improving its thinking". But that makes me think that maybe I'm missing what you're going for with this list?[1] Continuing with the (possibly different) question I have in mind anyway, here's a list that imo points toward a decent chunk of what is missing from your list, with a focus on the case of independent and somewhat thoughtful learning/[thinking-improving] (as opposed to the case of copying from others, and as opposed to the case of fairly non-thoughtful thinking-improving)[2]: I will note that when I say < 10 % , this is wrt a measure that cares a lot about understanding how it is that one improves at doing difficult thinking (like, math/philosophy/science/tech research), and I could

x Mental software updates — LessWrong Practical Rationality Frontpage 37 Mental software updates by KatjaGrace 20th May 2025 World Spirit Sock Puppet 2 min read 4 37 Brains are like computers in that the hardware can do all kinds of stuff in principle, but each one tends to run through some particular patterns of activity repeatedly. For computers you can change this by changing programs. What are big ways brain ‘software’ changes? Some I can think of: Intentional practice of different styles of thinking (e.g. meditation) Intentional practice of different trains of thought in response to speci

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