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Butterfly Ideas — LessWrong

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Or “How I got my hyperanalytical friends to chill out and vibe on ideas for 5 minutes before testing them to destruction” Sometimes talking with my friends is like intellectual combat, which is great. I am glad I have such strong cognitive warriors on my side. But not all ideas are ready for intellectual combat. If I don’t get my friend on board with this, some of them will crush an idea before it gets a chance to develop, which feels awful and can kill off promising avenues of investigation. It’s like showing a beautiful, fragile butterfly to your friend to demonstrate the power of flight, only to have them grab it and crush it in their hands, then point to the mangled corpse as proof butterflies not only don’t fly, but can’t fly, look how busted their wings are. When I’m stuck in a conversation like that, it has been really helpful to explicitly label things as butterfly ideas. This has two purposes. First, it’s a shorthand for labeling what I want (nurturance and encouragement). Sec

x Butterfly Ideas — LessWrong Best of LessWrong 2022 Babble and Prune Creativity Disagreement Epistemology World Modeling Frontpage 233 Butterfly Ideas by Elizabeth 22nd Feb 2022 Aceso Under Glass 4 min read 10 233 Or “How I got my hyperanalytical friends to chill out and vibe on ideas for 5 minutes before testing them to destruction” Sometimes talking with my friends is like intellectual combat, which is great. I am glad I have such strong cognitive warriors on my side. But not all ideas are ready for intellectual combat. If I don’t get my friend on board with this, some of them will crush an

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