Overview
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Galaxy Brain Resistance: Arguments should be difficult to abuse for rationalizing predetermined conclusions; if reasoning can justify anything, it implies nothing meaningful.
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Low-Resistance Patterns: Inevitabilism, longtermism, power maximization, and "working from within" are easily exploited because they disconnect from near-term verifiable reality.
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Practical Defenses: Adopt deontological principles with hard rules you won't break, diversify your social and financial incentives, and avoid environments that pressure you toward rationalization.
Takeaways
Vitalik Buterin wrote this essay on epistemic hygiene for reasoning. The core insight is that patterns of thought without "falsifiability" become tools for self-interested rationalization rather than genuine understanding.
"If your arguments can justify anything, then your arguments imply nothing."