If it works... try MORE!
I mean, seriously. You need a reason not to try more of it.
Neil here! Reminder: in this email list there's a mathematician, a retired congressman of the United States, software engineers, a dozen Sciences Po students, the owner of a legendary Silicon Valley restaurant, a lawyer, a tech billionaire, archeology professors, and miriad shapeless entities of awesome potential who will no doubt exceed the accomplishments of everyone else on the list (high school students). Thanks for reading this. I hope I can be of some use to you.
I respond to all replies, and encourage you to respond. Si vous parlez français, utilisez Google Translate je vous prie!
I.
The expression "more dakka" is short for "solve your problems by throwing more stuff at it". If you think you can solve a problem with more dakka, there's a good chance you're right. In fact, I'd wager most of your current problems can be solved by more dakka. Read the relevant post here. It's accessible and recommended.
Let's take the example of gratitude. When's the last time you felt grateful for something and it made your day worse? Probably never; gratitude is a good thing. When's the last time you deliberately decided to feel grateful for something? This trick seems like cheating, but I can anecdotally confirm it works, and there are studies too. "Gratitude journals' ' are heavily correlated with happiness. Here's an excerpt from the post, which is a hilarious conversation the author overheard:
"Rationalists obviously don't *actually* take ideas seriously. Like, take the Gratitude Journal. This is the one peer-reviewed intervention that *actually increases your subjective well being*, and costs barely anything. And no one I know has even seriously tried it. Do literally *none* of these people care about their own happiness?"
"Huh. Do you keep a gratitude journal?"
"Lol. No, obviously."
- Some Guy at the Effective Altruism Summit of 2012
More dakka is the simple step from "gratitude makes me feel good" --> "I should deliberately feel more gratitude". More more dakka is "I should deliberately feel twice as much gratitude". If gratitude worked once, why stop there? You should stop when you meet diminishing returns: but chances are you're not there yet.
II.
A few examples of more dakka:
I made a Google form where classmates can send anonymous compliments to each other (tinyurl.com/oib-class-is-wholesome). Most people stopped at about 5 compliments. Why? This is extremely low-hanging fruit for making people smile!
You should write dozens, even if they're for the same few people!
Where even is the point diminishing returns where complimenting people is concerned?
I was curious about how polynesian isle exploration worked, so I sent an email to an expert I found on Google. (Did you know you could... do that?) She didn't respond. I sent another email to an expert who did respond, and he referred me to two colleagues who supplied explanations.
Why didn’t I send 2 in the first place? Mistake!
So yesterday when I had a question about ant brains, I sent 5 emails.
(If you want to do this yourself this website is useful. Find experts' names, then find their email on their university website profile. You can also contact the authors of papers you find on the subject.)
Light makes humans happy. Dark makes humans sad. Have you tried buying a bunch more lights? For relatively cheap, you can make your room about as shiny as an afternoon day.
Medical trials show a pill works well; doctors prescribe some to you; you feel some good effects, but it doesn’t solve the problem entirely. Okay. Well before you look for another solution, have you tried just taking more pills?
Obviously there’s a limit somewhere. But if medical trials don’t even try to find that limit, there’s a good chance you’re nowhere near it.
Studies show people are more likely to correctly administer medicine to their pets than to themselves!
You’re telling me that we have the technology to solve most chronic health problems, but we’re failing at it because people are reluctant to administer their own prescribed medicine???
Sending more people this newsletter is good. I get more replies, and replies feel great. Also more people hear my ideas, which is good because they’re either a) good ideas which deserve to be spread b) flawed ideas which deserve to be criticized by my friends.
So I’ve expanded the circle of readers, and am always on the lookout for more. Thank you for reading this btw :)
I’ll leave you with lines from the original post:
If you think a problem could be solved or a situation improved by More Dakka, there’s a good chance you’re right.
Sometimes a little more is a little better. Sometimes a lot more is a lot better. Sometimes each attempt is unlikely to work, but improves your chances.
If something is a good idea, you need a reason to not try doing more of it.
No, seriously. You need a reason.
III.
As it turns out, Polynesian islands were rich in resources, but small enough that their population numbered in the thousands. Exploration canoes could contain up to 50 people, and travel was done using precise paths located via stargazing. Polynesian migration and exploration was not driven by environmental or demographic pressures.
Thanks to Professors Richard Walter and Paora Tapihana for the info. I'll write a post about it soon.
IV.
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