More Proof That Coincidences Are Common
Somebody on LessWrong.org decided to make an RSS feed called "Actually Useful Horoscopes". Each AUH is advice that is applicable to every person every day, but its purpose is to give non-vague reminders about teachable rationality skills.
Every day, there is an option to vote on the previous day's horoscope, rating it as 'harmful', 'useless', 'sort of useful', 'useful', or 'awesome'.
The author mentioned that it would be kind of like a spaced repetition algorithm that I have used so successfully for memorization; but it does not actually work like that. It probably could, if it were set up as a flashcard system that modifies the repetition interval based on your feedback.
Yesterday's AUH was "Today is a good day to finish up a project you’ve been working on that is almost done." That was not really necessary, because with Protospiel coming up this weekend (a convention of game designers and playtesters), it was very clear in my mind. However, this is a reminder which I frequently do need. Today's AUH is "Today, before you ask for someone’s opinion, consider the answers that they might give. What kind of answer would you consider useful? If their answer is not the one you want to hear, what will you do?" Also tremendously useful to everyone every day, but it's nice to be thinking about it as I go to Protospiel.
See The Forer Effect and the Law of Truly Large Numbers.
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