Some recent thoughts.
- Do the right thing in the right way. And that’s all. No need to worry about situations. Just need to focus on our own actions.
- In RL terms, doing the right thing means following the optimal policy based on our mental model of the world. A policy leads us to take different actions with respect to different situations. But the policy itself doesn’t change with situations, and we should always keep at it.
- The most disturbing thing is not that situations suddenly turn bad. Rather, it is the fact that bad situations have long set in but we were not even aware. It means we have blindspots in our perception or that our mental model of the world is off the mark. It means continuing our path is dangerous unless we fix our shortcomings and improve the policy that we are following.
- A good policy can be counterintuitive or even inhumane. For one thing, a good policy considers all contingencies in an uncertain world, not just a single plan that we might blissfully rely on. The other reason is that a good policy gives us high returns in the long term and thus may not satiate our thirst for immediate gratification. For example, a good policy tells us to diversify our investments and to invest in long terms, although many people just enjoy gambling.
- Do what’s right even when it’s hard. If an endeavor is in the right direction, eventually it will pay off. As Volodymyr Zelensky said, “Freedom has a high price, but slavery costs even more.” Likewise, doing what’s right may seem costly at the moment, but it will minimize the total price we have to pay in the long run.
- In some circumstances, the right thing to do is taking more risks instead of playing it safe. We are animals with the loss aversion bias. We might want to hold off useful aggressive attempts even though they have a higher chance to make us better off. In reality, not taking a risk could be a risky action on its own. And as time slips away it may result in worse situations that we can no longer get out of. Obsessed with certainty as we are, we should never pay too much for it.
- All that matters is doing the right thing. Thus we have no reason to pride ourselves in our achievements, since others may well achieve the same if they take the same approach. Neither should we lose heart when situations are dismal, because we should be able to turn the table as long as we improve our policy and get on the right track. So stay humble and stay optimistic.
