Rational Metabiases

Second-order biases about rationality itself—systematic distortions in how we understand, value, and deploy rationality. Rational Metabiases include: assuming rationality is universal rather than culturally specific; treating your tradition of rationality as Rationality itself; believing that more rationality always improves decisions; using "rational" as a term of approval for views you already hold; ignoring the rationality embedded in practices that don't look rational to you. Rational Metabiases shape not just how we reason, but how we think about reasoning itself.

Rational Metabiases "He calls himself 'rational' and others 'emotional.' That's Rational Metabias—using rationality as an identity marker, not a practice. His rationality isn't neutral; it's a particular tradition with its own assumptions. The metabias is thinking your rationality is the rationality, not one rationality among many."

Rational Metabiases by Dumu The Void March 1, 2026