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Second-Order Thinking

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Re: Second-Order Thinking

#2
Surely this is just 'thinking', instead of acting on impulse or gut-feel.

Second-order thinking is thinking about thinking. eg, If we have a decision to make, first order thinking is analyzing the situation and making the decision. Second order thinking is deciding how to go about analyzing the situation, how to arrive at a decision, how to measure the outcome, etc.

Re: Second-Order Thinking

#3
> A lot of extraordinary things in life are the result of things that are first-order negative, second order positive.

These are the hard cases. It's easy to consider second order effects if you have your solution, you just have to do it. Solutions often come way easier if the first order effects are positive. But if they are negative you are much less likely to even entertain that solution. Even if the higher order effects positives far outweigh the first order negatives.

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