Published on November 3, 2025 7:09 PM GMT

“Even when probabilities are low, act as if your actions matter in terms of expected value. Because even when you lose, you can be aligned.” (MacAskill)

I’ve been posting on LessWrong about self-improvement and I notice something: some similarities between the problems political systems face when trying to change also appear in me. Because my neurons sometimes seem to have their own coalition government, and they don’t agree with each other. How do I improve myself if I was programmed for thousands of years to be this way?

Expevolu: a minimum energy strategy

It’s not really my expertise but, I saw a proposal here called Expevolu for political systems: instead of destroying existing power structures (which encounter extremely high resistance),that create a new overlapping layer of power that gradually redistributes without eliminating the previous one. (It’s the equivalent of the “law of least effort” but at a geopolitical level. My lazy self is fascinated! Not because I consider the author a great friend.)

The personal application

I’m experimenting with similar ideas: I recognize and appreciate my current patterns (my internal “power structures”), and create a new layer of interests without rejecting the old ones. I don’t fight against myself - I simply give a chance for reevaluation and resource redistribution.

The challenges

Mapping abstract interests in my brain might be more difficult than redistributing power among people on a political map. But the principle seems transferable, and I’ve been working on how to map those interests - let’s say ancestral ones and current ones - to have a clearer picture of cognitive resource redistribution.

And what is the best way to gain traction for a peaceful restructuring?

My question to the community: Is there interest in me developing this analogy further and sharing the concrete process?