Big-World Intuitions

LessWrong essayist Sarah Constantin explores what she calls "big-world intuitions" — decision frameworks that work best when you're small relative to your environment. A startup shouldn't obsess over competitors; it should serve customers well. A small trader should bid their honest price, not game the market. An early-stage researcher should do good work and share knowledge freely, not agonize over every possible misuse. These heuristics feel like simple wisdom: play fair, mind your business, do your best. They're robust, too — they work even if you've misjudged your importance. But Constantin admits she relies entirely on this framework, and it leaves her stranded on the opposite question. What if you actually are powerful? What if you're close to winning? Then strategy becomes calculating specific consequences, and she confesses she has no intuitions for that endgame. Most people most of the time don't face such questions. But the gap troubles her: clarity on how the small should think, silence on how the powerful should.

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