The article mixes together examples of imperfection of the world with specific problems of LW.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.
We could try to be more specific about things related to us, and how we could solve them. For example:
Cost-benefit analysis
Applies to our celebrities, too. As a reader, I would love to read a new Sequence written by Eliezer, or other impressive people in our community. However, it may not be the best use of their time. Writing an article can take a lot of time and energy.
Gwern’s comment suggests the solution: have someone else write the article. A person who is sufficiently rational and good at writing, and lives in the Bay Area, could take the role of a “rationalist community journalist”. I imagine their work could be spending time with important rationalists, making notes, writing the articles, having them reviewed by the relevant people, and publishing them on LW.
WEIRD
Relevant article: “Black People Less Likely”. Also, as far as I know, the traditional advice for groups with overwhelmingly western educated rich white male membership is to put a clique of western educated rich white feminists in the positions of power. Which creates its own problems, namely that the people with newly gained power usually give zero fucks about the group’s survival or its original mission, and focus on spreading their political memes.
This said, I support the goal of bringing more people from different backgrounds to the rationalist community (as long as the people are rational, of course). I object against the traditional methods of doing it, because those methods often fail to reach the goal.
I suspect that the fact that LessWrong is an online community using English language already contributes heavily to readers more likely being western, educated, rich (you need to be good at English, have a lot of free time, have a good internet connection). Whiteness correlates with being western and rich. There is a gender imbalance in STEM, in the general society outside LessWrong. -- All these filters are applied before any content was written. Which of course doesn’t mean the content couldn’t add another filter in the same direction.
Here are some quick ideas that could help: Create rationality materials in paper form (for people who can’t afford to spend hundreds of hours online). Translate those materials in other languages (for people not fluent in English). Maybe create materials for different audiences; e.g. a reduced version for people without good mathematical education.
Funny thing, age wasn’t mentioned in the original list of complaints, and I believe it can play an important role. Specifically the fact that many rationalists have spent their whole lives at school. -- For example, it’s ridiculous to see how many people self-identify as “effective altruists” while saying “okay I’m still at school without an income, so I actually didn’t send a penny yet, but when I grow up and get a job I totally will give as much as possible”. Nice story, bro! Maybe I could tell you how I imagined my future while I was at school; then we can laugh together. So far, you are merely a fan of effective altruism. When you start spending the rest of your life making money only to donate it to someone poorer than you, then you become an effective altruist. If you can keep doing it while feeding your children and paying for the roof above your heads, then you are hardcore. Right now, you just dilute the meaning of the word.
We already have a reddit-style forum. Why would you want to go back to the old model where a few people (journalists) only provide content and the dumb masses only consume it?
traditional advice for groups with overwhelmingly western educated rich white male membership is to put a clique of western educated rich white feminists in the positions of power
...traditional?? We, um, come from different traditions, I guess X-/ I know that’s what feminists want, but that doesn’t make it a tradition.
So far, you are merely a fan of effective altruism.
Yep, true. Though, to be fair, EA isn’t about how much you give, it’s about to what you give.
The article mixes together examples of imperfection of the world with specific problems of LW.
We could try to be more specific about things related to us, and how we could solve them. For example:
Applies to our celebrities, too. As a reader, I would love to read a new Sequence written by Eliezer, or other impressive people in our community. However, it may not be the best use of their time. Writing an article can take a lot of time and energy.
Gwern’s comment suggests the solution: have someone else write the article. A person who is sufficiently rational and good at writing, and lives in the Bay Area, could take the role of a “rationalist community journalist”. I imagine their work could be spending time with important rationalists, making notes, writing the articles, having them reviewed by the relevant people, and publishing them on LW.
Relevant article: “Black People Less Likely”. Also, as far as I know, the traditional advice for groups with overwhelmingly western educated rich white male membership is to put a clique of western educated rich white feminists in the positions of power. Which creates its own problems, namely that the people with newly gained power usually give zero fucks about the group’s survival or its original mission, and focus on spreading their political memes.
This said, I support the goal of bringing more people from different backgrounds to the rationalist community (as long as the people are rational, of course). I object against the traditional methods of doing it, because those methods often fail to reach the goal.
I suspect that the fact that LessWrong is an online community using English language already contributes heavily to readers more likely being western, educated, rich (you need to be good at English, have a lot of free time, have a good internet connection). Whiteness correlates with being western and rich. There is a gender imbalance in STEM, in the general society outside LessWrong. -- All these filters are applied before any content was written. Which of course doesn’t mean the content couldn’t add another filter in the same direction.
Here are some quick ideas that could help: Create rationality materials in paper form (for people who can’t afford to spend hundreds of hours online). Translate those materials in other languages (for people not fluent in English). Maybe create materials for different audiences; e.g. a reduced version for people without good mathematical education.
Funny thing, age wasn’t mentioned in the original list of complaints, and I believe it can play an important role. Specifically the fact that many rationalists have spent their whole lives at school. -- For example, it’s ridiculous to see how many people self-identify as “effective altruists” while saying “okay I’m still at school without an income, so I actually didn’t send a penny yet, but when I grow up and get a job I totally will give as much as possible”. Nice story, bro! Maybe I could tell you how I imagined my future while I was at school; then we can laugh together. So far, you are merely a fan of effective altruism. When you start spending the rest of your life making money only to donate it to someone poorer than you, then you become an effective altruist. If you can keep doing it while feeding your children and paying for the roof above your heads, then you are hardcore. Right now, you just dilute the meaning of the word.
We already have a reddit-style forum. Why would you want to go back to the old model where a few people (journalists) only provide content and the dumb masses only consume it?
...traditional?? We, um, come from different traditions, I guess X-/ I know that’s what feminists want, but that doesn’t make it a tradition.
Yep, true. Though, to be fair, EA isn’t about how much you give, it’s about to what you give.