It’s a coastal, urban American custom. To a first approximation, it’s illegal to build in coastal cities and most of the land in them is uninhabitable because crime.
This is most absolutely not an American custom. I wasn’t even aware it was a rationalist thing (?!). I live in the bay area, I know many rationalists here, and this seems totally out of left field. I’m kinda surprised at how Alicorn writes as if this is totally normal and expected thing.
As another Bay Arean rationalist, I can confirm that a large part of my rationalist social circle lives in group houses in the Berkeley/Oakland area. I’m a bit surprised that you haven’t encountered this as well?
Generally the group houses are 3-5 rationalists in their twenties or early thirties living together—sharing common spaces, but having private bedrooms (or bedrooms shared only with a romantic partner.)
I suspect that the prevalence of group housing is in part due to Bay Area rent being really high (making it more attractive to share an apartment/house as opposed to rent a one-bedroom on one’s own). I also have the vague impression that current 20-30-year-olds in the US are more likely to live in group housing than has been true in previous generations? (Many of my non-rationalist friends in this age group also live in group houses.)
Hell, it’s not even just the bay area; Seattle has two explicitly-rationalist-group-houses and plenty of other people who live in more “normal” situations but with other rationalists (I found my current flatmate, when my old one moved out, through the community). Certainly the bay area rationalist community is large and this sort of living situation is far from universal, but I’ve certainly heard of several even though I’ve never actually visited any.
Nope, not in my social circle. I know quite a few self-described rationalists. Most are not in shared living setups, although 2 are. Those two have regular roommate situations where the roommates were not selected for being rationalist.
Frankly there are all sorts of alarm bells going off about the idea of seeking out shared living situations where everyone is from the same rationalist community. Smells of cultism… I on the other hand highly value interacting with people of different backgrounds and base belief systems.
Do they? I personally hate sharing living spaces. Am I the weirdo? I suspect it’s an American custom, not something proper of rationalists per se.
It’s a coastal, urban American custom. To a first approximation, it’s illegal to build in coastal cities and most of the land in them is uninhabitable because crime.
Not an American custom, this is basically founder effects (aka semi-random cultural idiosyncrasies of this particular group).
From a European perspective, the American custom is to live in huge McMansions on gargantuan tracts of land.
An American Rationalist subculture question, perhaps. Certainly NOT America as a whole.
This is most absolutely not an American custom. I wasn’t even aware it was a rationalist thing (?!). I live in the bay area, I know many rationalists here, and this seems totally out of left field. I’m kinda surprised at how Alicorn writes as if this is totally normal and expected thing.
As another Bay Arean rationalist, I can confirm that a large part of my rationalist social circle lives in group houses in the Berkeley/Oakland area. I’m a bit surprised that you haven’t encountered this as well?
Generally the group houses are 3-5 rationalists in their twenties or early thirties living together—sharing common spaces, but having private bedrooms (or bedrooms shared only with a romantic partner.)
I suspect that the prevalence of group housing is in part due to Bay Area rent being really high (making it more attractive to share an apartment/house as opposed to rent a one-bedroom on one’s own). I also have the vague impression that current 20-30-year-olds in the US are more likely to live in group housing than has been true in previous generations? (Many of my non-rationalist friends in this age group also live in group houses.)
Hell, it’s not even just the bay area; Seattle has two explicitly-rationalist-group-houses and plenty of other people who live in more “normal” situations but with other rationalists (I found my current flatmate, when my old one moved out, through the community). Certainly the bay area rationalist community is large and this sort of living situation is far from universal, but I’ve certainly heard of several even though I’ve never actually visited any.
Nope, not in my social circle. I know quite a few self-described rationalists. Most are not in shared living setups, although 2 are. Those two have regular roommate situations where the roommates were not selected for being rationalist.
Frankly there are all sorts of alarm bells going off about the idea of seeking out shared living situations where everyone is from the same rationalist community. Smells of cultism… I on the other hand highly value interacting with people of different backgrounds and base belief systems.