Just wanted to note: in my view the original LW Sequences are not functional as a stand-alone upgrade for almost any human mind, and you can empirically observe it: You can think about any LW meet-up group around the world as an experiment, and I think to a first approximation it’s fair to say aspiring Rationalists running just on the Sequences do not win, and good stuff coming out of the rationalist community was critically dependent of presence of minds Eliezer & others. (This is not say Sequences are not useful in many ways)
You can think about any LW meet-up group around the world as an experiment
I agree with your conclusion here, but think that this is an exceptionally harsh experiment. I conjecture that basically any meetup group, no matter what source they’re using, won’t emperically lead to most people who attend it “winning”. Either it would drive most people away because its’ too intense, or it would not be focused and intense enough to actually make a difference.
Also, the meetup groups are selected against for agency and initiative, because, for better or for worse, the most initiative taking people often pick up and move to the hubs in the Bay or in Oxford.
I like the metaphor!
Just wanted to note: in my view the original LW Sequences are not functional as a stand-alone upgrade for almost any human mind, and you can empirically observe it: You can think about any LW meet-up group around the world as an experiment, and I think to a first approximation it’s fair to say aspiring Rationalists running just on the Sequences do not win, and good stuff coming out of the rationalist community was critically dependent of presence of minds Eliezer & others. (This is not say Sequences are not useful in many ways)
I agree with your conclusion here, but think that this is an exceptionally harsh experiment. I conjecture that basically any meetup group, no matter what source they’re using, won’t emperically lead to most people who attend it “winning”. Either it would drive most people away because its’ too intense, or it would not be focused and intense enough to actually make a difference.
Also, the meetup groups are selected against for agency and initiative, because, for better or for worse, the most initiative taking people often pick up and move to the hubs in the Bay or in Oxford.
Or are just otherwise too busy with their life to have the time for meetups.