Hi, I’ve been lurking for a few weeks and am likely to stay in lurker mode indefinitely. But I thought I should comment on the welcome thread.
I would prefer to stay anonymous at the moment, but I’m male, 20′s, BS in computer programming & work as a software engineer.
As an outsider, some feedback for you all:
Interesting topics—keep me reading
Jargon—a little is fine, but the more there is, the harder it is to follow.
The fact that people make go (my favorite game) references is a nice plus.
I would classify myself as a theist at the moment. As such (and having been raised in a very christian environment), I have some opinions on how you guys could more effectively proselytize—but I’m not sure it’s worth my time to speak up.
Thanks for commenting, if this thread gives cause to you and more like you to stick their heads above the parapet and say hello it will have been a good thing.
People here have mixed feelings about the desirability of proselytization, since the ideas that are most vigorously proselytized are so often the worst. I think that we will want to do so, but we will want to work out a way of doing it that at least gives some sort of advantage to better ideas over worse but more appealing ones. I think we’ll definitely want to hear from people like you who probably have more real experience in this field than many of us put together.
And since you’re a theist, I’m afraid you’ll be one of the people we’re proelytizing to, so if you can teach us how to do it without pissing people off that would help too :-)
Personally, I pretty much have no desire to proselytize anyone for anything. Waste of time, in my experience. Maybe you all are different, but no one I’ve ever met will actually change their mind in response to hearing a new line of reasoning, anyway.
What I do have an interest in is people actually taking the time to understand each other and present points in ways that the other party will understand. Atheists and Christians are particularly bad at this. Unfortunately, the worst offenders on the christian side are the least likely to change, or even see the problem. Perhaps there’s more hope for those on the other side.
I have changed my mind in response to hearing a new line of reasoning. One particular poster on a forum I used to frequent changed my mind about politics by patiently giving sound arguments that I had not been presented with before. My political beliefs have been undergoing a continual evolution since then but I can pretty much point to that one individual as instrumental in shifting my political opinions in a new direction.
lava,
You aren’t the only one on LW that feels the same way. I have similar background and concerns. We are not outsiders. LW’s dedication to attacking the reasoning of a post/comment, but not the person has been proved over and over.
LW’s dedication to attacking the reasoning of a post/comment, but not the person has been proved over and over.
This is very good to hear; I wouldn’t put it quite that strongly, but I had the impression it was an axis we did well on and it’s nice to know someone else sees it that way too.
Hi, I’ve been lurking for a few weeks and am likely to stay in lurker mode indefinitely. But I thought I should comment on the welcome thread.
I would prefer to stay anonymous at the moment, but I’m male, 20′s, BS in computer programming & work as a software engineer.
As an outsider, some feedback for you all:
Interesting topics—keep me reading Jargon—a little is fine, but the more there is, the harder it is to follow. The fact that people make go (my favorite game) references is a nice plus.
I would classify myself as a theist at the moment. As such (and having been raised in a very christian environment), I have some opinions on how you guys could more effectively proselytize—but I’m not sure it’s worth my time to speak up.
Thanks for commenting, if this thread gives cause to you and more like you to stick their heads above the parapet and say hello it will have been a good thing.
People here have mixed feelings about the desirability of proselytization, since the ideas that are most vigorously proselytized are so often the worst. I think that we will want to do so, but we will want to work out a way of doing it that at least gives some sort of advantage to better ideas over worse but more appealing ones. I think we’ll definitely want to hear from people like you who probably have more real experience in this field than many of us put together.
And since you’re a theist, I’m afraid you’ll be one of the people we’re proelytizing to, so if you can teach us how to do it without pissing people off that would help too :-)
Thanks for the welcome, everyone.
Personally, I pretty much have no desire to proselytize anyone for anything. Waste of time, in my experience. Maybe you all are different, but no one I’ve ever met will actually change their mind in response to hearing a new line of reasoning, anyway.
What I do have an interest in is people actually taking the time to understand each other and present points in ways that the other party will understand. Atheists and Christians are particularly bad at this. Unfortunately, the worst offenders on the christian side are the least likely to change, or even see the problem. Perhaps there’s more hope for those on the other side.
Anyway, I have no desire to debate theism here.
I have changed my mind in response to hearing a new line of reasoning. One particular poster on a forum I used to frequent changed my mind about politics by patiently giving sound arguments that I had not been presented with before. My political beliefs have been undergoing a continual evolution since then but I can pretty much point to that one individual as instrumental in shifting my political opinions in a new direction.
If you post about things that are interesting to you, we’ll talk about them more.
If you act like you have something valuable to say, we’ll read it and respond. We would all be likely to learn something in the process.
lava, You aren’t the only one on LW that feels the same way. I have similar background and concerns. We are not outsiders. LW’s dedication to attacking the reasoning of a post/comment, but not the person has been proved over and over.
This is very good to hear; I wouldn’t put it quite that strongly, but I had the impression it was an axis we did well on and it’s nice to know someone else sees it that way too.