I sometimes feel like there is a shadowy half-underground group of LWers that is intelligent enough to stay away from bad signalling and has altruistic intentions, but has to deal every now and then with a slight twitch, reading something knowing they can’t really state a proper response. It feels like there is almost a court nod when we read and comment each other’s posts and hope inferential distance keeps disturbances away. It so tempting some times, it is almost like I just have to say out loud the unspeakable and a few will contact me and I’ll be sure.
Other times I’m just afraid I’m sitting in a room having tea with the socoioeconomic Eldrich abominations teasing me with a wicked grin as everyone else moves obliviously to them, asking me if I’m certain that I haven’t lost it.
Suppose this is a test, anyone who knows what I’m talking about please PM the right answer.
I sometimes feel like there is a shadowy half-underground group of LWers that is intelligent enough to stay away from bad signalling and has altruistic intentions, but has to deal every now and then with a slight twitch, reading something knowing they can’t really state a proper response.
(linked comment) Delusions that are truly widely held and not merely believed to be widely held are far too dangerous to attack. There are sociopolitical Eldritch Abominations that it would serve LW well to stay well clear of and perhaps even pretend they don’t exist for the time being.
The next time you feel that way, make yourself another identity, and use it to say the things you wouldn’t otherwise. It really is quite liberating. It’s very rare for a delusion to really be too strong to attack, especially here; it is only that you fear backlash.
As for the discussion this appeared in, let me get the unpleasant truths out of the way so we can stay meta: Intelligence is mostly heritable! Knowing someone’s race conveys nonzero information about their their social status, suitability for jobs, wealth, and criminality! The gender imbalances in many professions are the result of innate differences, not discrimination! When groups with bad values and lower intelligence breed too much, it harms the future! These are all truths that any sufficiently advanced rationalist will recognize. And if you disagree with any of these, please direct your complaints to no one in particular.
All the ‘unpleasant truths’ you list seem to be facets of a single underlying issue of genetics. I consider none of them particularly shocking, especially in the weak forms you use there. Damn near any observable fact related to a given person will ’convey nonzero information about their their [sic] social status,” so if you’re going to use this persona to say what you otherwise couldn’t get away with, how about you fill out your theory with some policy suggestions, or at least more specific predictions?
Careful; LW doesn’t seem to scandalize easily, as this thread hilariously demonstrates as people try to discuss shocking things, and everyone fails to be shocked, so people up the ante by combining cannibalism and pedophilia, and so on, in a positive feedback loop.
Actually, don’t be careful. That was a fun thread.
That is an outright brilliant idea, and the next time LW does one of these ridiculous “Everyone post your ever-so-supposedly controversial but rational opinions that actually just amount to outright misanthropy” threads, I’m going to do it.
What? No, it’s not brilliant, it’s nonsensical. “It’s very rare for a delusion to really be too strong to attack, especially here; it is only that you fear backlash.” Umm… that’s what “too strong to attack” means. It doesn’t mean that the arguments for it are intellectually devastating—it means that if you attack them, you will get in trouble. In other words, backlash.
“It’s very rare for a delusion to really be too strong to attack, especially here; it is only that you fear backlash.” Umm… that’s what “too strong to attack” means. It doesn’t mean that the arguments for it are intellectually devastating—it means that if you attack them, you will get in trouble.
Yes, that’s why having a trollacter account mock the whole thing by “playing evil” is funny. It helps that many of these so-called ever-so-controversial “beliefs” are actually evaluative statements wrapped in wannabe-factual trappings.
I think the most common socially acceptable thing that is best correlated with being a member of that group is being pro-PUA. What’s the best shibboleth we can think of, analogous to asking if someone likes the taste of beer?
I sometimes feel like there is a shadowy half-underground group of LWers that is intelligent enough to stay away from bad signalling and has altruistic intentions, but has to deal every now and then with a slight twitch, reading something knowing they can’t really state a proper response. It feels like there is almost a court nod when we read and comment each other’s posts and hope inferential distance keeps disturbances away. It so tempting some times, it is almost like I just have to say out loud the unspeakable and a few will contact me and I’ll be sure.
Other times I’m just afraid I’m sitting in a room having tea with the socoioeconomic Eldrich abominations teasing me with a wicked grin as everyone else moves obliviously to them, asking me if I’m certain that I haven’t lost it.
Suppose this is a test, anyone who knows what I’m talking about please PM the right answer.
The next time you feel that way, make yourself another identity, and use it to say the things you wouldn’t otherwise. It really is quite liberating. It’s very rare for a delusion to really be too strong to attack, especially here; it is only that you fear backlash.
As for the discussion this appeared in, let me get the unpleasant truths out of the way so we can stay meta: Intelligence is mostly heritable! Knowing someone’s race conveys nonzero information about their their social status, suitability for jobs, wealth, and criminality! The gender imbalances in many professions are the result of innate differences, not discrimination! When groups with bad values and lower intelligence breed too much, it harms the future! These are all truths that any sufficiently advanced rationalist will recognize. And if you disagree with any of these, please direct your complaints to no one in particular.
All the ‘unpleasant truths’ you list seem to be facets of a single underlying issue of genetics. I consider none of them particularly shocking, especially in the weak forms you use there. Damn near any observable fact related to a given person will ’convey nonzero information about their their [sic] social status,” so if you’re going to use this persona to say what you otherwise couldn’t get away with, how about you fill out your theory with some policy suggestions, or at least more specific predictions?
Careful; LW doesn’t seem to scandalize easily, as this thread hilariously demonstrates as people try to discuss shocking things, and everyone fails to be shocked, so people up the ante by combining cannibalism and pedophilia, and so on, in a positive feedback loop.
Actually, don’t be careful. That was a fun thread.
That is an outright brilliant idea, and the next time LW does one of these ridiculous “Everyone post your ever-so-supposedly controversial but rational opinions that actually just amount to outright misanthropy” threads, I’m going to do it.
What? No, it’s not brilliant, it’s nonsensical. “It’s very rare for a delusion to really be too strong to attack, especially here; it is only that you fear backlash.” Umm… that’s what “too strong to attack” means. It doesn’t mean that the arguments for it are intellectually devastating—it means that if you attack them, you will get in trouble. In other words, backlash.
Yes, that’s why having a trollacter account mock the whole thing by “playing evil” is funny. It helps that many of these so-called ever-so-controversial “beliefs” are actually evaluative statements wrapped in wannabe-factual trappings.
If there is a group of lesswrongers who covers up their true opinions like so, I am not in it, and my post was not an example of that.
This response made me feel like I should be twirling my moustache and letting out an evil laugh as my fiendishly clever scheme comes to fruition.
I fear there are not enough of Professor Quirrell’s virtues in me to live up to such a standard. :)
Will, I hope I haven’t intruded on the conversation too much.
I think the most common socially acceptable thing that is best correlated with being a member of that group is being pro-PUA. What’s the best shibboleth we can think of, analogous to asking if someone likes the taste of beer?