I don’t know if I’m typical, but I tend to resist that sort of unity-building exercise (with something of an exception for neo-pagan ritual). It’s possible that I don’t trust people that much. Unity-building exercises (especially if explicitly so) strike me as the moral equivalent of someone saying “Trust me”.
I might tolerate it at a meet-up, but it wouldn’t be a plus.
It’s possibly a problem that LW people have a wide range of skill at movement.
Unity-building exercises (especially if explicitly so)
For better or for worse, now that this post exists, all singing/dancing/chanting/jumprope games that occur in Less Wrong meetups will be laden with the awareness that they are group bonding exercises.
So? People frequently do all sorts of social things — from parties, to fraternity initiations, to sex — out of a conscious desire to feel closer to someone.
Oh I see. Well, maybe I’m generalizing from one example here, but usually when I dance or sing with people, my only conscious purpose is to have fun. That means that I participate in such activities when I feel like having fun. I think I had all the information necessary to come to the conclusion “singing and dancing is a way to get closer to people” before I read this post, but I never executed on it. Now that I’ve read this post, I can choose to seek out the people I want to be closer to and get them to dance or sing with me. Also, if I’m already dancing or singing with people, I will notice what’s going on and consciously decide to grow closer to them or to keep my distance. (And if I don’t consciously decide, I might unconsciously decide that I must want to be closer to them since I’m singing with them, via cognitive dissonance resolution.)
I believe we’ve both been to meetups that involved chanting. If other people are like me, more extensive chanting will be an easier sell for some. (And others will realize that they don’t really want to grow closer.) But maybe I’m wrong and I was the only one at that meetup who hadn’t had this epiphany yet.
I don’t know if I’m typical, but I tend to resist that sort of unity-building exercise (with something of an exception for neo-pagan ritual). It’s possible that I don’t trust people that much. Unity-building exercises (especially if explicitly so) strike me as the moral equivalent of someone saying “Trust me”.
I might tolerate it at a meet-up, but it wouldn’t be a plus.
It’s possibly a problem that LW people have a wide range of skill at movement.
For better or for worse, now that this post exists, all singing/dancing/chanting/jumprope games that occur in Less Wrong meetups will be laden with the awareness that they are group bonding exercises.
So? People frequently do all sorts of social things — from parties, to fraternity initiations, to sex — out of a conscious desire to feel closer to someone.
I’m aware of this and I wasn’t trying to make a value judgment or a broader point.
Nor was I. It seemed to me that your phrasing implied that this was uncommon. I’m curious what you expect in the way of consequences of this.
Oh I see. Well, maybe I’m generalizing from one example here, but usually when I dance or sing with people, my only conscious purpose is to have fun. That means that I participate in such activities when I feel like having fun. I think I had all the information necessary to come to the conclusion “singing and dancing is a way to get closer to people” before I read this post, but I never executed on it. Now that I’ve read this post, I can choose to seek out the people I want to be closer to and get them to dance or sing with me. Also, if I’m already dancing or singing with people, I will notice what’s going on and consciously decide to grow closer to them or to keep my distance. (And if I don’t consciously decide, I might unconsciously decide that I must want to be closer to them since I’m singing with them, via cognitive dissonance resolution.)
I believe we’ve both been to meetups that involved chanting. If other people are like me, more extensive chanting will be an easier sell for some. (And others will realize that they don’t really want to grow closer.) But maybe I’m wrong and I was the only one at that meetup who hadn’t had this epiphany yet.
Clues. Let’s do that. :)