First, I feel like I can partly explain why you’re finding many contrarian rationalists here. If rationality is a technology, it’s a technology that enables you to be right in situations where people are normally wrong. Since rationalists should win, it should also enable us to be right where others are right. But there’s nothing to discuss about that on here! In those cases, we can just learn from our surrounding cultures and don’t need a specialized blog.
I’ve always thought of this place as essentially “a place to learn how to go against the grain in order to be right”. Because all of our discussions are of that flavour, it probably paints contrarianism as a central feature of rationality. But I think that’s just a small part of the big picture. Eliezer did a good job of cautioning us against forming that image of rationality by discussing Spock as a bad rationalist and warning against reversed stupidity.
I think contrarianism is an occasional effect of being rational. But I don’t see why you should feel like you’re any less of a rationalist if you find yourself wanting to please people you care about. If you value keeping your family happy and bonding with your friends and feeling religious feelings, it sounds like you’re probably doing everything right.
First, I feel like I can partly explain why you’re finding many contrarian rationalists here. If rationality is a technology, it’s a technology that enables you to be right in situations where people are normally wrong. Since rationalists should win, it should also enable us to be right where others are right. But there’s nothing to discuss about that on here! In those cases, we can just learn from our surrounding cultures and don’t need a specialized blog.
I’ve always thought of this place as essentially “a place to learn how to go against the grain in order to be right”. Because all of our discussions are of that flavour, it probably paints contrarianism as a central feature of rationality. But I think that’s just a small part of the big picture. Eliezer did a good job of cautioning us against forming that image of rationality by discussing Spock as a bad rationalist and warning against reversed stupidity.
I think contrarianism is an occasional effect of being rational. But I don’t see why you should feel like you’re any less of a rationalist if you find yourself wanting to please people you care about. If you value keeping your family happy and bonding with your friends and feeling religious feelings, it sounds like you’re probably doing everything right.