You do not consider “quality rationalist research” into good governance to fall under political involvement? Yes, it is very different than day-to-day involvement into political practice, ideology etc. But then again, I have not seen the latter advocated much in this thread, or at all on LW.
I for one am quite wary of any “escalation of investment”, expressly because affecting any stable system (natural or social) is unfeasible without a thorough, rational understanding of its structure and leverage points. And so most effort into political activism is indeed “wasted”[1]. But given that so many folks apparently are emotionally invested into changing governance in some way, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with helping such folks achieve desirable outcomes.
[1] I am obviously disregarding exceptional cases such as the “Arab Spring” uprisings; but even the Tea Party has had negligible effects (e.g. the leading R nominations for the 2012 election are widely seen as mediocre, and TP candidates are not faring well), and I expect little better from the ‘Occupy’ effort given how unfocused it is.
You do not consider “quality rationalist research” into good governance to fall under political involvement? Yes, it is very different than day-to-day involvement into political practice, ideology etc. But then again, I have not seen the latter advocated much in this thread, or at all on LW.
I for one am quite wary of any “escalation of investment”, expressly because affecting any stable system (natural or social) is unfeasible without a thorough, rational understanding of its structure and leverage points. And so most effort into political activism is indeed “wasted”[1]. But given that so many folks apparently are emotionally invested into changing governance in some way, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with helping such folks achieve desirable outcomes.
[1] I am obviously disregarding exceptional cases such as the “Arab Spring” uprisings; but even the Tea Party has had negligible effects (e.g. the leading R nominations for the 2012 election are widely seen as mediocre, and TP candidates are not faring well), and I expect little better from the ‘Occupy’ effort given how unfocused it is.