Comments like yours—where people hide behind unspecified claims of inferential difference, mindkilling, and unspoken reasoning—piss me off more than the most hateful comments I’ve seen on the internet. That’s probably a failing, but an understandable one. Manipulating and teasing my curiosity with the intent of having me take you more seriously than you deserve is something I really don’t appreciate. I dislike you.
Have you considered ever just privately. … you know …. asking him about details? He’s always obliged when I did so.
Really? That seems self-defeating; I would happily tell everyone the details if he gave them to me. If that’s how he wishes to communicate, by creating a veil for which you have to volunteer to get past, then why doesn’t he just use rot13 prefixed with a disclaimer—that seems more efficient.
there clearly are things that are counter-productive to discuss on LW.
Like what? Give me something that’s true, “counter-productive”, and relevant to LW. (I recognize that the third criteria—relevant—makes it easy to dismiss a lot of what might seem “counter-productive” because generally those thoughts are more relevant in discussion threads like this one. Also, some things are simply irrelevant no matter what, like how to decorate your house.)
I think the people complaining about these topics are expecting their conclusions to go over as easily as other conclusions more in line with LW consensus. But when you tell someone that their belief is wrong (especially when it’s far from the edge of their beliefs as sorted by the date it was last modified), you should expect more opposition because those beliefs have survived the long onslaught of posteriors thereby making new conflicting and contrary evidence more suspicious. For example, “Kahneman-style rationality” is considered a worthwhile aspiration by LW consensus, and people like Vladimir and Will Newsome apparently disagree with that.
And how do Vladimir and Will Newsome try to counteract that consensus? They post comments with unspoken or obfuscated (WN) reasoning. I think they’re afraid of putting their conclusions out there in a more complete and graspable form because of the significant possibility for being wrong and “losing status” (especially WN). Or perhaps they’re just too lazy to do the hard work necessarily involved and want to fuck with people.
If that’s how he wishes to communicate, by creating a veil for which you have to volunteer to get past, then why doesn’t he just use rot13 prefixed with a disclaimer—that seems more efficient.
Those who contact someone for information will be on average I think more genuinely curious about the answer than a casual reader.
Furthermore optimizing when writing for the public is different than optimizing for private correspondence. More can be said not just because it eliminates all sorts of bothersome social posturing but because the participants can agree to things like Crocker’s Rules.
How do they try to counteract that consensus? They post comments with unspoken or obfuscated (WN) reasoning. I think they’re afraid of putting their conclusions out there in a more complete and graspable form because of the significant possibility for being wrong and “losing status” (especially WN).
Are we discussing Vladimir M or Will Newsome? Why mix up these two different users? Just because one has cited the other as a favourite poster? I happen to think Multiheaded has turned out an interesting poster worth reading and like him a lot, but one would be gravely mistaken to use one of our positions as a proxy for those of the other.
I have respect for both posters, but they not only do they have quite different views but very different approaches. WN is very much playing the trickster deity, the fool, many of his arguments are educational trolls and should be taken as invitations to Socratic Dialogue. Vladimir_M is more the worldly mysterious man at the back of the tavern who tends to be right when you coax advice out of him, but who you won’t manage to get out of retirement since he with a tired heart judges your quest folly.
You significantly edited your comment after I replied to it.
not only do they have quite different views but very different approaches.
Not in the context in which they try to counteract the aforementioned consensus—which is by “[posting] comments with unspoken or obfuscated (WN) reasoning”. Which all fits within the weird, fawning description of their approaches you gave.
You significantly edited your comment after I replied to it.
I apologize that sometimes happens to me. I often post a comment find it unsatisfactory and then immediately edit it. Most of the time conversations proceed at a slow enough pace for this to not be a problem.
Those who contact someone for information will be on average I think more genuinely curious about the answer than a casual reader.
People willing to do a rot13 should also be more curious than average; that shits a pain in the ass. Or just make the process even more painful (Actually I think this is what WN does at times, but it also has the added benefit of plausible deniability).
More can be said not just because it eliminates all sorts of bothersome social posturing but because the participants can agree to things like Crocker’s Rules.
Social posturing is exactly what I see when people are too afraid to put their thoughts on the line (I mentioned this). I don’t think it’s healthy in a community trying to be less wrong.
Are we discussing Vladimir_M or Will Newsome? I have respect for both posters, but they have quite different views.
Both in the context of how they try to counteract the aforementioned consensus.
Like what? Give me something that’s true, “counter-productive”, and relevant to LW.
“I greatly hate your post because it makes me irrationally infer things about your nature despite my knowledge of relevant biases, which makes me hate your post and you even more, which is irrational. Now let’s all discuss this because I don’t want to make the effort to go read up and train myself to become stronger.”
...seems like a decent enough fictive example. It’s true (within the context of the thought experiment), it’s directly relevant to LW (it’s about the user’s rationality), and starting a large discussion about it is very counter-productive since the user in question should just read and practice rationality skills, as that would be much more efficient and productive, and the discussion might slow down other people trying to improve themselves and generate lots of noise.
You’re not using “counter-productive” in the same sense Konkvistador is (at least I think so). I.e., true and useful information for LWers but too outside of LW consensus for being productive.
Also, I gave my comment as feedback for why I downvoted Vladimir and as a way for other people to also show why they downvoted Vladimir (or didn’t like his actions). I did not give it with the intent of starting a discussion. I’m also not a robot in that I want to spend all my time reading and practicing rationality skills. I’m happy to make comments like these even knowing I could be doing something better with my time.
Comments like yours—where people hide behind unspecified claims of inferential difference, mindkilling, and unspoken reasoning—piss me off more than the most hateful comments I’ve seen on the internet. That’s probably a failing, but an understandable one. Manipulating and teasing my curiosity with the intent of having me take you more seriously than you deserve is something I really don’t appreciate. I dislike you.
Have you considered ever just privately. … you know …. asking him about details? He’s always obliged when I did so.
I also dislike your dislike because there clearly are things that are counter-productive to discuss on LW.
Vlad didn’t reply to my request. I don’t suppose you would mind summarizing one or two of his more salient arguments?
Really? That seems self-defeating; I would happily tell everyone the details if he gave them to me. If that’s how he wishes to communicate, by creating a veil for which you have to volunteer to get past, then why doesn’t he just use rot13 prefixed with a disclaimer—that seems more efficient.
Like what? Give me something that’s true, “counter-productive”, and relevant to LW. (I recognize that the third criteria—relevant—makes it easy to dismiss a lot of what might seem “counter-productive” because generally those thoughts are more relevant in discussion threads like this one. Also, some things are simply irrelevant no matter what, like how to decorate your house.)
I think the people complaining about these topics are expecting their conclusions to go over as easily as other conclusions more in line with LW consensus. But when you tell someone that their belief is wrong (especially when it’s far from the edge of their beliefs as sorted by the date it was last modified), you should expect more opposition because those beliefs have survived the long onslaught of posteriors thereby making new conflicting and contrary evidence more suspicious. For example, “Kahneman-style rationality” is considered a worthwhile aspiration by LW consensus, and people like Vladimir and Will Newsome apparently disagree with that.
And how do Vladimir and Will Newsome try to counteract that consensus? They post comments with unspoken or obfuscated (WN) reasoning. I think they’re afraid of putting their conclusions out there in a more complete and graspable form because of the significant possibility for being wrong and “losing status” (especially WN). Or perhaps they’re just too lazy to do the hard work necessarily involved and want to fuck with people.
Those who contact someone for information will be on average I think more genuinely curious about the answer than a casual reader.
Furthermore optimizing when writing for the public is different than optimizing for private correspondence. More can be said not just because it eliminates all sorts of bothersome social posturing but because the participants can agree to things like Crocker’s Rules.
Are we discussing Vladimir M or Will Newsome? Why mix up these two different users? Just because one has cited the other as a favourite poster? I happen to think Multiheaded has turned out an interesting poster worth reading and like him a lot, but one would be gravely mistaken to use one of our positions as a proxy for those of the other.
I have respect for both posters, but they not only do they have quite different views but very different approaches. WN is very much playing the trickster deity, the fool, many of his arguments are educational trolls and should be taken as invitations to Socratic Dialogue. Vladimir_M is more the worldly mysterious man at the back of the tavern who tends to be right when you coax advice out of him, but who you won’t manage to get out of retirement since he with a tired heart judges your quest folly.
You significantly edited your comment after I replied to it.
Not in the context in which they try to counteract the aforementioned consensus—which is by “[posting] comments with unspoken or obfuscated (WN) reasoning”. Which all fits within the weird, fawning description of their approaches you gave.
I apologize that sometimes happens to me. I often post a comment find it unsatisfactory and then immediately edit it. Most of the time conversations proceed at a slow enough pace for this to not be a problem.
I don’t care, I just needed to point that out as a reason for creating a second reply. I actually do the same thing.
People willing to do a rot13 should also be more curious than average; that shits a pain in the ass. Or just make the process even more painful (Actually I think this is what WN does at times, but it also has the added benefit of plausible deniability).
Social posturing is exactly what I see when people are too afraid to put their thoughts on the line (I mentioned this). I don’t think it’s healthy in a community trying to be less wrong.
Both in the context of how they try to counteract the aforementioned consensus.
“I greatly hate your post because it makes me irrationally infer things about your nature despite my knowledge of relevant biases, which makes me hate your post and you even more, which is irrational. Now let’s all discuss this because I don’t want to make the effort to go read up and train myself to become stronger.”
...seems like a decent enough fictive example. It’s true (within the context of the thought experiment), it’s directly relevant to LW (it’s about the user’s rationality), and starting a large discussion about it is very counter-productive since the user in question should just read and practice rationality skills, as that would be much more efficient and productive, and the discussion might slow down other people trying to improve themselves and generate lots of noise.
You’re not using “counter-productive” in the same sense Konkvistador is (at least I think so). I.e., true and useful information for LWers but too outside of LW consensus for being productive.
Also, I gave my comment as feedback for why I downvoted Vladimir and as a way for other people to also show why they downvoted Vladimir (or didn’t like his actions). I did not give it with the intent of starting a discussion. I’m also not a robot in that I want to spend all my time reading and practicing rationality skills. I’m happy to make comments like these even knowing I could be doing something better with my time.
(fictive example? don’t be a coward.)