What have we learned from discussion of PUA to date? I honestly can’t say I’ve gained anything useful from reading about it, but then I’ve never considered using a pickup technique, either. The problem is that I haven’t learned anything of other interest to a rationalist. If someone can offer what they’ve learned from talking about PUA on Less Wrong that applies to the art of refining human rationality and not simply picking up women, perhaps it’s an appropriate subject. In that case, if someone writes a good article on PUA, I don’t see a reason to ban it. I would expect to see it argued from a more credible perspective than anecdotal evidence and self-help books, though.
This. I’m not “creeped out” by people merely talking about PUA techniques, but I do find it boring, irrelevant, and pretty much useless in terms of any capacity to improve my thinking abilities. I don’t think all examples / analogies used to make a point about rationality, etc., need to be things everyone can identify with (that would likely be impossible anyway), but PUA stuff really is sort of distractingly specific to the “hetero males trying to score hot chicks” demographic. I’d just as soon be reading about how to choose the best golf shoes.
What have we learned from discussion of PUA to date? I honestly can’t say I’ve gained anything useful from reading about it, but then I’ve never considered using a pickup technique, either. The problem is that I haven’t learned anything of other interest to a rationalist. If someone can offer what they’ve learned from talking about PUA on Less Wrong that applies to the art of refining human rationality and not simply picking up women, perhaps it’s an appropriate subject. In that case, if someone writes a good article on PUA, I don’t see a reason to ban it. I would expect to see it argued from a more credible perspective than anecdotal evidence and self-help books, though.
This. I’m not “creeped out” by people merely talking about PUA techniques, but I do find it boring, irrelevant, and pretty much useless in terms of any capacity to improve my thinking abilities. I don’t think all examples / analogies used to make a point about rationality, etc., need to be things everyone can identify with (that would likely be impossible anyway), but PUA stuff really is sort of distractingly specific to the “hetero males trying to score hot chicks” demographic. I’d just as soon be reading about how to choose the best golf shoes.
Ok, I’ll try to put together a top level post.