Realistically, Less Wrong is most concerned about epistemic rationality: the idea that having an accurate map of the territory is very important to actually reaching your instrumental goals. If you imagine for a second a world where epistemic rationality isn’t that important, you don’t really need a site like Less Wrong. There’s nods to “instrumental rationality”, but those are in the context of epistemic rationality getting you most of the way and being the base you work off of, otherwise there’s no reason to be on Less Wrong instead of a specific site dealing with the sub area.
Also, lots of “building relationships with powerful people” is zero sum at best, since it resembles influence peddling more than gains from informal trade.
Realistically, Less Wrong is most concerned about epistemic rationality: the idea that having an accurate map of the territory is very important to actually reaching your instrumental goals. If you imagine for a second a world where epistemic rationality isn’t that important, you don’t really need a site like Less Wrong. There’s nods to “instrumental rationality”, but those are in the context of epistemic rationality getting you most of the way and being the base you work off of, otherwise there’s no reason to be on Less Wrong instead of a specific site dealing with the sub area.
Also, lots of “building relationships with powerful people” is zero sum at best, since it resembles influence peddling more than gains from informal trade.