I share this impression. But it might be due to some sort of self-congratulatory/Lake Woebegone bias about my own comments since almost all my contra-mainstream comments have been voted up. This is true for a large variety of different criticisms. Thus I’ve been critical of cryonics, of AI fooming, and Bayesianism. I’ve been deeply critical of the narrative here that portrays phlogiston as a bad scientific theory, and every single comment of that form has been voted up. But there’s a related issue: I do try to talk in a way that will get LW people to listen. Thus for example, when discussing cryonics, I will go out of my way to explicitly discuss it in terms of expected utility because that gives a useful common vocab. If one tried to discuss cryonics from some form of deontological ethics even if the system had strongly anti-deathist attitudes, I expect that this would lead to confusion and downvoting here.
Edit: Another thing that seems to help get contra-mainstream comments voted up is to acknowledge weaknesses in one’s idea. If one includes counter-arguments to what one is saying, even if one only includes a few of them, one comes across as more reasonable. Coming across as Tevye the milkman but leaning against LW consensus works a lot better than coming across as just strongly against the consensus.
Thus I’ve been critical of cryonics, of AI fooming,
I’m not sure how mainstream these positions actually are. While these positions are certainly held by several high status members of the community, I’m pretty sure a majority of posters don’t believe in AI fooming and wouldn’t be surprised if a significant fraction are critical of cryonics.
I share this impression. But it might be due to some sort of self-congratulatory/Lake Woebegone bias about my own comments since almost all my contra-mainstream comments have been voted up. This is true for a large variety of different criticisms. Thus I’ve been critical of cryonics, of AI fooming, and Bayesianism. I’ve been deeply critical of the narrative here that portrays phlogiston as a bad scientific theory, and every single comment of that form has been voted up. But there’s a related issue: I do try to talk in a way that will get LW people to listen. Thus for example, when discussing cryonics, I will go out of my way to explicitly discuss it in terms of expected utility because that gives a useful common vocab. If one tried to discuss cryonics from some form of deontological ethics even if the system had strongly anti-deathist attitudes, I expect that this would lead to confusion and downvoting here.
Edit: Another thing that seems to help get contra-mainstream comments voted up is to acknowledge weaknesses in one’s idea. If one includes counter-arguments to what one is saying, even if one only includes a few of them, one comes across as more reasonable. Coming across as Tevye the milkman but leaning against LW consensus works a lot better than coming across as just strongly against the consensus.
I’m not sure how mainstream these positions actually are. While these positions are certainly held by several high status members of the community, I’m pretty sure a majority of posters don’t believe in AI fooming and wouldn’t be surprised if a significant fraction are critical of cryonics.