Creationism was discussed to death long before Lesswrong existed, which is why people downvote attempts to rehash it as a waste of everyone’s time. To the extent that Neoreaction is something different than plain old Reaction, a) it’s a relatively new memeplex, so if it’s bad, someone has to do the work of swatting it down, and b) when the Neoreactionaries aren’t busy reviving obscure archaic words for their own jargon, they’re using Lesswrong-style jargon. You run the risk of outsiders pattern-matching LW and Neoreaction together either way. I’d prefer the association be “Lesswrong is a place where neoreactionary ideas are discussed and sometimes criticized” than “Lesswrong is that place that sounds very similar to Neoreaction minus the explicit politics”.
That being said, there’s ample discussion already on Slate Star Codex, and I wouldn’t want to see it crowding out other topics here.
when the Neoreactionaries aren’t busy reviving obscure archaic words for their own jargon, they’re using Lesswrong-style jargon
I believe the fact that neoreactionaries make frequent use of LW jargon is down to more than a founder effect.
There are multiple aspects to the LW memeplex that perform significant legwork in laying an epistemological foundation to mug intelligent social liberals with reality, which is close to the defining trait of neoreaction. To wit,
Physicalism, determinism, a universe Beyond the Reach of God; the universe is capable of arbitrarily deviating from wishful standards of fairness and equality, there are no cosmic attractors towards justice, humans can be effectively damned beyond redemption by biological variables outside the loci of moral agency.
Generalised optimisation systems; once you understand these, the leap to criticism of democracy as a massive cybernetic failure mode is almost trivial.
Game theory, for the public choice extension to the above.
A deep epistemology of taboos, which form the Dark Matter of democracy, around which our governing narratives swirl otherwise inexplicably.
Beliefs as constraints on expectations, versus belief as attire; this in itself is sufficient to generate enough conflict with official truth to put one far beyond the Overton window.
Ok, but I didn’t say this had already happened. I said it is something I would not want to see happen in future. Possibly you were just using my comment as a convenient anchor for a point you were already prepping for someone else, but it doesn’t really make sense to address it to me.
I’m pleased to see more neoreaction here. This post makes me confident to come back.
Lesswrong needs to use rationality to speak out against the social justice warriors more. We need more rationalists to explain Gamergate and other initiatives. SSC and Ozy come out in favor of Gamergate and Eron Gjoni for example. Politics need not be the mind killer with showing sufficient working.
a) it’s a relatively new memeplex, so if it’s bad, someone has to do the work of swatting it down,
Really? Because most ideas are bad, and that by default includes most new ideas, so I don’t see why a new “memeplex” shouldn’t justify itself rather than having a right to be taken seriously.
I’d prefer the association be “Lesswrong is a place where neoreactionary ideas are discussed and sometimes criticized” than “Lesswrong is that place that sounds very similar to Neoreaction minus the explicit politics”.
Out in the world, LessWrong is more closely associated with Peter Thiel’s brand of libertarianism, and gets all the flak and critiquing usually given to techno-libertarianism.
Because most ideas are bad, and that by default includes most new ideas, so I don’t see why a new “memeplex” shouldn’t justify itself rather than having a right to be taken seriously.
That horse has already left. Neoreaction is a thing now.
Among a self-selected group of nerds on the internet, yes. Whenever it gets noticed by larger society, said society reacts (ahaha) with revulsion. This is both as it should be, and as the neoreactionaries predict, but the point is that I don’t think it’s going to grow beyond the usual demographics of nerd-focused extremist movements.
“Lesswrong is that place that sounds very similar to Neoreaction minus the explicit politics”.
That’s only an observation that could be made by someone who knows what neoreaction sounds like. On the other hand by having LW posts about neoreactionary ideas anybody reading LW comes into contact with them.
Would you prefer that I had not posted for that reason?
In general, t seems...backwards to restrain the things the community talks about out of concern for how others will view the community as a result. Sort of like declaring a police state to protect the nominal freedoms of a Constitution. Shouldn’t we talk about whatever interests us?
That said, in this particular instance, the OP is very contentious, with a significant of votes and just barely over 50% positive. It is something that at least many members of this community don’t want to hear about.
Would you prefer that I had not posted for that reason?
Yes, but not very strongly. Given that your post is overall it positive karma it’s however alright. Karma votes
show you whether a majority thinks your post has a place or hasn’t. Votes decide what threads have a place in discussion and which haven’t.
Sort of like declaring a police state to protect the nominal freedoms of a Constitution.
Online communities are not states with guaranteed freedom of speech.
In general, t seems...backwards to restrain the things the community talks about out of concern for how others will view the community as a result.
It’s not only about the perception of outsiders. It’s also about what the people in this community think.
Online communities are not states with guaranteed freedom of speech.
Yes. I was making a poor analogy. Isn’t the value of lesswrong that we are able to explore ideas things that are not admissible elsewhere for lack of interest, lack of training, or direct aversion? (This is obviously contestable. I invite you to contest it.) If the fundamental value of the community is compromised out of concern for its reputation, then the reputation is of increasingly less value.
Isn’t the value of lesswrong that we are able to explore ideas things that are not admissible elsewhere for lack of interest, lack of training, or direct aversion?
If you read the about page, that’s not how LW statement of purpose is phrased.
Creationism was discussed to death long before Lesswrong existed, which is why people downvote attempts to rehash it as a waste of everyone’s time. To the extent that Neoreaction is something different than plain old Reaction, a) it’s a relatively new memeplex, so if it’s bad, someone has to do the work of swatting it down, and b) when the Neoreactionaries aren’t busy reviving obscure archaic words for their own jargon, they’re using Lesswrong-style jargon. You run the risk of outsiders pattern-matching LW and Neoreaction together either way. I’d prefer the association be “Lesswrong is a place where neoreactionary ideas are discussed and sometimes criticized” than “Lesswrong is that place that sounds very similar to Neoreaction minus the explicit politics”.
That being said, there’s ample discussion already on Slate Star Codex, and I wouldn’t want to see it crowding out other topics here.
I believe the fact that neoreactionaries make frequent use of LW jargon is down to more than a founder effect.
There are multiple aspects to the LW memeplex that perform significant legwork in laying an epistemological foundation to mug intelligent social liberals with reality, which is close to the defining trait of neoreaction. To wit,
Physicalism, determinism, a universe Beyond the Reach of God; the universe is capable of arbitrarily deviating from wishful standards of fairness and equality, there are no cosmic attractors towards justice, humans can be effectively damned beyond redemption by biological variables outside the loci of moral agency.
Generalised optimisation systems; once you understand these, the leap to criticism of democracy as a massive cybernetic failure mode is almost trivial.
Game theory, for the public choice extension to the above.
A deep epistemology of taboos, which form the Dark Matter of democracy, around which our governing narratives swirl otherwise inexplicably.
Beliefs as constraints on expectations, versus belief as attire; this in itself is sufficient to generate enough conflict with official truth to put one far beyond the Overton window.
I keep hearing people say this. This is a rationalist site; why hasn’t anyone gone out and generated some statistics?
I don’t understand which half of that sentence you are objecting to, or what statistic in particular you would be looking for.
“crowding out”
Ok, but I didn’t say this had already happened. I said it is something I would not want to see happen in future. Possibly you were just using my comment as a convenient anchor for a point you were already prepping for someone else, but it doesn’t really make sense to address it to me.
I’m pleased to see more neoreaction here. This post makes me confident to come back.
Lesswrong needs to use rationality to speak out against the social justice warriors more. We need more rationalists to explain Gamergate and other initiatives. SSC and Ozy come out in favor of Gamergate and Eron Gjoni for example. Politics need not be the mind killer with showing sufficient working.
Really? Because most ideas are bad, and that by default includes most new ideas, so I don’t see why a new “memeplex” shouldn’t justify itself rather than having a right to be taken seriously.
Out in the world, LessWrong is more closely associated with Peter Thiel’s brand of libertarianism, and gets all the flak and critiquing usually given to techno-libertarianism.
That horse has already left. Neoreaction is a thing now.
Among a self-selected group of nerds on the internet, yes. Whenever it gets noticed by larger society, said society reacts (ahaha) with revulsion. This is both as it should be, and as the neoreactionaries predict, but the point is that I don’t think it’s going to grow beyond the usual demographics of nerd-focused extremist movements.
Are “nerd-focused extremist movements” a thing? I can’t think of any other examples.
They’re a topic of much past discussion on LW, in fact.
http://lesswrong.com/lw/18b/reason_as_memetic_immune_disorder/
http://lesswrong.com/lw/cxg/link_nerds_are_nuts/
http://lesswrong.com/lw/kat/the_benefits_of_closedmindedness/
http://squid314.livejournal.com/350090.html
As a matter of fact, extremist movements often seem to target or arise-from the educated sections of the middle-class...
So… ‘nerd’ means ‘educated middle class’?
And by this definition, haven’t some movements grown beyond this demographic?
People have posted about creationism on LessWrong?
That’s only an observation that could be made by someone who knows what neoreaction sounds like. On the other hand by having LW posts about neoreactionary ideas anybody reading LW comes into contact with them.
Would you prefer that I had not posted for that reason?
In general, t seems...backwards to restrain the things the community talks about out of concern for how others will view the community as a result. Sort of like declaring a police state to protect the nominal freedoms of a Constitution. Shouldn’t we talk about whatever interests us?
That said, in this particular instance, the OP is very contentious, with a significant of votes and just barely over 50% positive. It is something that at least many members of this community don’t want to hear about.
Yes, but not very strongly. Given that your post is overall it positive karma it’s however alright. Karma votes show you whether a majority thinks your post has a place or hasn’t. Votes decide what threads have a place in discussion and which haven’t.
Online communities are not states with guaranteed freedom of speech.
It’s not only about the perception of outsiders. It’s also about what the people in this community think.
Yes. I was making a poor analogy. Isn’t the value of lesswrong that we are able to explore ideas things that are not admissible elsewhere for lack of interest, lack of training, or direct aversion? (This is obviously contestable. I invite you to contest it.) If the fundamental value of the community is compromised out of concern for its reputation, then the reputation is of increasingly less value.
If you read the about page, that’s not how LW statement of purpose is phrased.
To quote the About page
In this case “automatically” rejection would be a poor description even in the case where NRx is more discouraged.
For a long time, LW was the only place you would read this stuff outside the tiny NRx blogosphere.