physical contact? karaoke? the outdoors? What does that have to do with rationality?
It’s not really any of my business, since I’m not a New Yorker, but I’d be inclined to ask the same question. I understand that you’re trying to build a community… I just have no idea why.
I understand that you’re trying to build a community… I just have no idea why.
Because being part of a community is something that, for most people, is just innately nice...and being in a community of people with particular values and habits makes most people better at living up to those values and building those habits.
One of the nice things about a community is being able to talk to a bunch of people who, although you may not know them personally, are not far from you in inferential distance and share much of the same jargon/vocabulary. Less Wrong has a very particular jargon, which isn’t shared by other “skeptics” meetups, and the focus of discussion is slightly different: thinking accurately, making good decisions, and achieving goals, along with a bunch of Singularity memes...there is some overlap with other skeptics’ meetups, but not totally.
There are already a ton of communities organized around religion, and it’s been tempting for me in the past to go to church just because it provided a ready-made community of nice people who were already in the habit of being helpful to each other, singing together, etc. I don’t know if the instinct to latch onto a community is stronger or weaker in myself than in the average LWer, but it would certainly be nice to have a possible community of people who actually shared my beliefs.
This is an extremely important question, and I think Swimmer’s answer, while true, is not sufficient. Having additional goals beyond just forming a community will probably make people more attracted/committed to the group. Simply working together towards a common goal brings people closer together.
It’s not really any of my business, since I’m not a New Yorker, but I’d be inclined to ask the same question. I understand that you’re trying to build a community… I just have no idea why.
Because being part of a community is something that, for most people, is just innately nice...and being in a community of people with particular values and habits makes most people better at living up to those values and building those habits.
One of the nice things about a community is being able to talk to a bunch of people who, although you may not know them personally, are not far from you in inferential distance and share much of the same jargon/vocabulary. Less Wrong has a very particular jargon, which isn’t shared by other “skeptics” meetups, and the focus of discussion is slightly different: thinking accurately, making good decisions, and achieving goals, along with a bunch of Singularity memes...there is some overlap with other skeptics’ meetups, but not totally.
There are already a ton of communities organized around religion, and it’s been tempting for me in the past to go to church just because it provided a ready-made community of nice people who were already in the habit of being helpful to each other, singing together, etc. I don’t know if the instinct to latch onto a community is stronger or weaker in myself than in the average LWer, but it would certainly be nice to have a possible community of people who actually shared my beliefs.
This is an extremely important question, and I think Swimmer’s answer, while true, is not sufficient. Having additional goals beyond just forming a community will probably make people more attracted/committed to the group. Simply working together towards a common goal brings people closer together.
Swimmers answer had too main points:
1) communities are nice, period
2) communities based around values and habits help you maintain and improve those values and habits
What else would you consider necessary to motivate you to create a community?
’cause it’s fun?