Maybe what you’re actually looking for is something like “aspiring beisutsuka”. Like there’s an ideal you’re aiming for but can maybe approach only asymptotically. Just don’t equate “rationalist” with “beisutsuka” and you’re good.
The same model that says aspiring rationalist will self-replace with rationalist, says aspiring beisutsuka will self-rpeplace with beisutsuka. But beisutsuka is a bit better than rationalist on its own terms; it emphasizes being a practitioner more, and presupposes the skill less. And it avoids punning with a dozen past historical movements that each have their own weird connotations and misconceptions. Unfortunately the phonology and spelling of beisutsuka is 99.9th-percentile tricky and that might mean it’s also a linguistic invalid move.
Unfortunately the phonology and spelling of beisutsuka is 99.9th-percentile tricky and that might mean it’s also a linguistic invalid move.
Some rabbit-hole expansion on this:
First of all, you’re missing an “i” at the end (as attested in “Final Words”), so that’s some direct evidence right there.
The second half is presumably a loan from Japanese 使い “tsukai”, “one who uses/applies”, usable as a suffix. In fiction and pop culture, it shows up prominently in 魔法使い “mahoutsukai”, “magic user” thus “wizard” or “sorcerer”; I infer this may have been a flavor source given Eliezer’s other fandom attachments.
The first half is presumably a transliteration of “Bayes” as ベイス “beisu”, which devoices the last mora for reasons which are not clear to me. Compare to Japanese Wikipedia’s article on Thomas Bayes which retains the ズ (zu) at the end, including in compounds related to Bayesian probability and inference.
Maybe what you’re actually looking for is something like “aspiring beisutsuka”. Like there’s an ideal you’re aiming for but can maybe approach only asymptotically. Just don’t equate “rationalist” with “beisutsuka” and you’re good.
The same model that says aspiring rationalist will self-replace with rationalist, says aspiring beisutsuka will self-rpeplace with beisutsuka. But beisutsuka is a bit better than rationalist on its own terms; it emphasizes being a practitioner more, and presupposes the skill less. And it avoids punning with a dozen past historical movements that each have their own weird connotations and misconceptions. Unfortunately the phonology and spelling of beisutsuka is 99.9th-percentile tricky and that might mean it’s also a linguistic invalid move.
Some rabbit-hole expansion on this:
First of all, you’re missing an “i” at the end (as attested in “Final Words”), so that’s some direct evidence right there.
The second half is presumably a loan from Japanese 使い “tsukai”, “one who uses/applies”, usable as a suffix. In fiction and pop culture, it shows up prominently in 魔法使い “mahoutsukai”, “magic user” thus “wizard” or “sorcerer”; I infer this may have been a flavor source given Eliezer’s other fandom attachments.
The first half is presumably a transliteration of “Bayes” as ベイス “beisu”, which devoices the last mora for reasons which are not clear to me. Compare to Japanese Wikipedia’s article on Thomas Bayes which retains the ズ (zu) at the end, including in compounds related to Bayesian probability and inference.
I kinda like this