This is a call for Less Wrong users who do not wish to personally identify as rationalists, or do not perfectly relate to the community at a cultural level:
What do you use Less Wrong for? And, what are some reasons for why you do not identify as a rationalist? Are there some functions that you wish the community would provide which it otherwise does not?
I think of “rationalist” as “one who applies rationality to real life”. By that definition, I’ve identified as rationalist since age 2 at the latest (I said identified, not “been any good at it”).
LW culture is hard to grasp. Politics is a minefield, there’s apparently a terrible feminism problem, there seem to be two not so distinct factions: people who want more instrumental rationality, and people who get annoyed by this and only want to discuss philosophy. You have to read lots of things not optimized for keeping readers from falling asleep (I’m not talking about the sequences; I actually stay awake through those) in order to have the necessary background to participate in many discussions; I’m quite terrified of missteps (I make them quite often).
However, I know what I’m reading will be thoroughly vetted for truthfulness most of the time, and in spite of the utter failure to demonstrate rationality superpowers, applying science and reasoning to reality for good results is encouraged and seemingly the main thrust of the whole site. It’s obviously far from optimal, otherwise we’d have tons of success stories rather than something trying very hard not to be a technoCult, but those aren’t really detraction enough given the absence of a better alternative.
That, and solving CAPCHAs is quite inconvenient and so I’m kinda selective about where I register, so I registered here instead of Reddit and that means this is the only place I’m going to be able to talk about HPMoR. :P
(Also, I like emoticons an awful lot considering that I can’t see them. I haven’t encountered any emoticons on LW. In any other comment, I would have been much more wary of using one. ??? )
Being ‘part of a community’ and having a term that defines one’s identity are two different conditions. In the former, one’s participation in a community is merely another aspect to one’s personality or character, which can be all-expansive.
In the latter, one is tied to others who share the identifier. Even if ‘rationalist’ just means one who subscribes to the importance of instrumental and epistemic rationality in daily life, accepting and embracing that or any identifier can have negatives. The former condition, representing a choice rather than a fact of identity, is absent those negatives while retaining the positive aspects of communal connection.
Exempli gratia: One is trying to appeal to some high status figure. This high-status figure encounters a ‘rationalist’, and perceives them as low-status. If One has identified themselves as also being a rationalist, then the high-status person’s perception of the ‘rationalist’ may taint their perception of One. If One has instead identified themselves as being part of a certain community, to which this ‘rationalist’ may also claim affiliation, One can claim that while they find the community worthwhile for many pursuits, not all who flock to the community are representative of its worth.
If someone thinks this a losing strategy, please speak up, as it’s generally applicable. Notable exceptions to its applicability include claiming oneself as identifiable by their association with a friend group or extended family, as in, “I am James Potter, Marauder,” rather than, “I am James Potter, member of the Marauders”; and, “I am a Potter,” rather than the simple, “My name is James Potter.”
This is a call for Less Wrong users who do not wish to personally identify as rationalists, or do not perfectly relate to the community at a cultural level:
What do you use Less Wrong for? And, what are some reasons for why you do not identify as a rationalist? Are there some functions that you wish the community would provide which it otherwise does not?
I think of “rationalist” as “one who applies rationality to real life”. By that definition, I’ve identified as rationalist since age 2 at the latest (I said identified, not “been any good at it”).
LW culture is hard to grasp. Politics is a minefield, there’s apparently a terrible feminism problem, there seem to be two not so distinct factions: people who want more instrumental rationality, and people who get annoyed by this and only want to discuss philosophy. You have to read lots of things not optimized for keeping readers from falling asleep (I’m not talking about the sequences; I actually stay awake through those) in order to have the necessary background to participate in many discussions; I’m quite terrified of missteps (I make them quite often).
However, I know what I’m reading will be thoroughly vetted for truthfulness most of the time, and in spite of the utter failure to demonstrate rationality superpowers, applying science and reasoning to reality for good results is encouraged and seemingly the main thrust of the whole site. It’s obviously far from optimal, otherwise we’d have tons of success stories rather than something trying very hard not to be a technoCult, but those aren’t really detraction enough given the absence of a better alternative.
That, and solving CAPCHAs is quite inconvenient and so I’m kinda selective about where I register, so I registered here instead of Reddit and that means this is the only place I’m going to be able to talk about HPMoR. :P
(Also, I like emoticons an awful lot considering that I can’t see them. I haven’t encountered any emoticons on LW. In any other comment, I would have been much more wary of using one. ??? )
Being ‘part of a community’ and having a term that defines one’s identity are two different conditions. In the former, one’s participation in a community is merely another aspect to one’s personality or character, which can be all-expansive.
In the latter, one is tied to others who share the identifier. Even if ‘rationalist’ just means one who subscribes to the importance of instrumental and epistemic rationality in daily life, accepting and embracing that or any identifier can have negatives. The former condition, representing a choice rather than a fact of identity, is absent those negatives while retaining the positive aspects of communal connection.
Exempli gratia:
One is trying to appeal to some high status figure. This high-status figure encounters a ‘rationalist’, and perceives them as low-status. If One has identified themselves as also being a rationalist, then the high-status person’s perception of the ‘rationalist’ may taint their perception of One.
If One has instead identified themselves as being part of a certain community, to which this ‘rationalist’ may also claim affiliation, One can claim that while they find the community worthwhile for many pursuits, not all who flock to the community are representative of its worth.
If someone thinks this a losing strategy, please speak up, as it’s generally applicable. Notable exceptions to its applicability include claiming oneself as identifiable by their association with a friend group or extended family, as in, “I am James Potter, Marauder,” rather than, “I am James Potter, member of the Marauders”; and, “I am a Potter,” rather than the simple, “My name is James Potter.”