I noticed that I almost upvoted your post because it was an in-group thing to say and not because of its actual merit in this conversation. Having the word ‘conspiracy’ anywhere near the name of this organization would be a downright awful idea in practice. I’d as soon suggest changing the official LessWrong slogan to “We’re Not A Cult!”.
I noticed that I almost upvoted your post because it was an in-group thing to say and not because of its actual merit in this conversation. Having the word ‘conspiracy’ anywhere near the name of this organization would be a downright awful idea in practice. I’d as soon suggest changing the official LessWrong slogan to “We’re Not A Cult!”.
Why? It seems unlikely that a real conspiracy would label itself “conspiracy”, and promote itself under that name.
If you owned a restaurant, would you have menu items like “The Shit Sandwich”?
If I was in a restaurant with a menu item like that, I would consider ordering it just to see what it was.
(I take your point though.)
I don’t trust people to think that clearly. Plus, ‘conspiracy’ has negative connotations that are almost antithetical to evidence-based reasoning.