It might be better to contribute to the fall οf that which is already wavering and belongs to yesterday’s world than to try to prop it up and prolong its existence artificially.
[...]
Hegel rightly wrote that the
epochs οf material well-being are blank pages in the history book, and
Toynbee has shown that the challenge to mankind οf environmentally
and spiritually harsh and problematic conditions is often the incentive
that awakens the creative energies οf civilization. In some cases, it is
not paradoxical to say that the man οf good will should try to make life
difficult for his neighbor! It is a commonplace that all the higher virtues
attenuate and atrophy under easy conditions, when man is not forced
to prove himself in some way; and in the final analysis it does not matter
in such situations if a good number fall away and are lost through
natural selection.
If I can try to get you to be more specific—was it perhaps something you recently learned about LW “culture”? Such as was contained in a recently published expose?
I was a Visiting Fellow at SingInst for about two years—I know way more about it than can be found in that article. The reason for the change in my strategies is simply that I learned that I can have most of my comments downvoted while still reaching a good fraction of the more interesting people on LessWrong. It’s been a long time since I’ve cared about LessWrong as a community, I’m only here to interact with the interesting folk. LessWrong is still a hub for them. Even Nick Szabo’s been stopping by recently.
[...]
— Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger
If I can try to get you to be more specific—was it perhaps something you recently learned about LW “culture”? Such as was contained in a recently published expose?
I was turned off too.
I was a Visiting Fellow at SingInst for about two years—I know way more about it than can be found in that article. The reason for the change in my strategies is simply that I learned that I can have most of my comments downvoted while still reaching a good fraction of the more interesting people on LessWrong. It’s been a long time since I’ve cared about LessWrong as a community, I’m only here to interact with the interesting folk. LessWrong is still a hub for them. Even Nick Szabo’s been stopping by recently.