Honestly, she thinks polyamory among nerds who don’t know the subtleties of more complex relationships and the possibilities thereof is somewhat contemptible; honestly, I agree with her. This is a nontrivial part of what disgusts me about LessWrong and its terrible excuse for a culture.
For example, I wish you’d be more explicit about your disillusionment with LW culture. A few months ago, you were a loyal oppositionist, advising LW on how it can get bigger, while cheering Yudkowsky when he autocratically manipulated the placement of discussion items.
Remember? You advocated for contrarianism; I (or an alter) advocated for dissent. And now, you’ve become the dissent I advocated if not in content at least in form.
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.
I appreciate the info. When did Will_Newsome go from being the cheeky contrarian to a full-on troll in this community? I’m not saying he is or isn’t, but his karma indicates that at least at some point he was saying things people found useful.
People often downvote things I say on principle, yeah. Presumably this also applies to people that seem as if they are “feeding” me, yeah. I rather doubt you’re saying anything bad on its own terms.
I think that the polyamorists might be setting themselves up for some unfortunate social or psychological effects in the long run, but I don’t think there’s anything contemptible about trying to make love work in whatever way makes the most sense to you.
“But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.”
My girlfriend was partially responsible for that comment.
She’s not into all the polyamory going on around here?
Honestly, she thinks polyamory among nerds who don’t know the subtleties of more complex relationships and the possibilities thereof is somewhat contemptible; honestly, I agree with her. This is a nontrivial part of what disgusts me about LessWrong and its terrible excuse for a culture.
I like to make things explicit sometimes.
Although rarely.
For example, I wish you’d be more explicit about your disillusionment with LW culture. A few months ago, you were a loyal oppositionist, advising LW on how it can get bigger, while cheering Yudkowsky when he autocratically manipulated the placement of discussion items.
Remember? You advocated for contrarianism; I (or an alter) advocated for dissent. And now, you’ve become the dissent I advocated if not in content at least in form.
[...]
— 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.
Having a gf totally seems like a good way to go to Hell. Going to Hell is a bad idea dude.
Is there someone just going along downvoting you and every reply to you, or is everything I’m saying horrible?
I strongly suspect that it is the former; there is increasingly a community norm against replying to trolls.
I appreciate the info. When did Will_Newsome go from being the cheeky contrarian to a full-on troll in this community? I’m not saying he is or isn’t, but his karma indicates that at least at some point he was saying things people found useful.
Around June-July 2011.
(This comment was made possible by Wei Dai)
People often downvote things I say on principle, yeah. Presumably this also applies to people that seem as if they are “feeding” me, yeah. I rather doubt you’re saying anything bad on its own terms.
I think that the polyamorists might be setting themselves up for some unfortunate social or psychological effects in the long run, but I don’t think there’s anything contemptible about trying to make love work in whatever way makes the most sense to you.
Having a gf totally seems like a good way to go to Hell. Going to Hell is a bad idea dude.
I agree on both counts, but the alternative also seemed like a good way to go to Hell, so. It’s a tricky situation.
“But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.”