This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really dislike the term ‘rationalist’ for four reasons:
1) It makes you sound self-aggrandizing. The term gives the impression that you think you are already rational and therefore smarter-than-thou.
2) It’s already a term used to describe a different group. In fact, that way of using the term is not only way older, but also way more common.
3) The people it describes are not only interested in ‘rationality’, but also talk at length about things like AI, Bayes-theorem, Utilitarianism, etc.
4) We don’t even agree on what it means anymore. I’m not sure we ever did, but post-rationality has put the nail in the coffin.
I’ve toyed with introducing the term ‘Aspirationalist’, but maybe we should just split it into ‘Lesswrongers’, ‘SSCers’, ‘Effective Altruist’ etc?
[Question] Should we stop using the term ‘Rationalist’?
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really dislike the term ‘rationalist’ for four reasons:
1) It makes you sound self-aggrandizing. The term gives the impression that you think you are already rational and therefore smarter-than-thou.
2) It’s already a term used to describe a different group. In fact, that way of using the term is not only way older, but also way more common.
3) The people it describes are not only interested in ‘rationality’, but also talk at length about things like AI, Bayes-theorem, Utilitarianism, etc.
4) We don’t even agree on what it means anymore. I’m not sure we ever did, but post-rationality has put the nail in the coffin.
I’ve toyed with introducing the term ‘Aspirationalist’, but maybe we should just split it into ‘Lesswrongers’, ‘SSCers’, ‘Effective Altruist’ etc?