Question: Someone(Such as me, but it seems likely others may feel the same) reads this and asks themselves “Am I an intellectual elite?” or “Am I engaging enough on Less Wrong?”
How do you want that person to answer those questions?
I mean, there are at least a few modes of failure I can think people may have upon seeing that appeal:
A: Someone isn’t really all that intellectually elite, and they think “Ah! I’m elite, Luke wants me to post more.” Posts More, increases noise, decreases quality of discussion
B: Someone really is that intellectually elite, and they think “Well, I may have coauthored a paper, but I’m no elite like Yudkowsky.” Lurks, stays disengaged.
C: Someone really is that intellectually elite, and they really are engaging plenty, and they think “Lukeprog still wants more? I’m spending too much time posting at work as it is!” Disengages from exhaustion.
How do you avoid those problems, bearing in mind that not all of them are necessarily equally problematic or likely, and that it seems likely the list isn’t exhaustive?
(Ninja Edit) As an example of the list not being exhaustive, a quick review of comments that had occurred after I typed most of this but before I submitted implies I should add the following:
D: Those questions are ill formed, and the premise behind them needs to be rejected all together.
Note, personally, D is actually one of the reasons I comment less often on a thorough level. It can be fairly time consuming to cover all of the bases for a comment and make sure I’m not assuming things that aren’t in evidence before I even start talking. But as per the above, I’m not even sure if me trying to check my comments for unwarranted assumptions to that level is desired.
E: Someone who thinks of themselves as intellectually elite, thinks of Eliezer and LW as not intellectually elite (no degree; writes fanfic), and considers the request to be Luke seeking to borrow “elite” credibility for non-credible ideas. Posts yet another blog post demeaning LW.
F: Someone who thinks of the notion of “intellectual elite” as a social problem, an effort to privilege some kinds of mental work (getting rich people to pay you to write philosophy papers) over other mental work (say, organizing religious charities, labor unions, or political movements), and considers the request to be a symptom of LW’s lack of spiritual, social, or political consciousness. Posts yet another blog post demeaning LW.
Question: Someone(Such as me, but it seems likely others may feel the same) reads this and asks themselves “Am I an intellectual elite?” or “Am I engaging enough on Less Wrong?”
How do you want that person to answer those questions?
I mean, there are at least a few modes of failure I can think people may have upon seeing that appeal:
A: Someone isn’t really all that intellectually elite, and they think “Ah! I’m elite, Luke wants me to post more.” Posts More, increases noise, decreases quality of discussion
B: Someone really is that intellectually elite, and they think “Well, I may have coauthored a paper, but I’m no elite like Yudkowsky.” Lurks, stays disengaged.
C: Someone really is that intellectually elite, and they really are engaging plenty, and they think “Lukeprog still wants more? I’m spending too much time posting at work as it is!” Disengages from exhaustion.
How do you avoid those problems, bearing in mind that not all of them are necessarily equally problematic or likely, and that it seems likely the list isn’t exhaustive?
(Ninja Edit) As an example of the list not being exhaustive, a quick review of comments that had occurred after I typed most of this but before I submitted implies I should add the following:
D: Those questions are ill formed, and the premise behind them needs to be rejected all together.
Note, personally, D is actually one of the reasons I comment less often on a thorough level. It can be fairly time consuming to cover all of the bases for a comment and make sure I’m not assuming things that aren’t in evidence before I even start talking. But as per the above, I’m not even sure if me trying to check my comments for unwarranted assumptions to that level is desired.
E: Someone who thinks of themselves as intellectually elite, thinks of Eliezer and LW as not intellectually elite (no degree; writes fanfic), and considers the request to be Luke seeking to borrow “elite” credibility for non-credible ideas. Posts yet another blog post demeaning LW.
F: Someone who thinks of the notion of “intellectual elite” as a social problem, an effort to privilege some kinds of mental work (getting rich people to pay you to write philosophy papers) over other mental work (say, organizing religious charities, labor unions, or political movements), and considers the request to be a symptom of LW’s lack of spiritual, social, or political consciousness. Posts yet another blog post demeaning LW.