Real effect but not full-blown groupthink. For instance, I wouldn’t expect people on LW to be accused of “disloyalty”. I’ve said once or twice that I din’t think of myself primarily as rationalist, to no raised eyebrows.
I have not always been aware of the technical meaning of groupthink. But even then I was careful to distinguish between group cohesion one one hand, and irrational commitment to failing courses of action (or poisoned beliefs) on the other.
I suspect that we’re not criticizing the CraigsList project as harshly as we should. I suggested as much, but there was little follow-up. This strikes me as counterproductive; such a project should be subjected to the harshest tests and launched only if it survives unscathed.
The phrase “insider bias” comes to mind, but I’m not sure it captures what you mean either.
I suspect that we’re not criticizing the CraigsList project as harshly as we should. I suggested as much, but there was little follow-up.
I made one or two skeptical comments on that page, but I didn’t criticize the project as much as it deserved. It seemed so obviously nugatory. I didn’t want to spend the time and effort thinking about something that I wasn’t at all interested in, especially when everyone else seemed so excited about it. I just figured the people who really care about it can do it if they want.
There is a type of selection bias at work here, where people who aren’t at all interested in something may not feel the desire to spend time fighting the tide, which then makes the tide appear stronger. There are probably also people who feel this way about cryonics. (Not me: I think it’s awesome.)
I have not always been aware of the technical meaning of groupthink. But even then I was careful to distinguish between group cohesion one one hand, and irrational commitment to failing courses of action (or poisoned beliefs) on the other.
There seems too much discussion on this site regarding definitions. I call them “word arguments” and tend to skip them when I sense their presence. It seems people like to categorize things, in which case a word argument is an attempt to write dictionaries so everything make sense. I much prefer to try and understand what the other person is attempting to say, perhaps even without some specific, technical word to describe it, and continue the discussion in profitable directions.
In which case, the proper response to accusations of groupthink would be, “I disagree for reasons X and Y. Now to cover your othre points...” Or, in my estimation, even better, “Why does it seem like groupthink to you?” You don’t even have to ask them for their definition of the word to understand what they want to tell you, so long as they spell it out. And you don’t necessarily have to answer the accusation of groupthink, then, either, especially if their reasons are not contained in the definition of the word. Instead, you answer the points themselves: what the person was trying to convey in the first place.
Real effect but not full-blown groupthink. For instance, I wouldn’t expect people on LW to be accused of “disloyalty”. I’ve said once or twice that I din’t think of myself primarily as rationalist, to no raised eyebrows.
I have not always been aware of the technical meaning of groupthink. But even then I was careful to distinguish between group cohesion one one hand, and irrational commitment to failing courses of action (or poisoned beliefs) on the other.
I suspect that we’re not criticizing the CraigsList project as harshly as we should. I suggested as much, but there was little follow-up. This strikes me as counterproductive; such a project should be subjected to the harshest tests and launched only if it survives unscathed.
The phrase “insider bias” comes to mind, but I’m not sure it captures what you mean either.
I made one or two skeptical comments on that page, but I didn’t criticize the project as much as it deserved. It seemed so obviously nugatory. I didn’t want to spend the time and effort thinking about something that I wasn’t at all interested in, especially when everyone else seemed so excited about it. I just figured the people who really care about it can do it if they want.
There is a type of selection bias at work here, where people who aren’t at all interested in something may not feel the desire to spend time fighting the tide, which then makes the tide appear stronger. There are probably also people who feel this way about cryonics. (Not me: I think it’s awesome.)
There seems too much discussion on this site regarding definitions. I call them “word arguments” and tend to skip them when I sense their presence. It seems people like to categorize things, in which case a word argument is an attempt to write dictionaries so everything make sense. I much prefer to try and understand what the other person is attempting to say, perhaps even without some specific, technical word to describe it, and continue the discussion in profitable directions.
In which case, the proper response to accusations of groupthink would be, “I disagree for reasons X and Y. Now to cover your othre points...” Or, in my estimation, even better, “Why does it seem like groupthink to you?” You don’t even have to ask them for their definition of the word to understand what they want to tell you, so long as they spell it out. And you don’t necessarily have to answer the accusation of groupthink, then, either, especially if their reasons are not contained in the definition of the word. Instead, you answer the points themselves: what the person was trying to convey in the first place.