Hello. I am new to this site as well. My background includes physics, mathematics, and philosophy at graduate level, which I am studying now.
I do not identify myself as a “rationalist”, but that does not mean that I may not be a rationalist or that I am not trying to follow some of the advice that is given here to be a rationalist. I discovered LW after reading the story “Three Worlds Collide”, which I discovered thanks to tvtropes.org. Lately I have been thinking and writing a lot about my own goals, and when I took a look around LW I was surprised to discover that many of the conclusions that I have arrived at independently appear in the sequences and other posts here. Thus I find myself agreeing with many of the things said here, but without having ever considered myself a “rationalist” explicitly. Still now, I’m not sure if “rationalism” is the right label to identify the kind of aspirations that I have and that I have found in this site. But it may be.
Anyway, to me that is unimportant. I think I am likely to find people here with a kind of interests that are very difficult to find in people you meet in person. I hope that I will be able to discuss here some topics that I cannot talk about anywhere else. Thus I have decided to sign up :)
Maybe we can invent a new label for people like you and me who aren’t sure if they identify as “rationalists” but nonetheless find themselves agreeing with lots of what’s written on Less Wrong anyway :P Quasirationalist or semirationalist, perhaps?
Actually, even though I said it is unimportant, I would like to explore further this particular question at some point. I would like to know:
1) How does my thought differ, if it does, from the major current of thought in LW.
2) Does this difference, if there is any, amount to the fact that I am not as rational as the average LWer is? Or is it due to factors that are neutral from the point of view of rationality (if there are such things)?
Hello. I am new to this site as well. My background includes physics, mathematics, and philosophy at graduate level, which I am studying now.
I do not identify myself as a “rationalist”, but that does not mean that I may not be a rationalist or that I am not trying to follow some of the advice that is given here to be a rationalist. I discovered LW after reading the story “Three Worlds Collide”, which I discovered thanks to tvtropes.org. Lately I have been thinking and writing a lot about my own goals, and when I took a look around LW I was surprised to discover that many of the conclusions that I have arrived at independently appear in the sequences and other posts here. Thus I find myself agreeing with many of the things said here, but without having ever considered myself a “rationalist” explicitly. Still now, I’m not sure if “rationalism” is the right label to identify the kind of aspirations that I have and that I have found in this site. But it may be.
Anyway, to me that is unimportant. I think I am likely to find people here with a kind of interests that are very difficult to find in people you meet in person. I hope that I will be able to discuss here some topics that I cannot talk about anywhere else. Thus I have decided to sign up :)
Welcome!
Maybe we can invent a new label for people like you and me who aren’t sure if they identify as “rationalists” but nonetheless find themselves agreeing with lots of what’s written on Less Wrong anyway :P Quasirationalist or semirationalist, perhaps?
Thanks!
Actually, even though I said it is unimportant, I would like to explore further this particular question at some point. I would like to know: 1) How does my thought differ, if it does, from the major current of thought in LW. 2) Does this difference, if there is any, amount to the fact that I am not as rational as the average LWer is? Or is it due to factors that are neutral from the point of view of rationality (if there are such things)?
I’ll write about it when I find the time.