I neglect non-neurotypicals because they are overrepresented in my field, so I tend to expect them amongst similar groups.
How do you know non-neurotypicals aren’t over or under represented on Lesswrong as compared to the groups that you claim are overrepresented on Lesswrong compared to your field the same way you know that the groups you bemoan are lacking are under-represented relative to your field?
Is it just because being neurotypical is harder to measure and define? I concede measuring who is a woman or a man or who is considered black and who is considered asian is for the average case easier than being neurotpyical. But when it comes to definition those concepts seem to be in the same order of magnitude of fuzzy as being neurotypical (sex is a less, race is a bit more).
Also previously you established you don’t want to compare Less wrongs diversity to the entire population of the world. I’m going to tentatively go that you also accept that academic background will affect if people can grasp or are interested in learning certain key concepts needed to participate.
My question now is, why don’t we crunch the numbers instead of people yelling “too many!”, “too few!” or “just right!”? We know from which countries and in what numbers visitors come from, we know the educational distributions in most of them. And we know how large a fraction of this group is proficient enough English to participate meaningfully on Less wrong.
This is ignoring the fact that the only data we have on sex or race is a simple self reported poll and our general impression.
But if we crunch the numbers and the probability densities end up looking pretty similar from the best data we can find, well why is the burden of proof that we are indeed wasting potential on Lesswrong and not the one proposing policy or action to improve our odds of progressing towards becoming more rational? And if we are promoting our member’s values, even when they aren’t neutral or positive towards reaching our objectives why don’t we spell them out as long as they truly are common! I’m certainly there are a few, perhaps the value of life and existence (thought these have been questioned and debated here too) or perhaps some utilitarian principles.
But how do we know any position people take would really reflect their values and wouldn’t jut be status signalling? Heck many people who profess their values include or don’t include a certain inherent “goodness” to existence probably do for signalling reasons and would quickly change their minds in a different situation!
Not even mentioning the general effect of the mindkiller.
But like I have stated before, there are certainly many spaces where we can optimize the stated goal by outreach. This is why I think this debate should continue but with a slightly different spirit. More in line with, to paraphrase you:
Which groups should we pay more attention to? This is a serious question, since we haven’t thought too much about it.
How do you know non-neurotypicals aren’t over or under represented on Lesswrong as compared to the groups that you claim are overrepresented on Lesswrong compared to your field the same way you know that the groups you bemoan are lacking are under-represented relative to your field?
Is it just because being neurotypical is harder to measure and define? I concede measuring who is a woman or a man or who is considered black and who is considered asian is for the average case easier than being neurotpyical. But when it comes to definition those concepts seem to be in the same order of magnitude of fuzzy as being neurotypical (sex is a less, race is a bit more).
Also previously you established you don’t want to compare Less wrongs diversity to the entire population of the world. I’m going to tentatively go that you also accept that academic background will affect if people can grasp or are interested in learning certain key concepts needed to participate.
My question now is, why don’t we crunch the numbers instead of people yelling “too many!”, “too few!” or “just right!”? We know from which countries and in what numbers visitors come from, we know the educational distributions in most of them. And we know how large a fraction of this group is proficient enough English to participate meaningfully on Less wrong.
This is ignoring the fact that the only data we have on sex or race is a simple self reported poll and our general impression.
But if we crunch the numbers and the probability densities end up looking pretty similar from the best data we can find, well why is the burden of proof that we are indeed wasting potential on Lesswrong and not the one proposing policy or action to improve our odds of progressing towards becoming more rational? And if we are promoting our member’s values, even when they aren’t neutral or positive towards reaching our objectives why don’t we spell them out as long as they truly are common! I’m certainly there are a few, perhaps the value of life and existence (thought these have been questioned and debated here too) or perhaps some utilitarian principles.
But how do we know any position people take would really reflect their values and wouldn’t jut be status signalling? Heck many people who profess their values include or don’t include a certain inherent “goodness” to existence probably do for signalling reasons and would quickly change their minds in a different situation!
Not even mentioning the general effect of the mindkiller.
But like I have stated before, there are certainly many spaces where we can optimize the stated goal by outreach. This is why I think this debate should continue but with a slightly different spirit. More in line with, to paraphrase you:
Typo in a link?
I changed the first draft midway when I was still attempting to abbreviate it. I’ve edited and reformulated the sentence, it should make sense now.