The problems of the present are as old as history, as are attempts to remedy them. Attempts at a comprehensive solution range from conservative attitudes according to which the best that humans can do, is beat down the perennial evils whenever they inevitably re-arise; to various utopianisms that want to establish that beautiful and fair world forever.
Obviously Less Wrong has a particular focus on AI as something new and enormously consequential, with the potential to transform life itself, and what kind of knowledge and what kind of interventions are needed to get a good outcome. But there was at least one organization that drew upon the rationalist community and its sensibility and intellectual resources, in pursuit of utopian aims in the present. It was called Leverage Research, and from what people say, it didn’t get very far before internal problems compelled it to greatly scale back its aims. And that is quite normal for utopian movements. Mostly they will remain small and irrelevant; occasionally they will become larger and corrupt; very rarely, they will bequeath to the world some new idea which has value, becomes general knowledge, and does some good.
In years past, there were occasional surveys of Less Wrong, on topics that included political opinions. Two strains of thought that were represented, that come to mind, are progressivism and libertarianism. I mention these because these are ideologies which have adherents here, and which, in their different ways, have a kind of universal ideal by means of which they propose to solve problems in general. The progressive ideal is organized activism, the libertarian ideal is individual freedom.
Effective altruism was mentioned in other comments, as a rationalist-adjacent community which is more focused on problems of the present. There, it’s worth reflecting on the case of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX. That was an audacious attempt to combine a particular moral ethos (effective altruism) with a particular political orientation (his family were influential Democrats) and a business plan worthy of the most ambitious tech tycoons (to move cryptocurrency out of its Wild West phase, and become one of a few regulator-approved crypto exchanges). But crypto turned out to be in a bubble, when it burst it removed the underpinnings of the whole FTX enterprise, and Bankman-Fried has gone from being celebrated as an EA philanthropist, to disowned as a crook who did immense reputational damage to the movement.
Regularly people come along who, in one way or other, want to found a broader ethos and agenda on top of Less Wrong rationalism. Just this week, @zhukeepa has been arguing for common ground between rationalism and major religious traditions (incidentally, this is far from the first time that someone, inside rationalism or outside, proposed a secular interpretation of the ethical and prophetic elements of religion). But I think most people here, when seeking a better world in ways unrelated to AI, approach that via some philosophy distinct from LW rationalism, such as effective altruism, progressivism, or libertarianism.
If you look into a bit more history on social justice/equality problems, you would see we have actually made many many progress (https://gcdd.org/images/Reports/us-social-movements-web-timeline.pdf), but not enough as the bar was so low. These also have made changes in our law. Before 1879, women cannot be lawyers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women_lawyers_in_the_United_States). On war, I don’t have too much knowledge myself, so I will refrain from commenting for now. It is also my belief that we should not stop at attempt, but attempt is the first step (necessary but not sufficient), and they have pushed to real changes as history shown, but it will have to take piles of piles of work, before a significant change. Just because something is very hard to do, does not mean we should stop, nor there will not be a way (just like ensuring there is humanity in the future.) For example, we should not give up on helping people during war nor try to reduce wars in the first place, and we should not give up on preventing women being raped. In my opinion, this is in a way ensuring there is future, as human may very well be destroyed by other humans, or by mistakes by ourselves. (That’s also why in the AI safety case, governance is so important so that we consider the human piece.)
As you mentioned political party—it is interesting to see surveys happening here; a side track—I believe general equality problems such as “women can go to school”, is not dependent on political party. And something like “police should not kill a black person randomly” should not be supported just by blacks, but also other races (I am not black).
The problems of the present are as old as history, as are attempts to remedy them. Attempts at a comprehensive solution range from conservative attitudes according to which the best that humans can do, is beat down the perennial evils whenever they inevitably re-arise; to various utopianisms that want to establish that beautiful and fair world forever.
Obviously Less Wrong has a particular focus on AI as something new and enormously consequential, with the potential to transform life itself, and what kind of knowledge and what kind of interventions are needed to get a good outcome. But there was at least one organization that drew upon the rationalist community and its sensibility and intellectual resources, in pursuit of utopian aims in the present. It was called Leverage Research, and from what people say, it didn’t get very far before internal problems compelled it to greatly scale back its aims. And that is quite normal for utopian movements. Mostly they will remain small and irrelevant; occasionally they will become larger and corrupt; very rarely, they will bequeath to the world some new idea which has value, becomes general knowledge, and does some good.
In years past, there were occasional surveys of Less Wrong, on topics that included political opinions. Two strains of thought that were represented, that come to mind, are progressivism and libertarianism. I mention these because these are ideologies which have adherents here, and which, in their different ways, have a kind of universal ideal by means of which they propose to solve problems in general. The progressive ideal is organized activism, the libertarian ideal is individual freedom.
Effective altruism was mentioned in other comments, as a rationalist-adjacent community which is more focused on problems of the present. There, it’s worth reflecting on the case of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX. That was an audacious attempt to combine a particular moral ethos (effective altruism) with a particular political orientation (his family were influential Democrats) and a business plan worthy of the most ambitious tech tycoons (to move cryptocurrency out of its Wild West phase, and become one of a few regulator-approved crypto exchanges). But crypto turned out to be in a bubble, when it burst it removed the underpinnings of the whole FTX enterprise, and Bankman-Fried has gone from being celebrated as an EA philanthropist, to disowned as a crook who did immense reputational damage to the movement.
Regularly people come along who, in one way or other, want to found a broader ethos and agenda on top of Less Wrong rationalism. Just this week, @zhukeepa has been arguing for common ground between rationalism and major religious traditions (incidentally, this is far from the first time that someone, inside rationalism or outside, proposed a secular interpretation of the ethical and prophetic elements of religion). But I think most people here, when seeking a better world in ways unrelated to AI, approach that via some philosophy distinct from LW rationalism, such as effective altruism, progressivism, or libertarianism.
If you look into a bit more history on social justice/equality problems, you would see we have actually made many many progress (https://gcdd.org/images/Reports/us-social-movements-web-timeline.pdf), but not enough as the bar was so low. These also have made changes in our law. Before 1879, women cannot be lawyers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women_lawyers_in_the_United_States). On war, I don’t have too much knowledge myself, so I will refrain from commenting for now. It is also my belief that we should not stop at attempt, but attempt is the first step (necessary but not sufficient), and they have pushed to real changes as history shown, but it will have to take piles of piles of work, before a significant change. Just because something is very hard to do, does not mean we should stop, nor there will not be a way (just like ensuring there is humanity in the future.) For example, we should not give up on helping people during war nor try to reduce wars in the first place, and we should not give up on preventing women being raped. In my opinion, this is in a way ensuring there is future, as human may very well be destroyed by other humans, or by mistakes by ourselves. (That’s also why in the AI safety case, governance is so important so that we consider the human piece.)
As you mentioned political party—it is interesting to see surveys happening here; a side track—I believe general equality problems such as “women can go to school”, is not dependent on political party. And something like “police should not kill a black person randomly” should not be supported just by blacks, but also other races (I am not black).
Thanks for the background otherwise.