“We are unusual” is not a licence to say “We have a significant chance of being unusual in this particular manner that just happens to be convenient to my argument.”
What evidence were you thinking of that this rule does not apply to LessWrong readers in particular?
What evidence were you thinking of that this rule does not apply to LessWrong readers in particular?
I wasn’t primarily arguing that it does not apply, more that it might not apply.
As for reasons that it might not apply—for starters, awareness of the issue enough to discuss it. Same way it works with awareness of all other biases.
Cutting out half the potential membership out of a rationalist group seems to me a high enough price to pay (especially given how few we are, especially given the impresison it’d give to outsiders) that we ought consider very carefully how big the downsides of gender inclusiveness really are, in the given situation. Not just say “standard ape behaviour”.
As for reasons that it might not apply—for starters, awareness of the issue enough to discuss it. Same way it works with awareness of all other biases.
That’s certainly an excellent start. But awareness of and being able to cope with a bias doesn’t make it go away—it takes considerable practice until you’re not just compensating for it. The mind is a very thin layer on top of a chimp—the biases run deep.
“We are unusual” is not a licence to say “We have a significant chance of being unusual in this particular manner that just happens to be convenient to my argument.”
What evidence were you thinking of that this rule does not apply to LessWrong readers in particular?
I wasn’t primarily arguing that it does not apply, more that it might not apply.
As for reasons that it might not apply—for starters, awareness of the issue enough to discuss it. Same way it works with awareness of all other biases.
Cutting out half the potential membership out of a rationalist group seems to me a high enough price to pay (especially given how few we are, especially given the impresison it’d give to outsiders) that we ought consider very carefully how big the downsides of gender inclusiveness really are, in the given situation. Not just say “standard ape behaviour”.
That’s certainly an excellent start. But awareness of and being able to cope with a bias doesn’t make it go away—it takes considerable practice until you’re not just compensating for it. The mind is a very thin layer on top of a chimp—the biases run deep.