median rationalist at roughly MENSA level. This still feels wrong to me: if they’re so smart, where are the nobel laureates? The famous physicists? And why does arguing on Lesswrong make me feel like banging my head against the wall?
I think you’d have to consider both Scott Aaronson and Taylor Cowen to be rationalist adjacent, and both considered intellectual heavyweights
Dustin Moskovitz EA adjacent, again considered a heavyweight, but applied to business rather than academia
Then there’s the second point, but unfortunately I haven’t seen any evidence that someone being smart makes them pleasant to argue with (the contrary in fact)
I think you’d have to consider both Scott Aaronson and Taylor Cowen to be rationalist adjacent, and both considered intellectual heavyweights
Dustin Moskovitz EA adjacent, again considered a heavyweight, but applied to business rather than academia
Then there’s the second point, but unfortunately I haven’t seen any evidence that someone being smart makes them pleasant to argue with (the contrary in fact)
Emmett Shear might also count, but he might merely be rationalist-adjacent.