Okay but there is another side to the issue, insularity can also have positive effects:
If you look at evolution, when a population gets stuck on an island, it starts to develop in interesting ways, maybe insularity is a necessary step to develop truly creative worldviews?
Also IIRC in “The Timeless way of building” Christopher Alexander mentions that cities should be designed as several small neighborhoods with well-defined boundaries, where people with similar background live. He also says something to the effect that the boundaries and the common background are essential to create a strong and interesting culture. So to put a positive spin on it, to some extent insularity is what allowed the rationalist community to develop its peculiar charm.
Now I also find the jargon annoying at times, and had to ask an LLM about this “epistemic status” business, but another way to see it is that this gate-keeping is a selection process that keeps people that are not a good fit out of the community, helping it maintain its coherence. But maybe we should still tone it down in favor of clarity.
Okay but there is another side to the issue, insularity can also have positive effects:
If you look at evolution, when a population gets stuck on an island, it starts to develop in interesting ways, maybe insularity is a necessary step to develop truly creative worldviews?
Also IIRC in “The Timeless way of building” Christopher Alexander mentions that cities should be designed as several small neighborhoods with well-defined boundaries, where people with similar background live. He also says something to the effect that the boundaries and the common background are essential to create a strong and interesting culture. So to put a positive spin on it, to some extent insularity is what allowed the rationalist community to develop its peculiar charm.
Now I also find the jargon annoying at times, and had to ask an LLM about this “epistemic status” business, but another way to see it is that this gate-keeping is a selection process that keeps people that are not a good fit out of the community, helping it maintain its coherence. But maybe we should still tone it down in favor of clarity.
Insularity—being an echo chamber—is bad for truth seeking, even if it is good for neighbourhoods.