It’s clear that you were uncomfortable sharing this feeling with LessWrong 2.0, so I just want to applaud you for your bravery and to encourage you to write more in the future, so you know that at least one person will react positively :).
Never been to Bay Area, so the only rationalists I met were on EA events or LW meetups. I get bad vibes you described from one in every two self-described rationalists on average. I don’t get these vibes from Marxists, Social Justice activists or fundamentalist Christians, so something seems very wrong. I haven’t conceptualized my fuzzy perception yet, but absolutely alien social dynamics that many rationalists exhibit both on the internet and in real life makes me vaguely uncomfortable to a point, that I don’t feel like there’s any point in participating in rationality activities, networking with rationalists and even identifying as a rationalist.
You didn’t feel ‘at home’ in Berkeley? This is how I felt about LessWrong 2.0 when it started.
Note, though, that I have none of those issues with people, who identify as primarily Effective Altruists. EAs seem, on the contrary, nicer and warmer than the average person.
Different people can feel “uncomfortable” as a reaction to different things. The fact that both you and the author get uncomfortable feelings, doesn’t necessarily mean you refer to the same thing. (Also, the typical uncomfortable things at LW meetups may differ from typical uncomfortable things in Berkeley.)
Please, don’t get me wrong: I think that it is important for people who feel uncomfortable to notice their feelings, and announcing it may be the right thing to do. I am just saying that if we don’t talk specifically enough, we might get an illusion of talking about the same thing, while actually thinking about different things.
It’s clear that you were uncomfortable sharing this feeling with LessWrong 2.0, so I just want to applaud you for your bravery and to encourage you to write more in the future, so you know that at least one person will react positively :).
Never been to Bay Area, so the only rationalists I met were on EA events or LW meetups. I get bad vibes you described from one in every two self-described rationalists on average. I don’t get these vibes from Marxists, Social Justice activists or fundamentalist Christians, so something seems very wrong. I haven’t conceptualized my fuzzy perception yet, but absolutely alien social dynamics that many rationalists exhibit both on the internet and in real life makes me vaguely uncomfortable to a point, that I don’t feel like there’s any point in participating in rationality activities, networking with rationalists and even identifying as a rationalist.
You didn’t feel ‘at home’ in Berkeley? This is how I felt about LessWrong 2.0 when it started.
Note, though, that I have none of those issues with people, who identify as primarily Effective Altruists. EAs seem, on the contrary, nicer and warmer than the average person.
Different people can feel “uncomfortable” as a reaction to different things. The fact that both you and the author get uncomfortable feelings, doesn’t necessarily mean you refer to the same thing. (Also, the typical uncomfortable things at LW meetups may differ from typical uncomfortable things in Berkeley.)
Please, don’t get me wrong: I think that it is important for people who feel uncomfortable to notice their feelings, and announcing it may be the right thing to do. I am just saying that if we don’t talk specifically enough, we might get an illusion of talking about the same thing, while actually thinking about different things.