LW does seem slightly more insular in some respects than SSC, Overcoming Bias, HN, etc., though that is understandable given the unique origins of the community and the developments that have taken place since.
I think other groups (e.g., EAs / the EA Forum) should try to be emulate LW and become more insular, in at least a few respects:
Be more willing to develop your own culture, and enforce your own norms, that are very different from the culture and norms of society-at-large. Do more things based on what makes sense, rather than what’s conventional.
Care less about your reputation in the eyes of people outside the community. (E.g., I think a lot of what’s good about LW comes from the fact that we’re more trying to impress each other, and being at least somewhat deliberate about which things we want to count as ‘impressive’, rather than parroting whatever’s conventional in some non-LW group that we want to win over.)
Be more willing to disagree with with a mainstream view (once you think you understand the view and have a counter-argument you think is strong), and to build edifices of knowledge that are predicated on ‘mainstream view X is false’.
This doesn’t mean ‘ignore all arguments from people outside the community’; but it means something like ‘use those arguments more like a convenient tool for actually learning things, testing things, and narrowing your uncertainty’, which is a different mindset than ‘listen to outsiders as a sign of respect / as a way to signal virtuous humility / as a way to signal virtuous deference / etc.’.
Thanks for raising some valuable points. I agree there is a strong argument to be made for insularity of norms and culture to a certain degree as it does seem highly unlikely human flourishing will be most optimally sustained if every group on Earth converged on the exact same set.
Some of the apparent deficiencies of LW may turn out to be strengths when viewed from such a perspective. Though that raises the interesting question of whether some apparent strengths may turn into deficiencies...
For example, having a broader cross section of society in the community may be detrimental to the goal of maintaining that sufficient degree of insularity. Whereas the slight ‘creepiness vibe’ may in fact be beneficial for achieving it.
I think other groups (e.g., EAs / the EA Forum) should try to be emulate LW and become more insular, in at least a few respects:
Be more willing to develop your own culture, and enforce your own norms, that are very different from the culture and norms of society-at-large. Do more things based on what makes sense, rather than what’s conventional.
Care less about your reputation in the eyes of people outside the community. (E.g., I think a lot of what’s good about LW comes from the fact that we’re more trying to impress each other, and being at least somewhat deliberate about which things we want to count as ‘impressive’, rather than parroting whatever’s conventional in some non-LW group that we want to win over.)
Be more willing to disagree with with a mainstream view (once you think you understand the view and have a counter-argument you think is strong), and to build edifices of knowledge that are predicated on ‘mainstream view X is false’.
This doesn’t mean ‘ignore all arguments from people outside the community’; but it means something like ‘use those arguments more like a convenient tool for actually learning things, testing things, and narrowing your uncertainty’, which is a different mindset than ‘listen to outsiders as a sign of respect / as a way to signal virtuous humility / as a way to signal virtuous deference / etc.’.
Thanks for raising some valuable points. I agree there is a strong argument to be made for insularity of norms and culture to a certain degree as it does seem highly unlikely human flourishing will be most optimally sustained if every group on Earth converged on the exact same set.
Some of the apparent deficiencies of LW may turn out to be strengths when viewed from such a perspective. Though that raises the interesting question of whether some apparent strengths may turn into deficiencies...
I, for one, am interested in how the rest of this sentence goes.
For example, having a broader cross section of society in the community may be detrimental to the goal of maintaining that sufficient degree of insularity. Whereas the slight ‘creepiness vibe’ may in fact be beneficial for achieving it.