This site, I suspect, mostly attracts high IQ analytical types who would have significantly higher levels of rationality than most people, even if they had never stumbled upon LessWrong.
It would be great if the community could come up with a plan (and implement it) to reach a wider audience. When I’ve sent LW/OB links to people who don’t seem to think much about these topics, they often react with one of several criticisms: the post was too hard to read (written at too high of a level); the author was too arrogant (which I think women particularly dislike); or the topic was too obscure.
Some have tried to reach a wider audience. Richard Dawkins seems to want to spread the good word. Yet, I think sometimes he’s too condescending. Bill Maher took on religion in his movie Religulous, but again, I think he turned a lot of people off with his approach.
A lot has been written here about why people think what they think and what prevents people from changing their minds. Why not use that knowledge to come up with a plan to reach a wider audience. I think the marginal payoff could be large.
I think one possible strategy is to get people to start being rational about being in favor of things they already support (or being against things that they already disagree with). For example, if someone is anti-alt-med, but for political reasons rather than evidence-based reasons, get them to start listening to The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe or something similar.
Once they see that rationality can bolster things they already support, they may be more likely to see it as trustworthy, and a valid motivation to “update” when it later conflicts with some of their other beliefs.
How about spreading rationality?
This site, I suspect, mostly attracts high IQ analytical types who would have significantly higher levels of rationality than most people, even if they had never stumbled upon LessWrong.
It would be great if the community could come up with a plan (and implement it) to reach a wider audience. When I’ve sent LW/OB links to people who don’t seem to think much about these topics, they often react with one of several criticisms: the post was too hard to read (written at too high of a level); the author was too arrogant (which I think women particularly dislike); or the topic was too obscure.
Some have tried to reach a wider audience. Richard Dawkins seems to want to spread the good word. Yet, I think sometimes he’s too condescending. Bill Maher took on religion in his movie Religulous, but again, I think he turned a lot of people off with his approach.
A lot has been written here about why people think what they think and what prevents people from changing their minds. Why not use that knowledge to come up with a plan to reach a wider audience. I think the marginal payoff could be large.
I think one possible strategy is to get people to start being rational about being in favor of things they already support (or being against things that they already disagree with). For example, if someone is anti-alt-med, but for political reasons rather than evidence-based reasons, get them to start listening to The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe or something similar.
Once they see that rationality can bolster things they already support, they may be more likely to see it as trustworthy, and a valid motivation to “update” when it later conflicts with some of their other beliefs.