Data point: during the Melbourne LessWrong meetups, discussion of politics proved (a large fraction would say significant) net negative.
For what it’s worth, I read Politics is the Mind-Killer as almost the opposite of your interpretation: that politics is a mind-killer, so why would you want to drag that awful mess into examples that could otherwise be clean. ie, avoid politics at significant cost, and this includes in otherwise sterile examples.
To some extent I wonder why we’d need to avoid politically-charged examples if we were capable of actually talking about politics; I feel like if that was the case it would be Politics is the Comment-Thread-Exploder, and we’d only avoid it because a throwaway example would case a huge, well-reasoned, rational but off-topic discussion.
It’s Politics is the Mind-Killer, i.e., politics kills the mind, politics is a killer of minds. So it should be Comment-Thread-Exploder, because politics would explode the thread, politics would be an exploder of threads. Good catch.
For reference, the grandparent originally used the phrase “Politics is the Make-Comment-Threads-Exploder”.
I’m interested to know what rational people should have done in 1930 Germany to prevent politics from killing minds there. Is there a general consensus here on that issue?
I mean, if ever there were an issue worthy of rational prioritization, I would think that the construction of deathcamps and the herding of people into them, should be prioritized. How might one rationally prioritize one’s actions in that type of situation?
I honestly would like to know if there’s a “non-mind-killing” approach possible in such a situation.
If the answer is not “political engagement” or “attempting to exert influence at the ballot box,” and the answer is not “urge people you love to leave Germany,” and the answer is not “buy black market firearms and join the resistance,” and the answer is not “roll over on your back and bear your belly in submission,” and the answer is not “mind-killing political discussion,” then I’d like to know what a rational course of action is in that type of situation.
I ask this question for purely narrow, purely selfish reasons. I am now holding approximately equal numbers of federal reserve notes and one-ounce gold pieces and silver pieces, and I can’t help but notice that every year I hold the notes, they are worth less and less, in relation to the gold and silver. Since 1970, I’ve lost money on the notes, and gained money on the gold and silver. Is there any rational principle at work here? Am I being stolen from, or am I simply not lucky? Is there any sort of system I should adopt?
What course of action is most rational? And how can I decide without engaging in mind-killing thought? I’m really trying to minimize the mind-killing thoughts, and other crime-think. The last thing I’d like to be is a filthy mind-killed (brain dead?) crime-thinker.
Also, for those not wanting to dirty themselves by replying to political threads (presumably because they’re building strong AGI, which is a seriously better use of their time), how and why would ANY thread other than a recruitment thread for computer scientists and engineers be a good use of one’s time?
To be clear, I’m not advocating starting a thread on how the Greens will triumph over our hated enemies the Blues. Even when posting about a political issue, it would be best to steer clear of color politics. But if someone wants to make a post about a relevant political issue, there should be a place for that.
Possibly with a clear warning at the top that the post is about politics, and comments should remember to avoid color politics. Maybe a standard infobox or something.
Data point: during the Melbourne LessWrong meetups, discussion of politics proved (a large fraction would say significant) net negative.
For what it’s worth, I read Politics is the Mind-Killer as almost the opposite of your interpretation: that politics is a mind-killer, so why would you want to drag that awful mess into examples that could otherwise be clean. ie, avoid politics at significant cost, and this includes in otherwise sterile examples.
To some extent I wonder why we’d need to avoid politically-charged examples if we were capable of actually talking about politics; I feel like if that was the case it would be Politics is the Comment-Thread-Exploder, and we’d only avoid it because a throwaway example would case a huge, well-reasoned, rational but off-topic discussion.
Upvoted for this phrase.
shouldn’t that be the make-comment-threads-explode-er?
It’s Politics is the Mind-Killer, i.e., politics kills the mind, politics is a killer of minds. So it should be Comment-Thread-Exploder, because politics would explode the thread, politics would be an exploder of threads. Good catch.
For reference, the grandparent originally used the phrase “Politics is the Make-Comment-Threads-Exploder”.
I’m interested to know what rational people should have done in 1930 Germany to prevent politics from killing minds there. Is there a general consensus here on that issue?
I mean, if ever there were an issue worthy of rational prioritization, I would think that the construction of deathcamps and the herding of people into them, should be prioritized. How might one rationally prioritize one’s actions in that type of situation?
I honestly would like to know if there’s a “non-mind-killing” approach possible in such a situation.
If the answer is not “political engagement” or “attempting to exert influence at the ballot box,” and the answer is not “urge people you love to leave Germany,” and the answer is not “buy black market firearms and join the resistance,” and the answer is not “roll over on your back and bear your belly in submission,” and the answer is not “mind-killing political discussion,” then I’d like to know what a rational course of action is in that type of situation.
I ask this question for purely narrow, purely selfish reasons. I am now holding approximately equal numbers of federal reserve notes and one-ounce gold pieces and silver pieces, and I can’t help but notice that every year I hold the notes, they are worth less and less, in relation to the gold and silver. Since 1970, I’ve lost money on the notes, and gained money on the gold and silver. Is there any rational principle at work here? Am I being stolen from, or am I simply not lucky? Is there any sort of system I should adopt?
What course of action is most rational? And how can I decide without engaging in mind-killing thought? I’m really trying to minimize the mind-killing thoughts, and other crime-think. The last thing I’d like to be is a filthy mind-killed (brain dead?) crime-thinker.
Also, for those not wanting to dirty themselves by replying to political threads (presumably because they’re building strong AGI, which is a seriously better use of their time), how and why would ANY thread other than a recruitment thread for computer scientists and engineers be a good use of one’s time?
Sorry for exploding this thread. Mea culpa!
To be clear, I’m not advocating starting a thread on how the Greens will triumph over our hated enemies the Blues. Even when posting about a political issue, it would be best to steer clear of color politics. But if someone wants to make a post about a relevant political issue, there should be a place for that.
Possibly with a clear warning at the top that the post is about politics, and comments should remember to avoid color politics. Maybe a standard infobox or something.