First of all, I hope your project succeeds, and look forward to seeing what you produce.
I’ve long been skeptical of Berkeley as a hub—for years I stayed in Austin because it was cheap and had a tech industry and I was going to school there and I liked Texas; I only left for Berkeley because I got hired by MIRI. (Thankfully, the guy who took over running Austin’s LW meetup group is doing a better job of it than I ever did, and it’s growing.) So I’m sympathetic to the viewpoint that rationalists shouldn’t all flock to Berkeley.
But I felt like most of your essay talking about how the community is failing, in Berkeley or in general, relied too much on the impressions of some specific people in a way that felt hard to engage with. Mostly due to lack of specificity; for example, when you make comparisons to the control group of rationality, there I have a specific sense of what you mean, and can engage about who you think our control group actually is. But when moving to Berkeley means”[s]omething is happening to them, although it isn’t particularly clear what,” I don’t know how to engage with that. Did it happen to me / is it happening to me? To know I’d have to know what you’re trying to point at.
relied too much on the impressions of some specific people in a way that felt hard to engage with
I experience some of the problems Bendini discusses (in London rather than Berkeley) but I agree with this ^. So; data. Do any of the past surveys bear on the question of community feels, or geographical angst? (The mental health one does, but too indirectly.)
If not, this should be done. The burden needn’t fall on Bendini, who has done this survey already, just informally and without the benefits of anonymity. I’ll run it if people think it’s worthwhile.
Qs:
Where are you?
How often do you interact IRL / online with rationalist peers?
How often would you like to?
Are salient characteristics about you underrepresented in your rat. peers?
Do you feel isolated or otherwise bad about this under-representation?
Since I’ve heard about some confusion on this point, I want to clarify that I am not Bendini :) I know, there are so many Bens, it’s hard to tell us apart, especially when we sometimes talk about similar things.
First of all, I hope your project succeeds, and look forward to seeing what you produce.
I’ve long been skeptical of Berkeley as a hub—for years I stayed in Austin because it was cheap and had a tech industry and I was going to school there and I liked Texas; I only left for Berkeley because I got hired by MIRI. (Thankfully, the guy who took over running Austin’s LW meetup group is doing a better job of it than I ever did, and it’s growing.) So I’m sympathetic to the viewpoint that rationalists shouldn’t all flock to Berkeley.
But I felt like most of your essay talking about how the community is failing, in Berkeley or in general, relied too much on the impressions of some specific people in a way that felt hard to engage with. Mostly due to lack of specificity; for example, when you make comparisons to the control group of rationality, there I have a specific sense of what you mean, and can engage about who you think our control group actually is. But when moving to Berkeley means”[s]omething is happening to them, although it isn’t particularly clear what,” I don’t know how to engage with that. Did it happen to me / is it happening to me? To know I’d have to know what you’re trying to point at.
″ Thankfully, the guy who took over running Austin’s LW meetup group is doing a better job of it than I ever did, and it’s growing ”
I appreciate the confidence, though I’m not entirely sure how much of that is stuff I did.
I experience some of the problems Bendini discusses (in London rather than Berkeley) but I agree with this ^. So; data. Do any of the past surveys bear on the question of community feels, or geographical angst? (The mental health one does, but too indirectly.)
If not, this should be done. The burden needn’t fall on Bendini, who has done this survey already, just informally and without the benefits of anonymity. I’ll run it if people think it’s worthwhile.
Qs:
Where are you?
How often do you interact IRL / online with rationalist peers?
How often would you like to?
Are salient characteristics about you underrepresented in your rat. peers?
Do you feel isolated or otherwise bad about this under-representation?
etc
Since I’ve heard about some confusion on this point, I want to clarify that I am not Bendini :) I know, there are so many Bens, it’s hard to tell us apart, especially when we sometimes talk about similar things.
I am also not Bendini. No comment on whether I’m Benquo (okay I’m not).
Fixed, pardon/thanks