I see the rationalist community as a center of a large onion. There are multiple filters one must pass in order to get there.
On the outside, there is the filter of intelligence and abstract thinking in general. It eliminates the people incapable or unwilling to think about complex matters.
Next is a filter of scientific/realistic orientation. It eliminates the people who decided to use their intelligence to study horoscopes or conspiracy theories.
Near the center is the filter of humility/nonattachment. It eliminates people who are unwilling to change their mind, or unable to stop fighting for their political tribe.
(This is a simplified model, and I forgot a few things, such as caring about the future and other people. If we add those missing things, the sequence of the filters will probably not remain linear.)
What I wanted to say here is that the answer to “who are rationalists” depends on the specific filter. Who are rationalists, as opposed to the general public? Who are rationalists, as opposed to university-educated people? Who are rationalists as opposed to skeptics or atheists in general? Depending on which question you choose, the answers will be quite different, and will sound wrong to a person focused on a different question.
Well so my goal is more to characterize differences between different kinds of rationalists than to characterize differences between rationalists and non-rationalists/answer who the rationalists are. 😅
Anyway. I think your sample will be contaminated by people who are not rationalists in spirit, but for some reason they like to hang out with rationalists, and may identify as such. So, those would be one subgroup.
It seems like half of people at LW meetups are STEM oriented, and another half is not. That might be interesting.
Generally, if any trait is stereotypically overrepresented among rationalists, it may be interesting to study those who do not have this trait.
I feel like there might be an important difference between people who are trying to change themselves, and people who are just studying the outside world without trying to change themselves. Self-help vs science, kind of.
I see the rationalist community as a center of a large onion. There are multiple filters one must pass in order to get there.
On the outside, there is the filter of intelligence and abstract thinking in general. It eliminates the people incapable or unwilling to think about complex matters.
Next is a filter of scientific/realistic orientation. It eliminates the people who decided to use their intelligence to study horoscopes or conspiracy theories.
Near the center is the filter of humility/nonattachment. It eliminates people who are unwilling to change their mind, or unable to stop fighting for their political tribe.
(This is a simplified model, and I forgot a few things, such as caring about the future and other people. If we add those missing things, the sequence of the filters will probably not remain linear.)
What I wanted to say here is that the answer to “who are rationalists” depends on the specific filter. Who are rationalists, as opposed to the general public? Who are rationalists, as opposed to university-educated people? Who are rationalists as opposed to skeptics or atheists in general? Depending on which question you choose, the answers will be quite different, and will sound wrong to a person focused on a different question.
Well so my goal is more to characterize differences between different kinds of rationalists than to characterize differences between rationalists and non-rationalists/answer who the rationalists are. 😅
Ah, ok.
Anyway. I think your sample will be contaminated by people who are not rationalists in spirit, but for some reason they like to hang out with rationalists, and may identify as such. So, those would be one subgroup.
It seems like half of people at LW meetups are STEM oriented, and another half is not. That might be interesting.
Generally, if any trait is stereotypically overrepresented among rationalists, it may be interesting to study those who do not have this trait.
I feel like there might be an important difference between people who are trying to change themselves, and people who are just studying the outside world without trying to change themselves. Self-help vs science, kind of.