I have a severe psychometrics addiction, so I’ve regularly been tempted to create some sort of “rationalist type test” or similar, which rationalists could take to classify themselves compared to other rationalists. I particularly like to create such tests using data-driven methods, such as factor analysis. But factor analysis requires a bunch of primitive variables to summarize. And I thought, the most logical way to get such variables is to ask people what they’ve already come up with.
So, do you have any thoughts on ways that rationalists differ from each other, or ways that rationalists differ from nonrationalists, or perhaps even ways that nonrationalists differ from each other in ways that might be interesting to put into a test for rationalists?
Edited to add: A lot of the comments seem to be bringing up abstract, general traits that have been studied in differential psychology. Certainly those could also be interesting to investigate rationalist on, but I have numerous philosophical objections to many of the traits, and I would instead like to design a new test with traits specific to the rationalist community, in terms of more concrete things that rationalists do and experience.
[Question] Have you noticed any ways that rationalists differ? [Brainstorming session]
I have a severe psychometrics addiction, so I’ve regularly been tempted to create some sort of “rationalist type test” or similar, which rationalists could take to classify themselves compared to other rationalists. I particularly like to create such tests using data-driven methods, such as factor analysis. But factor analysis requires a bunch of primitive variables to summarize. And I thought, the most logical way to get such variables is to ask people what they’ve already come up with.
So, do you have any thoughts on ways that rationalists differ from each other, or ways that rationalists differ from nonrationalists, or perhaps even ways that nonrationalists differ from each other in ways that might be interesting to put into a test for rationalists?
Also, if you don’t have a LessWrong account, or want to share this question with rationalists who don’t hang out on LessWrong, I’ve created a Google Form that you can fill out instead. If you’ve got something spicier that you would prefer doesn’t become public, then I have also created a private version of the form here.
I don’t know how useful my analysis could become, but at least in theory it seems like it could become more generally useful. For instance, it might be useful for providing targeted advice to certain subgroups of rationalists.
Edited to add: A lot of the comments seem to be bringing up abstract, general traits that have been studied in differential psychology. Certainly those could also be interesting to investigate rationalist on, but I have numerous philosophical objections to many of the traits, and I would instead like to design a new test with traits specific to the rationalist community, in terms of more concrete things that rationalists do and experience.