Yet, somehow, it is you saying that there were people who left the rationality movement because of the Solstice ritual, which is the kind of hysterical reaction I tried to point at. (I can’t imagine myself leaving a movement just because a few of its members decided to meet and sing a song together.)
I don’t think it’s really “a few people singing songs together”. It’s more like...an overall shift in demographics, tone, and norms. If I had to put it succinctly, the old school LessWrong was for serious STEM nerds and hard science fiction dorks. It was super super deep into the whole Shock Level memeplex thing. Over time it’s become a much softer sort of fandom geek thing. Rationalist Tumblr and SlateStarCodex aren’t marginal colonies, they’re the center driving force behind what’s left of the original ‘LessWrong rationality movement’. Naturally, a lot of those old guard members find this abhorrent and have no plans to ever participate in it.
I don’t think it’s really “a few people singing songs together”. It’s more like...an overall shift in demographics, tone, and norms. If I had to put it succinctly, the old school LessWrong was for serious STEM nerds and hard science fiction dorks. It was super super deep into the whole Shock Level memeplex thing. Over time it’s become a much softer sort of fandom geek thing. Rationalist Tumblr and SlateStarCodex aren’t marginal colonies, they’re the center driving force behind what’s left of the original ‘LessWrong rationality movement’. Naturally, a lot of those old guard members find this abhorrent and have no plans to ever participate in it.
I don’t blame them.