I think it’s wrong to think there is a “rationalist culture”. There are rationalist influences and tropes that are part of a number of distinct groups’ habits and norms, but that doesn’t make those groups similar enough to be called a cohesive single culture.
My sense is that the differences are relatively minor and that there are a lot of really strong things that tie all the groups together: various things discussed in The Sequences like Bayesian thinking and cognitive science. What are the large differences you see with various groups?
There is a bit of far-mode general agreement on Bayesian thinking and the like. In terms of culture and near-mode norms, it’s those agreements which are relatively minor.
Behaviorally, especially offline, is where the large differences lie.
Hm, I think there’s about 10 rationalists I’ve met IRL and spent more than a few hours with. Everyone has their own personality of course, but I didn’t feel like there were any differences too large.
From what I read on LW I get the sense that the Berkeley community might have some large differences—maybe even sub-groups in Berkeley with large differences—but I don’t recall hearing about any other communities with large differences. If other communities did exist with large differences I’m not actually sure that I’d expect to hear about it via browsing LW though.
I think it’s wrong to think there is a “rationalist culture”. There are rationalist influences and tropes that are part of a number of distinct groups’ habits and norms, but that doesn’t make those groups similar enough to be called a cohesive single culture.
Disagreed, but curious.
My sense is that the differences are relatively minor and that there are a lot of really strong things that tie all the groups together: various things discussed in The Sequences like Bayesian thinking and cognitive science. What are the large differences you see with various groups?
There is a bit of far-mode general agreement on Bayesian thinking and the like. In terms of culture and near-mode norms, it’s those agreements which are relatively minor.
Behaviorally, especially offline, is where the large differences lie.
Hm, I think there’s about 10 rationalists I’ve met IRL and spent more than a few hours with. Everyone has their own personality of course, but I didn’t feel like there were any differences too large.
From what I read on LW I get the sense that the Berkeley community might have some large differences—maybe even sub-groups in Berkeley with large differences—but I don’t recall hearing about any other communities with large differences. If other communities did exist with large differences I’m not actually sure that I’d expect to hear about it via browsing LW though.