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Guess I'm a rationalist now

scottaaronson.blog

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Re: Guess I'm a rationalist now

#21

Post by Avicebron »

contrarian1234 wrote: post #9

The article made me think deeper about what rubs me the wrong way about the whole movement I think there is some inherent tension btwn being "rational" about things and trying to reason about things from first principle.. And the general absolutist tone of the community. The people involved all seem very... Full of themselves ? They don't really ever show a sense of "hey, I've got a thought, maybe I haven't considere…

Yeah the "rational" part always seemed a smokescreen for the ability to produce and ingest their own and their associates methane gases.

I get it, I enjoyed being told I'm a super genius always right quantum physicist mathematician by the girls at Stanford too. But holy hell man, have some class, maybe consider there's more good to be done in rural Indiana getting some dirt under those nails..

Re: Guess I'm a rationalist now

#23

Post by phgn »

paganel wrote: post #11

[flagged]

Thank you for sharing the link.

It's very hard for me to take anyone seriously who doesn't speak out against the genocide. They're usually arguing about imaginary problems.

("if the will exists" in the article puts the blame for the situation on one side, which is inacceptable)

Re: Guess I'm a rationalist now

#24

Post by t_mann »

> “You’re [X]?! The quantum physicist who’s always getting into arguments on the Internet, and who’s essentially always right, but who sustains an unreasonable amount of psychic damage in the process?”

> “Yes,” I replied, not bothering to correct the “physicist” part.

Didn't read much beyond that part. He'll fit right in with the rationalist crowd...

Re: Guess I'm a rationalist now

#26

Post by felipeerias »

contrarian1234 wrote: post #9

The article made me think deeper about what rubs me the wrong way about the whole movement I think there is some inherent tension btwn being "rational" about things and trying to reason about things from first principle.. And the general absolutist tone of the community. The people involved all seem very... Full of themselves ? They don't really ever show a sense of "hey, I've got a thought, maybe I haven't considere…

The problem with trying to reason everything from first principles is that most things didn’t actually came about that way.

Both our biology and other complex human affairs like societies and cultures evolved organically over long periods of time, responding to their environments and their competitors, building bit by bit, sometimes with an explicit goal but often without one.

One can learn a lot from unicellular organisms, but won’t probably be able to reason from them all the way to an elephant. At best, if we are lucky, we can reason back from the elephant.

Re: Guess I'm a rationalist now

#28

Post by cjs_ac »

contrarian1234 wrote: post #9

The article made me think deeper about what rubs me the wrong way about the whole movement I think there is some inherent tension btwn being "rational" about things and trying to reason about things from first principle.. And the general absolutist tone of the community. The people involved all seem very... Full of themselves ? They don't really ever show a sense of "hey, I've got a thought, maybe I haven't considere…

I think the absolutism is kind of the point.

Re: Guess I'm a rationalist now

#29

Post by krapp »

radicalbyte wrote: post #22

* 20 somethings who are clearly on spectrum * Group are "special" * Centered around a charismatic leader * Weird sex stuff Guys we have a cult!

These are the people who came up with Roko's Basilisk, Effective Altruism and spawned the Zizians. I think Robert Evans described them not as a cult but as a cult incubator, or something along those lines.

Re: Guess I'm a rationalist now

#30

Post by [deleted] »

voidhorse wrote: post #4

These kinds of propositions are determined by history, not by declaration. Espouse your beliefs, participate in certain circles if you want, but avoid labels unless you intend to do ideological battle with other label-bearers.

[deleted]
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