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RobinZ comments on Do you have High-Functioning Asperger's Syndrome? - Less Wrong
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Okay, but I figured you'd want a group of young adults (which the subgroup covers) and a more general age/sex diverse group (main congregation).
Anyway, did you want an actual answer for how to meet ordinary people, or did you just want to split hairs about the terms I use when I try to give an answer? :-[
To be completely honest, I wanted to express my disapproval for Roko's sneering at the mundanes. I appreciate the info, though, and I apologize for not explicitly saying so earlier.
I suspect that most people would read
as sneering at nerds.
Less "nerds" than "us", I suspect, but okay.
If I may ask, why do you disapprove? (Especially given that you don't seem to spend very much time among such people.)
The most parsimonious explanation is "because I was raised that way", but I believe that it can be shown that such sneering doesn't win. I haven't had a reason to articulate my thoughts on the subject, however - if you'd like me to make an attempt, let me know and I'll see what I can come up with. Being as I'm on a bus at the moment, it would be difficult to organize and post anything substantive just now.
I'm curious to hear your argument.
I apologize for making this a rant, but:
Instinctively, when in far mode, I would be inclined to judge feelings by their costs and their benefits. I can see very little benefit to contempt (the emotion I see behind the sneer) - so far as I can determine all it gives you is a filter on the people you spend your time with and energy on. On the cost side, however, contempt impairs your ability to become acquainted, and this will cost you because:
I think this last point is the strongest - by cutting yourself off from a class of experiences, you cut yourself off from a field of knowledge. Even anthropological curiosity ought to impel you to give these people more consideration than this, and you won't be any kind of competent anthropologist if you can't treat your subjects fairly.
When it comes to being contemptuous of individuals, I'm not going to tell you what criteria to use, but geekdom is not some unique domain of philosopher-kings that absorbs all the worthy people of the world and gathers them in one family of subcultures. That kind of heuristic is as risky as confirmation bias.
This is all very true and really important for people to remember. At the same time sneering at outsiders is a great community building exercise. Just don't take the performance literally.
I'm not really comfortable with that. I have too often seen similar views seriously proposed.