multifoliaterose comments on Yes, a blog. - Less Wrong

88 Post author: Academian 19 November 2010 01:53AM

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Comment author: taw 24 November 2010 03:32:14AM 17 points [-]

Maybe I'm just being habitually contrarian here for no good reason, but it seems to me that for a supposedly "rationalist" community, people here seem to be far too willing to accept claims of LessWrong exceptionality based on shockingly weak evidence. Group-serving bias is possibly the most basic of all human biases, and we cannot even overcome that little?

Claiming that your group is the best in the world, or among the best, is something nearly every single group in history did, and all had some anecdotal "evidence" for it. Priors are very strongly against this claim, even after including these anecdotes.

Yet, in spite of these priors, the group you consider yourself member of is somehow the true best group ever? Really? Where's hard evidence for this? I'm tempted to point to Eliezer outright making things up on costs of cryonics multiple times, and ignoring corrections from me and others, in case halo effect prevents you from seeing that he's not really extraordinarily less wrong.

Comment author: multifoliaterose 26 November 2010 12:03:19AM 4 points [-]

it seems to me that for a supposedly "rationalist" community, people here seem to be far too willing to accept claims of LessWrong exceptionality based on shockingly weak evidence.

Claiming that your group is the best in the world, or among the best, is something nearly every single group in history did, and all had some anecdotal "evidence" for it. Priors are very strongly against this claim, even after including these anecdotes.

I strongly agree.

Comment author: FormallyknownasRoko 28 November 2010 02:03:27PM 9 points [-]

To reply honestly to this, I think that LW is (close to) superlative in some dimensions. It's just that when people try to tell the community that there's a bunch of other more important dimensions that it sucks at, people get angry and shoot the messenger.

Comment author: multifoliaterose 29 November 2010 03:37:13AM 5 points [-]

I think that LW is (close to) superlative in some dimensions.

I agree. I haven't found another online forum which I prefer. I agreed with taw because (a) I think that some people here do attach a halo to LW, viewing it as "The Way" in some generalized sense and (b) people forget that a fair portion of what appears on LW is well known within certain circles (c.f. Don't Revere The Bearer Of Good Info ).

It's just that when people try to tell the community that there's a bunch of other more important dimensions that it sucks at, people get angry and shoot the messenger.

I've noticed examples of this sort of thing.

Comment author: jsalvatier 04 July 2011 03:44:59PM 2 points [-]

What kind of dimensions did you have in mind here?

Comment author: komponisto 29 November 2010 04:56:15AM 2 points [-]

It's just that when people try to tell the community that there's a bunch of other more important dimensions that it sucks at, people get angry and shoot the messenger

There is however room for disagreement on just how much "more important" these "other dimensions" are.

(Not necessarily taking a position myself, mind you.)

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