childofbaud comments on Less Wrong NYC: Case Study of a Successful Rationalist Chapter - Less Wrong

137 Post author: Cosmos 17 March 2011 08:12PM

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Comment author: childofbaud 18 March 2011 12:49:01AM *  0 points [-]

Well, someone has to get the ball rolling and, speaking in general, and not about my own particular case, I think calling people who do that hard work by high status titles is a good idea - starting a good community should be thought of as a good and noble thing. OTOH, your point about everyone being potentially useful is true, but as Eliezer talked about in the latest chapter of Methods, the solution is to try to get everyone to be a hero, not to deny the existence of heroes.

But real heroes shouldn't need the promise of a high status title to get the ball rolling.

Isn't one of their many attributed qualities selflessness?

They may even be dissuaded by such high-status titles, since one of their many other positive attributes is modesty.

And what exactly is low status about organizer? It is an extremely crucial role.

Comment author: LucasSloan 18 March 2011 01:04:49AM *  12 points [-]

But real heroes shouldn't need the promise of a high status title to get the ball rolling.

Real heroes are the sorts of things we expect to find in escapist fantasy, but we live in the real world where promises of status really do get certain people off their duff and acting on important problems.

Comment author: childofbaud 18 March 2011 01:43:49AM *  5 points [-]

Real heroes are the sorts of things we expect to find in escapist fantasy, but we live in the real world where promises of status really do get certain people off their duff and acting on important problems.

Okay, but if you strip away all these noble qualities away from a hero, what meaning is there left for the term?

It seems to me that there is some semantic sleight of hand going on here.

On the one hand, you are deflating the term hero of its original meaning. On the other hand, you are still counting on people using it in its original sense, otherwise it wouldn't be a high-status title.

As a result, you are deceiving both this so-called hero, as well as any of his potential followers.

Don't you think using an alternate, more descriptive term would avoid this deception and, at the same time, do away with the implied helplessness of the rest of the participants?

Like, say, I don't know... organizer? :-)

And once again, organizer is not a low status title. Except perhaps when put side by side with the hyperbolic term of hero. But you've just dismissed the latter into the realm of escapist fantasy. So why continue using it in the real world?

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