roland comments on The 5-Second Level - Less Wrong

111 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 07 May 2011 04:51AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (310)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: roland 08 May 2011 04:19:45AM 8 points [-]

I know that I'll probably be downvoted again, but nevertheless.

Which in practice, makes a really huge difference in how much rationalists can relax when they are around fellow rationalists. It's the difference between having to carefully tiptoe through a minefield and being free to run and dance, knowing that even if you make a mistake, it won't socially kill you.

Sorry, but I don't feel that I have this freedom on LW. And I feel people moralize here especially using the downvote function.

To give a concrete example of Eliezer himself

http://lesswrong.com/lw/1ww/undiscriminating_skepticism/

I don't believe there were explosives planted in the World Trade Center. ... I believe that all these beliefs are not only wrong but visibly insane.

I politely asked for clarification only to be not only ignored but also downvoted to -4:

Eliezer, could you explain how you arrived at the conclusion that this particular believe is visibly insane?

http://lesswrong.com/lw/1ww/undiscriminating_skepticism/1t7r

On another comment I presented evidence to the contrary(a video interview) to be downvoted to -15: http://lesswrong.com/lw/1ww/undiscriminating_skepticism/1r5v

So when just asking the most basic rationality question(why do you believe what you believe) and presenting evidence that contradicts a point is downvoted I don't feel that LW is about rationality as much as others like to believe. And I also feel that basic elements of politeness are missing and yes, I feel like I have to walk on eggs.

Comment author: wedrifid 08 May 2011 07:29:30AM 2 points [-]

I upvoted your comment prospectively. That is, it'll be worth an upvote when you edit out the passive aggressive intro and I'm being optimistic. :)

Sorry, but I don't feel that I have this freedom on LW. And I feel people moralize here especially using the downvote function.

We do. Not all the downvoting is moralizing but a significant subset is. And not all the moralizing is undesirable to me, even though a significant subset is.

For what it is worth, believing the WTC was loaded with explosives really is insane.

Comment author: roland 12 June 2011 08:46:22PM 0 points [-]

Following a suggestion from Cayenne:

For what it is worth, believing the WTC was loaded with explosives really is insane.

wedrifid, I don't understand how you arrived at this conclusion, could you explain the reasoning behind it?