XiXiDu comments on An Outside View on Less Wrong's Advice - Less Wrong

60 Post author: Mass_Driver 07 July 2011 04:46AM

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Comment author: XiXiDu 03 July 2011 09:57:00AM *  11 points [-]

Eliezer will not make you abandon your friends and family, run away to a far-off mountain retreat and drink poison Kool-Aid.

A post by Roko came to my mind (it all went down the road of insanity after that with other people suffering as a result):

I personally have suffered, as have many, from low-level punishment from and worsening of relationships with my family, and social pressure from friends; being perceived as weird. I have also become more weird - spending one's time optimally for social status and personal growth is not at all like spending one's time in a way so as to reduce existential risks. Furthermore, thinking that the world is in grave danger but only you and a select group of people understand makes you feel like you are in a cult due to the huge cognitive dissonance it induces.

Although if all works out well with those 'rationality camps', or whatever they are called, this might not be a problem anymore.

Comment author: orthonormal 13 July 2011 04:50:34PM -1 points [-]

Given Less Wrong's size and demographics, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect at least one flaming wreck like the Roko situation (especially given his prior behavior patterns); can you think of an online community centered on ideas that doesn't occasionally have someone over-commit to an extreme version of one of their ideas?

It's worth asking whether LW is doing a good job of keeping the potential for this low, though.

Comment author: wedrifid 14 July 2011 06:30:51AM 1 point [-]

Given Less Wrong's size and demographics, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect at least one flaming wreck like the Roko situation (especially given his prior behavior patterns); can you think of an online community centered on ideas that doesn't occasionally have someone over-commit to an extreme version of one of their ideas?

I take offence on Roko's behalf (and as someone who wishes to influence norm such that the above would not be accepted if directed at me at some time in the future). Over commiting to an extreme version of one of their ideas is an absurd thing to imply. Roko was not committed to an idea - it was casual speculation. The problem was entirely social. In this instance - and in the general case it is personal behaviours, particularly of leaders, that make all the difference.

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