Comment on 2011 Less Wrong Census / Survey

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:26:42 GMT

Right now for the politics question, you have three(!) different strains of neoliberalism, social democracy, and Stalinism.

Alternative complaints:

Right now for the politics question, you have three(!) different strains of leftism, libertarianism, and conservatism. That's hardly representative of the historical political spectrum, and I'm honestly surprised that anyone designing that question on a survey would make that mistake.

... or:

Right now for the politics question, you have four(!) different strains of statism, and libertarianism. That's hardly representative of the diversity of ideologies, and I'm honestly surprised that anyone designing that question on a survey would make that mistake.

Yes, anarchists, monarchists, theocrats, etc. might object that their view isn't represented, but I think that limiting the possibilities was still the right choice (see also the objections to the gender question). Keeping the focus on LessWrong away from politics seems best.

Discuss