Vladimir_Nesov comments on Well-Kept Gardens Die By Pacifism - Less Wrong
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I feel like repeating myself here: just don't foster the discussion concerned directly with religion. We don't fight religion, we fight for people's sanity. Otherwise, it's like not allowing sick people to a hospital. In most cases, good hygiene within the community should be enough to keep the patients from harming each other.
So part of the question is whether this is a hospital or a medical conference.
Fair enough. More specifically, the problem is in the efficiency of this criterion: yes, there is a correlation, but is a rule worth enforcing, would it hurt more than help? So, I guess the point comes down to me not considering this particular feature as salient as you do.
Data point: I followed a link to OB from reddit, got (largely) cured, and am now doing my best to assist the doctors.
So in essence, you're asking whether this is:
a place for experts on rationality to come and discuss / build on important developments, or
a place for people who need rationality to come and get better
ne?
The distinction isn't quite as simple as I'm making - we are all actively fighting our own and each other's irrationalities - but I still think there's a line that can be drawn of whether a person is fundamentally in tune with the rationalist values that this site is all about.
However, I am given pause by the fact that everyone except Annoyance seems to disagree with me.
I agree with you in a weak sense . My position is that while we shouldn't officially exclude theists from participation, we should nevertheless be free to take atheism completely for granted -- as would be manifested, for instance, in unhesitatingly using theism as a canonical example of irrationality. The kind of theist who will be welcome here is the kind who can handle this.