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paper-machine comments on Glenn Beck discusses the Singularity, cites SI researchers - Less Wrong
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(It might be worth reiterating that Glenn Beck is Mormon and into eschatology, so his singularitarianism is almost expected. I think the only big surprise is that SingInst's publication strategy has apparently been rather successful.)
Yes, this.
It's also worth noting that because Glenn Beck is a Mormon, we have ample evidence that his belief in the singularity (if he believes in it at all -- this could still very well be a ghostwriter talking) is not a carefully considered belief. If he can convince himself of Mormonism, he is very well capable of convincing himself of just about anything.
Eh. Few "beliefs" and "belief-systems"—or more accurately, decision-policy-systems and social-signaling-systems—are as attractive as Mormonism. I don't think being Mormon is a sign of low epistemic standards so much as a sign of high instrumental rationality.
Furthermore I think Glenn Beck or his ghostwriter understands the Singularity's political situation better than most LWers. That said I've never heard or read anything by Glenn Beck except the above excerpt.
How is Mormonism attractive? You don't even get multiple wives anymore. And most people think you're crazy.
You're claiming all religious beliefs reduce to decision policies and social signals? That's pretty cynical, even for you.
It can't be both? (Not that I see its "high instrumental rationality" either.)
Bleh. If I wanted to argue the merit of X's thought to people who hadn't read X, I'd go harass XiXiDu on G+. Consider me tapped out.
Not all, just a pretty big chunk, especially among Mormons. I guess I didn't think of it as "cynical". That's a weird word.
'Course it can. But the existence of two causal factors makes it hard to determine which of the two causal factors contributed most of the causal juices to our observation, such that "low epistemic standards" isn't quite as obviously a big factor.
I edited my comment to "Singularity's political situation". I didn't mean to imply Beck has a good political model more generally. Priors say he doesn't.
Without a single exception, every convert to Mormonism I've met (and this includes several colleagues) professes to have converted because they find Mormons to be kind, conscientious, and positively directed people.
I suspect this is how most people evaluate membership in a community. The "beliefs" and "belief-systems" are somewhat arbitrary to most, like the colors on the jerseys of sports teams.
In fact, in a population where most professed "beliefs" and "belief-systems" are mainly signals of group affiliation and less subjects for serious thought, this is arguably a more rational way of evaluating the desirability of group membership.
I grew up Mormon and attended BYU for a few years, and a lot of descriptions of Mormons I read on here are completely foreign to me. Knowing that the LDS Church was literally true was always an extremely important aspect of the religion when I grew up--it wasn't just about the community.
I suspect that the types of Mormons that people on LessWrong tend to come in contact with are very much outside the mainstream. While I can see that Mormon theology can be twisted to support a sort of trans-humanism, in my experience the typical Utah Mormon would find this very bizzarre.
I think this is rather typical and also age and personal development related. As a child, I was a staunch believer of my Catholic Sunday school teachings, to the point where I found my parents to be alarmingly lax and contrary. This changes for lots of people as they get older. In my 30's I had a girlfriend who described herself as a "cultural Catholic" and basically went to church because it's what most of the people she knew did.
In any case, at the local Hackerspace, I found that most everyone professed beliefs in the importance of science and rationality, but much of this is indistinguishable from professing a preference for a genre of music or a type of gaming. As far as people rigorously applying rationally grounded beliefs to their own lives, I don't think much was done which couldn't be comfortably explained as people generally doing what their peers do.
My Mormon colleagues were all working for software companies.
The typical human being finds trans-humanism bizarre. Most people are just doing what those around them are doing, saying what those around them are saying, and generally just getting on with their day to day lives.
Perhaps we should hold our leaders to a higher standard.