moreati comments on More "Stupid" Questions - Less Wrong

14 Post author: NancyLebovitz 31 July 2013 09:18AM

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Comment author: gothgirl420666 31 July 2013 07:31:15PM 18 points [-]

Why are so many rationalists polyamorous? I don't see why this idea is linked to the LW ideology, unlike transhumanism, atheism, effective altruism, etc. which all seem to follow logically.

Comment author: moreati 31 July 2013 08:38:48PM 7 points [-]

Not being poly and only a bit rational (so far), I'll only propose

  • Is polyamory actually higher amongst LW people than the general population? Do you just have more exposure to polyamorous LW people than a wider polyamorous population?
  • Do polyamorous LW people talk about their polyamory more than polyamorous non-LW people?
Comment author: satt 31 July 2013 10:47:57PM 9 points [-]

Is polyamory actually higher amongst LW people than the general population?

This made me realize I didn't even know whether there were reliable estimates of polyamory prevalence in the general population. A cursory Google Scholar search didn't net me anything, but the Wikipedia article has a data point:

Research into polyamory has been limited. A comprehensive government study of sexual attitudes, behaviors and relationships in Finland in 1992 (age 18-75, around 50% both genders) found that around 200 out of 2250 (8.9%) respondents "agreed or strongly agreed" with the statement "I could maintain several sexual relationships at the same time" and 8.2% indicated a relationship type "that best suits" at the present stage of life would involve multiple partners.

Meanwhile, 13% of LWers in the 2012 survey said they preferred polyamorous relationships, although only 6% reported having multiple current partners. While 13% is appreciably higher than the Finnish survey's 8%-9%, the discrepancy could just be because the Finnish survey's from a different time & place and has a more even gender ratio.

Comment author: gwern 31 July 2013 11:22:29PM 1 point [-]

A cursory Google Scholar search didn't net me anything

http://lesswrong.com/lw/9p9/open_thread_february_114_2012/5v6g may help.

Comment author: satt 31 July 2013 11:51:07PM 2 points [-]

Danke. I'm a bit relieved to see you didn't find much either in terms of representative samples of the general population; I can feel a bit better about being lazy. (I did get a kick out of the popularity of open marriages among the kind of people who answer surveys on Oprah's website.)

Comment author: asr 31 July 2013 10:43:05PM 5 points [-]

Survey says that 13% are poly and 30% are uncertain or lack a preference. That's higher than the general public.

it might not be much higher once you control for age, gender, location, socioeconomic status, etc.

In particular, I have no idea what fraction of the non-LW-reading but otherwise similar public would say "uncertain/no preference."

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