Alex the jock knows that everyone after him is a nerd, he doesn't watch star trek. Bob the slacker knows that everyone but him and Alex is a nerd, he's seen an episode or two of star trek. Carl the marching band guy knows that the club members are the real nerds, he watches the current Star Trek along with the rest of his tv schedule. David the Debate Club president knows that Chess club is where the nerds are, he knows every version of Star Trek. Eric the Chess Club president knows that the Math club is where the nerds are, he is a star trek fanatic. Fhomas (typo on his birth certificate) is in the Math club, and knows that nerds are the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. He's watches star trek and empathizes with the straw vulcans.
Now that I typed it, this is a gross simplification. I guess what I was trying to say is lots of different folks watch(ed) Star Trek, and most of them would be called 'Nerds" by others, but admitting that oneself is a nerd is a more recent phenomenon. The classic response is to simply move the cutoff one step down the nerdiness ladder.
This post is to raise a question about the demographics of rationality: Is rationality something that can appeal to low-IQ people as well?
I don't mean in theory, I mean in practice. From what I've seen, people who are concerned about rationality (in the sense that it has on LW, OvercomingBias, etc.) are overwhelmingly high-IQ.
Meanwhile, HPMOR and other stories in the "rationality genre" appeal to me, and to other people I know. However I wonder: Perhaps part of the reason they appeal to me is that I think of myself as a smart person, and this allows me to identify with the main characters, cheer when they think their way to victory, etc. If I thought of myself as a stupid person, then perhaps I would feel uncomfortable, insecure, and alienated while reading the same stories.
So, I have four questions:
1.) Do we have reason to believe that the kind of rationality promoted on LW, OvercomingBias, CFAR, etc. appeals to a fairly normal distribution of people around the IQ mean? Or should we think, as I suggested, that people with lower IQ's are disposed to find the idea of being rational less attractive?
2.) Ditto, except replace "being rational" with "celebrating rationality through stories like HPMOR." Perhaps people think that rationality is a good thing in much the same way that being wealthy is a good thing, but they don't think that it should be celebrated, or at least they don't find such celebrations appealing.
3.) Supposing #1 and #2 have the answers I am suggesting, why?
4.) Making the same supposition, what are the implications for the movement in general?
Note: I chose to use IQ in this post instead of a more vague term like "intelligence," but I could easily have done the opposite. I'm happy to do whichever version is less problematic.