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Lumifer comments on Open Thread, Jun. 15 - Jun. 21, 2015 - Less Wrong
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Really, someone who doesn't like Eliezer or is put off by the LW vibe is suddenly demonstrating "hostility to rationality"?
You think that LW is the sole pure source of rationality in the world? That Eliezer (PBUH) brought True Rationality (tm) into the barbaric world of hoplessly deluded pagans?
No to all of that. Not necessarily the fact that they're put off, but the apparent magnitude + the fact that it seems to be shared by a lot of people.
The iffy part is the jump from "people hate LW/EY" to "therefore these people hate rationality". I don't see any reasons for this to be a valid conclusion.
Good point. I'm less sure that people hate rationality (or really, that they're put off by it; hate is a strong word). I can't recall any/much explicit evidence, but when I query my memory, but I'm remembering people responding as if they're put off by rationality itself. Like the way people talk on HN is as if they're put off by the concept itself. And that's the way people seem to respond if I mention that I'm interested in/study rationality. Definitely something that could use more evidence and investigation though.
Why do you say that in the first place? In what kind of context do you say that?
Well, last night I was hanging out with a friend who I am just starting to get to know. He was noticing how analytical I am and all of that, so in order to clarify, I said that I study rationality and try really really hard to make the best decisions I could, and that rationality helps you do that. I suppose that that situation happens often enough for me. Ie. people noticing my unconventional ways of thinking, and me feeling like I should explain myself a bit.
Alternatively, this happens less often but if I'm in a "deep-ish" conversation and I'm asked some question of the form "what are you interested in" or "what do you care about" or "what are your goals", I answer truthfully, and to answer truthfully I have to mention rationality and give a brief primer. I don't always do this though, it depends on the vibe I get. But in the past month or two, it's actually happened a few times.
The interesting question is whether the thing that puts people of is nothing how analytical you are (i.e. the evidence of rationality) or whether it's you saying that you try really hard to make the best decisions you can.
If I ask someone "what do you care about" my reaction to the person is likely not directly related to the content but whether the person is passionate in giving the answer.