Interesting. I think perhaps people do get stuff done around here, but it doesn't get talked about all that much. I get quite a lot done (though certainly not always what I should be getting done), especially in terms of programming projects. cousin_it, Vlad M etc. also seem to get quite a bit done in terms of math. I imagine others get stuff done too.
Perhaps it would be interesting to hold a "what are you working on?" thread. I would be pretty interested in hearing what other people are working on that's productive, and I always love sharing what I'm working on.
Edit: thread is here
I've suggested a lesswrong hackday/projects in my local lesswrong discusssion group and I didn't get a good response.
I did get a response from someone involved in the NY lesswrong group that said that the projects they had tried hadn't gone anywhere much and that discussion was deemed more popular.
During a discussion today about the bizarre "can't get crap done" phenomenon that afflicts large fractions of our community, the suggestion came up that most people can't do anything where there is a perceived choice that includes the null option / "do nothing" as an option. Of which Michael Vassar made the following observation:
And if you're not the leader, it is not good for your reproductive fitness to act like one. In modern times the penalties for standing up are much lower, but our instincts haven't updated.
Interesting to reconsider the events of "To lead, you must stand up" in this light. It makes more sense if you read it as "None of those people had instincts saying it was a good idea to declare themselves the leader of the monkey tribe, in order to solve this particular coordination problem where 'do nothing' felt like a viable option" instead of "nobody had the initiative".