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Konkvistador comments on I've had it with those dark rumours about our culture rigorously suppressing opinions - Less Wrong Discussion

26 Post author: Multiheaded 25 January 2012 05:43PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 06:26:42PM *  12 points [-]

I may not necessarily agree with that particular video but Aurini's channel is pure contrarian & rationalist goodness. Its very depressing he only has a few hundred views per video. These two videos seems somewhat relevant:

Edit: Added a few more sort of relevant videos.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 29 January 2012 05:46:27PM 14 points [-]

He's interesting, but awfully repetitious-- a trait which is worse for videos than writing.

Also, in his argument against regulation (built around a homeless man who had to save for months to be able to afford a business license), he doesn't address the most common argument for regulation which is that sometimes businesses are extremely dangerous to customers and employees.

Comment author: [deleted] 29 January 2012 05:58:22PM *  9 points [-]

he doesn't address the most common argument for regulation which is that sometimes businesses are extremely dangerous to customers and employees.

I think the implicit argument is that the risk is worth it, because the costs of regulations are so high elsewhere.

Humans supposedly love regulation because we are generally irrationally risk averse and can signal good stuff about ourselves by proposing legislation that sounds good to our brains which interpret it as guidelines for a small stone age tribe of a few dozen people rather than setting guidelines and rules that will live a life of their own in institutions that govern millions of people.

Comment author: Aurini 15 March 2012 03:28:17AM 6 points [-]

Thanks for the attention! I thought my channel might be too political for this forum, so I never linked it.

In reply: I am for voluntary regulation. Rather than a centralized regulatory agency, I'd like to see free-market approaches, so that big agri-business (for instance) can't slip through dishonest loop-holes. Multiple standard systems, much like you have with motorcycle helmets.

In fact, that's a great place to start; there's a lot of debate on what sort of tests and technology make the safest motorcycle helmet, and the two different standards are moving in different directions. Now I - as a non-fabricator - don't really know enough to take a stance on either, but I'm confident that the competition between the two has improved both styles.

Vendors would display the label of whatever regulatory agency had certified them, and the agency would be less susceptible to manipulation or bribery, because they'd be selling their image.

Comment author: Multiheaded 16 March 2012 08:04:58AM *  4 points [-]

Vendors would display the label of whatever regulatory agency had certified them, and the agency would be less susceptible to manipulation or bribery, because they'd be selling their image.

I might be a statist, but I agree with that. When it works as intended, competition between producers/vendors of anything is a great social good for individuals, as it raises them to a position of power (see Mises et al).
However, I wonder if such agencies can't be made semi-public, or if they couldn't work like an advanced and well-directed banking system; there's a central government agency, which licenses and watches over municipal and private ones; its direct regulatory services would be very conservative, to create a stable "fallback point" for customers.

Comment author: ikrase 28 January 2013 03:15:14AM 1 point [-]

Could be interesting for things that are hard to quantify such as 'natural' foods or whatever.

Comment author: J_Taylor 29 January 2012 12:22:11AM 5 points [-]

Does he, by any chance, write? I hate learning from videos.

Comment author: [deleted] 29 January 2012 01:08:23PM *  9 points [-]

Yes he does. I think most of it is available on his website.

Comment author: [deleted] 29 January 2012 06:31:45PM *  4 points [-]

Since we are on the subject of video blogs, I feel I should also put a link here for the measureofdoubt channel done by Julia Galef, who is just great at popularizing some basic rationalist material. I'm sure there has been a thread specifically about videoblogging and youtube channels with rationalist content so sorry if I'm duplicating stuff. Can someone please share a link to any additional recommendations?

These are pretty good introduction videos to perhaps share with non-rationalists, just so they know what the heck you are talking about. :)

Comment author: Multiheaded 28 January 2012 08:50:31PM *  1 point [-]

He's certainly smarter than the videos' previews are making him look, and sounds like an okay, responsible dude to be around in person... but eh. I get the picture, I'm just not too interested.

Also, what a cute website he's got contributions on... have a laugh, if you don't mind getting drool on your metaphorical clothes. - Note: I'm not saying Aurini isn't facepalming about this kind of shit, or doesn't recognize that being unjustly surrounded by complete dumbfucks is part of a contrarian's plight.

(make sure to check out the quite splendid comments if you're at it)

EDIT: I got fucktons of downvotes the last time I posted links to ugly stuff, and I'm getting them this time, so you're all welcome to also downvote me in advance for when I'll decide to do this next, nya!

[if you didn't know, a "Nya" at the end of every sentence is supposed to make one sound extra unserious and annoying, and is widely used on both English and Russian interwebs]

Comment author: CharlieSheen 29 January 2012 02:00:06PM *  11 points [-]

Help! Someone is making fun of nerds on the internet! And this guy you talked about occasionally writes on the same site!

In Mala Fide has all sorts of contrarian people. Some are silly, some are insightful. Sure many are mean but that's more or less the point of the site -- may as well complain that 4chan is mean.