= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
JoshuaZ comments on Reaching young math/compsci talent - Less Wrong Discussion
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (75)
This may come across as spamming and will likely send crank signals.
I dunno. It's a book. If anyone sends me a book, I'll consider keeping it and likely look at the first couple of pages, even if it's Dianetics or The Book of Mormon. I don't regard books as the physical and memetic pollution that spam is.
If I got a vanity-press book like this, I'd regard it as cranky non-spam. But Global Catastrophic Risks is published by Oxford University Press, which matches the pattern "legitimate" rather than "crank".
If I got a religious text, I'd be unimpressed. But Global Catastrophic Risks differs from a religious text in that it's a collection of essays by different authors who no doubt disagree about many things, rather than a canonized text that's regarded as perfect. And the hidden agenda of someone who gives me Global Catastrophic Risks is to get me thinking about global catastrophic risks — which is pretty reasonable, although not universally compelling. It would be much less creepy than receiving a Bible.
In summary, while JoshuaZ might have been turned off by receiving a book when he was a mathematically talented youth, I wouldn't have. So, that's two data points.
tl;dr: Please send me a copy of the Book of Mormon.
Do you actually want a copy of the Book of Mormon? It's online, and I bet you could get a free one by filling out a form on an LDS website.
You're right, I can request a free Book of Mormon delivered to my doorstep by missionaries. I notice some mediocre reasons not to do this, as well as some strong unreasonable aversions to doing this; which means maybe I should do it...
The (plenty of) Mormons I have met are all really nice, friendly people. Missionaries on duty might be different (more goal-oriented, probably) but I bet you they're still nice. Unless you're just concerned about wasting their time, what are your strong unreasonable aversions?
It feels dishonest because if their goal is to convert me, calling on me is a waste of time. I know I'm not going to convert. I can satisfy this aversion by being honest up-front about not being likely to convert. I bet if I tell them I nevertheless want to keep the book and look at it a little, they'll still come over and give it to me. That way I'm being honest; and from a more consequentialist point of view I'm not wasting anyone's time but my own because converting people to Mormonism isn't a great goal anyways.
Another aversion is telling me that I'm going to disagree strongly with what they have to say, and that suppressing disagreement will be awkward and that expressing disagreement will be rude. I can respond to this aversion by deciding beforehand how to approach the conversation: I could either have the goal of learning what Mormonism means to them, or I could practice expressing disagreement.
An actual reason for not casting Summon Mormon Missionaries is that the LDS Church will have my contact info forever, and will pester me in the future. If I can remove that cost, I'll do it.
Speaking from experience, they won't. I called them once for a free Book of Mormon. They came over and I said thanks for the book and but I don't want to convert. They made a follow-up call, but I haven't heard from them since.
Hee hee hee.
The contact info thing probably is an actual problem and a legit reason to hold back.
If you really want a paper Book of Mormon but want to avoid interacting with people who will try to convert you I recommend checking a store that sells stuff that was donated to it (e.g., Goodwill or Salvation Army in the US). These places often sell books for a dollar or less.
(Because Mormons like to give copies of the Book of Mormon away, there are a lot of them that get taken to thrift shops when non-Mormons get rid of old stuff; because of supply and demand, I think you're less likely to find a copy in a regular used bookstore.)
(Insults to people's holy books rot13ed out of a possibly excessive sense of politeness: Or jnearq; abg sbe abguvat qbrf vg vapyhqr n Obbx bs *Rgure*, nf sebz jung yvggyr V'ir ernq bs vg, vg vf *rira zber obevat* guna gur Wrjvfu naq Puevfgvna fpevcgherf.)
Their goal is to earn their heavenly reward (or possibly 'new earth' reward, not sure on the details). The heavenly reward scheme is not based on commission but on the work that they do so you are not doing them a disservice.
The test for dishonesty I'd use here is: Would a missionary (or their superiors in the Church) be dismayed if they learned that a potential new latter-day saint had been leading them on? I suppose the answer is yes, no matter the theology.
I predict that if, when you ask for the book, you say "there is zero chance of me converting, I just want it for reference", they will send it to you, and follow up, anyway.
I tried getting a free copy of the Koran from here, but it never arrived. IDK why.