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Wei_Dai comments on Stupid Questions Open Thread Round 4 - Less Wrong Discussion
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It's indeed nice to have a community that discusses decision-theoretic ideas, but a simpler explanation is that Eliezer's writings attracted many smart folks and also happened to make these ideas salient, not that Eliezer's writings improved people's philosophical ability.
Attracting many smart folks and making some particular ideas salient to them is no mean feat in itself. But do you think that's really all it took? That any group of smart people, if they get together and become interested in some philosophical topic, could likely make progress instead of getting trapped in a number of possible ways?
I think it's always helpful when a community has a vernacular and a common library of references. It's better if the references are unusually accurate, but even bland ones might still speed up progress on projects.