The show overall strikes me as one with good dialogue but bad characterisation and plotting, mainly because they are manipulated to serve the cause of whatever joke is in the moment.
Playing the game treating the characters as real people: They all have severe emotional problems and need professional therapy. Canonically Raj can't talk to half the human race without alcohol (though apparently this is psyhosomatic) stemming from some weird family issues, Leonard and Penny both have serious self esteem and relationship issues stemming from their parents. Sheldon ironically seems most happy in himself, despite it having severe (and apparently undiagnosed) aspergers or autism.
To be honest I don't think its a show meriting that much ananlysis in itself, though sociologically its interesting as an example of perception of intellectuals/scientists in wider society. Good discussion here
That article made some good points, but on the other hand, I didn't like some of its implications.
The author mentions that he/she is proud of his dedication to various fandoms, proud of how much he knows about the works he likes, etc. And that's perfectly fine (if you believe pride is a legitimate emotion here). But then he goes on to imply that people who have more socially acceptable interests are "intellectually inferior." Simply declaring yourself to be a nerd and describing how you meticulously alphabetize your DVDs and spend your days watch...
This is my first attempt at starting a casual conversation on LW where people don't have to worry about winning or losing points, and can just relax and have social fun together.
So, Big Bang Theory. That series got me wondering. It seems to be about "geeks", and not the basement-dwelling variety either; they're highly successful and accomplished professionals, each in their own field. One of them has been an astronaut, even. And yet, everything they ever accomplish amounts to absolutely nothing in terms of social recognition or even in terms of personal happiness. And the thing is, it doesn't even get better for their "normal" counterparts, who are just as miserable and petty.
Consider, then; how would being rationalists would affect the characters on this show? The writing of the show relies a lot on laughing at people rather than with them; would rationalist characters subvert that? And how would that rationalist outlook express itself given their personalities? (After all, notice how amazingly different from each other Yudkowsky, Hanson, and Alicorn are, just to name a few; they emphasize rather different things, and take different approaches to both truth-testing and problem-solving).
Note: this discussion does not need to be about rationalism. It can be a casual, normal discussion about the series. Relax and enjoy yourselves.
But the reason I brought up that series is that its characters are excellent examples of high intelligence hampered by immense irrationality. The apex of this is represented by Dr. Sheldon Cooper, who is, essentially, a complete fundamentalist over every single thing in his life; he applies this attitude to everything, right down to people's favorite flavor of pudding: Raj is "axiomatically wrong" to prefer tapioca, because the best pudding is chocolate. Period. This attitude makes him a far, far worse scientist than he thinks, as he refuses to even consider any criticism of his methods or results.