[Link] Detachment

John_Maxwell

http://www.urticator.net/essay/0/48.html

Might be a useful read apropos of Wei Dai's recent question:

Why are we causing [people] to think of LW in terms of identity in the first place, instead of, say, a place to learn about and discuss some interesting ideas?

http://www.urticator.net/essay/0/48.html

Might be a useful read apropos of Wei Dai's recent question:

Why are we causing [people] to think of LW in terms of identity in the first place, instead of, say, a place to learn about and discuss some interesting ideas?

Wei Dai's wording makes it sound like identity formation is something LW is placing special emphasis on, which doesn't appear to me to be the case. Forming identities based on the places you spend time is just what people do by default, and I am pessimistic about the possibilities for preventing this. Maybe everyone should read Keep Your Identity Small every morning. Also, it might not be a bad idea for us to stop using the word "rationalist."

Wei Dai's wording makes it sound like identity formation is something LW is placing special emphasis on, which doesn't appear to me to be the case.

EY's wholehearted endorsement of the New York chapter's bonding rituals.

5Wei Dai13y

I don't think we're intentionally placing emphasis on identity formation, but it does seem like we may be doing certain things that unintentionally cause people to think of LW more in terms of identity, and which we may be able to avoid or counteract.

0John_Maxwell13y

Why do you think it's tougher to tackle than other human biases? Personally, I think I've found reading things like the identity essay you linked to and the detachment essay I linked to useful... just like most of the other biases we talk about on LW, it feels (from the inside, at least) like reading the right stuff can be helpful.