That's true, but I also think that the culture of LW and the surrounding "rationalist" community is a fairly arrogant culture, and not all rational-thinking cultures are like this (compare the number of scientific papers that say "more research is needed" vs "our paper pretty much settles this issue"). Personally I suspect that a culture less arrogant than the LW "rationalist" community is optimal. For example, Paul Graham nails it IMO... he says controversial stuff and questions establishment views, but does so in thoughtful, evenhanded, polite way.