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Lumifer comments on First(?) Rationalist elected to state government - Less Wrong Discussion

63 Post author: Eneasz 07 November 2014 02:30AM

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Comment author: sixes_and_sevens 07 November 2014 02:58:42PM 23 points [-]

Well, since that whole mind-killer business is already way over the horizon...

It can't be uncommon for people on here to look at their elected representatives and think "that doesn't seem like a very high bar to clear". It may be that I'm missing something, but the one elected official I personally know is, to put it bluntly, an uncharismatic tool with no relevant background. I wouldn't trust him as a stooge. Even if it was the safest seat in the country, it's bewildering to me that no-one else is there in his place.

Why don't more people like us (for some conception of "us" that may or may not be coherent) stand for public office? Here are some hypotheses:

  • They do, and I'm misinformed
  • STEM backgrounds are anti-correlated with public office because:
    • they have higher earning potential in the private sector
    • they systematically lack relevant skills, or the ability to recognise these skills
    • they are systematically located in large centres of industry, which attract more dedicated and competent competition in political spheres
  • They're too cynical to be politically active
  • There is a secret undercurrent of heavily politically-active people on Less Wrong who don't discuss it because of prevailing mind-killer social norms

Other suggestions (or counter-assertions, or gentle mockery) welcome.

Comment author: Lumifer 07 November 2014 05:56:46PM 17 points [-]

Why don't more people like us (for some conception of "us" that may or may not be coherent) stand for public office?

Because it's unpleasant and not very productive.

If you have any desire for privacy, you would (or should) hesitate to stand for public office for obvious reasons. If you have unconventional views, they are likely to be a problem, you will have to explain and defend them (or hide them). In general, (some) people will be mean to you, including being maliciously mean to you because you're of the enemy tribe and should be trampled into the mud.

And that's just the election part. Provided you made it through, you're likely to find out that the actual power you wield is pretty puny and your role is more akin to that of a cog in a bureaucratic machine. If your positions are sufficiently different from the usual ones, you'll often find yourself in the minory, unable to do anything. You'll face pressure to compromise, to deal, to conform.

Now, if by nature you like the political hustle and bustle, give and take, push and pull, that all is going to be fine. But people "like us" don't.

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