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username2 comments on Open thread, December 7-13, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: polymathwannabe 07 December 2015 02:47PM

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Comment author: username2 08 December 2015 04:12:36AM *  2 points [-]

A question about Omnilibrium. The FAQ states

As it turns out, our current membership does not fit very well into the “left-wing” and “right-wing” boxes, so we adopted different labels for the observed political clusters.

So what beliefs generally cluster the optimates and populares? I've been wondering this, and it seems fairly opaque as an outside observer, but I'm sure that people who regularly use the site have picked up on it.

Comment author: cleonid 08 December 2015 02:44:54PM 2 points [-]

There are two noticeable differences between the optimate/populare and the traditional left-wing/right-wing politics:

1) Traditional politics is much better approximated by a binary. Person’s views on one significant issue, such as feminism, pretty accurately predict positions on foreign policy, economics and environmental issues. By comparison, optimate/populare labels have much less predictive power. While there is a significant correlation between populare (optimate) and left (right)-wing views on economics and foreign policy, both optimates and populares are much more likely to cross ideological lines on individual issues.

2) On average, both populares and optimates are more libertarian and less religious than the traditional left and right.