philanthropy status divas, professional beggars and related hangers-on

those who believe in thinking, but only for fashionable thoughts

Okay, so would you kindly point to some awful, worthless posts/comments by those awful, worthless people? And explain what makes them so awful and worthless? So that the right-thinking users can learn to avoid them?

Or, if you don't have anything specific in mind, would you at least cease insulting the community?

I think about this stuff quit a lot and generally seek out strong counterarguments. I dislike people down voting a comment I'm certain stands up to the level of discourse here while not exposing their own reasoning on the matter.

If you think I don't have a good idea about the level of discourse here, well then people should have been down voting me much more aggressively over the past few years I've spent in this community, people seem to have generally liked my contributions.

My comment complaining over this might was in hindsight perhaps inappropriate and I've retracted it, however the reason I'm not as phased as I once was by down votes is because I think the quality of the LessWrong community is slowly degrading and only aggressive counter measures can stop it.

Not UR comments, go easy on the jargon

Reactionary Rationalist Plotting, Advice Requested

I'm an atheist that lives in Slovenia a mostly secular place with a cosy social democracy yet I'm also a young no income white male and seeing some deeply disturbing kinds of language among the cool set referring to my demographic. Seems pretty stage three-ish by Stanton's scale. I'm quit sure my country will import them in a matter of a few years because we've had rapid cultural convergence with US norms after the fall of Communism. I'm also quite certain at this point that there is a real risk about 0.05 to 0.1 for some rather nasty outcomes in just a few decades.

Not to imply this is me resenting cultural imperialism or something, we would have inevitably gotten there too on our own, I blame silly forager morality and signaling games attached to it that have been unleashed by material prosperity. To make a short argument for my concerns market dominant minorities and democracies are not happy combinations. Minorities that do well economically end up targets of irrational hate. The memetic core for scapegoating for various problems that will only grow worse is clearly there and unlikely to be opposed strongly by any institution I'm aware of.

Being from the former Yugoslavia I have very little confidence Western Europe is going to be a pleasant place in a few decades since its economies probably won't ever really recover. The fundamentals are rotten, the political system incapable of reform. That and competing tribes coexisting tightly when the economy is bad is a major sign of bad news for me. Technological progress may keep them afloat with 1 to 2 or even 3 percent GDP growth but they won't ever be centers of innovation and will be ever more outshines by other parts of the world. The welfare states there are also unsustainable because of aging.

I'm thinking to teach my children & grandchildren to not be too attached to any particular country and be ready to move at the drop of a hat. Maybe even try to set up a viable subculture around that. I'm thinking Cyber Gypsies or some economic/cultural niche like that. The settled alternative is probably the machete.

Maybe move to the US while there is still some money to be made and then perhaps go to Singapore before it becomes a democracy. Maybe stay there at that point but I have a feeling it will go downhill pretty rapidly. Maybe South Korea? It will be a downgrade from Singapore certainly but its been opening up its borders so immigration there should be easier by them. Also it is going to take several decades for it to be fucked up to European levels by forager morality so that seems an ok place to go.

I'm an atheist that lives in Slovenia a mostly secular place with a cosy social democracy yet I'm also a young no income white male and seeing some deeply disturbing kinds of language among the cool set with regards referring to my demographic.

Sorry, could you be more explicit here? It sounds like you may be talking around a topic that you think is obvious, but that may be illusion of transparency.

But wait recommending people have children later de facto significantly reduces their total fertility too.

Are we really that hypersensitive to eugenics? I think eugenics is a great idea, yet this feels a strange policy to promote despite this. I think there is something more primal going on with the weak link to eugenics being just a rationalization for it.

I think the most important advice is not "Don't be a creep." It is "Do not tolerate creepiness in others."

If someone is accused of being a creep do not back them up or dismiss their accuser unless you are damn sure they weren't being creepy. If someone looks creepy based on social cues (ex. is focusing on someone much more intently than it is returned.) consider creating a break in the conversation that would allow for a graceful exit. If someone is consistently creepy, especially with touching or gross innuendo and will not stop they should not be welcome in your group.

It is a genuine challenge for me to tell if this is a joke.

Is this post meant as satire?

Conventional produce and organic produce are nutritionally equivalent

Interesting! Can you link to the literature you've read?

All the reliable literature I have read says that:

a) Conventional produce and organic produce are nutritionally equivalent

b) Organic produce is more prone to rancidity as fewer preservatives are used

c) Organic produce will make you popular with people who wear glasses with no lenses