Yeah that’s super reasonable! Not hard at all to imagine some norms that could be worse than no norm. Would have been better stated “some ‘reasonable’ norm beats no norm”, with hopes that the community could decide what norms are or aren’t “reasonable”
I definitely would not advocate for a mandated dress code!
I argue below that 1) fashion norms are good, even purely within the rationalist community and 2) Secular Solstice should have an unofficial attire norm: a slightly dressy black base layer with shiny accents (shiny jewelry, reflective material, metallic colors, etc; see examples in the main text).
Others have written general defenses of “dressing up” in day-to-day life. These defenses typically make the very safe argument that “how you dress conveys information about you to other people, and you should take that into account”. Fundamentally, these are arguments for rationalists to dress based on the perceptions of those outside of the rationalist community. I think it is far more interesting (and contentious) to... (read 1996 more words →)
Love that! More meaning to specific choices, while keeping it accessible, is a plus in my view!