Draft: Xander's Lament
Gabriel
metaphors and such), but I figured I should get a discussion going
about whether people actually WANT to use simpler language on LW.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HG-8ugs0l555p07_41I8SbeZS_0YyLTtkz5QUFM7bEc/edit?hl=en_US
Laurent Bossavit
To start with: overall, I find myself in agreement with the theme of
this post.
I'd be interested in more detail about what went down at the meetup,
since that's the factual basis for whatever's eating you.
> metaphors and such), but I figured I should get a discussion going
> about whether people actually WANT to use simpler language on LW.
Start by removing the words "status" and "signal", then? Maybe even
"akrasia"? Practice what you preach, in short?
Coincidentally I had been mentally composing a Discussion post about
how on LW people typically use "signalling" in a pretentious way: they
don't mean it in a technical sense, i.e. the costly-signalling thesis
from evolutionary theory of which stotting is a representative
example: they most often seem to just mean "sending a signal" in the
vernacular sense.
The problem is that within the context of a site heavy on evolutionary
theory, this has a subtext of "I'm appealing to a Scientific Theory"
which is just plain misleading. The issue IMO isn't proving your worth
or signaling membership, it's just being pretentious and careless with
words.
I'll stop now for fear of straying from my role as public goods team
member and reviewer of your text. :)
Quoting the post now:
> So, I've been wondering: are there more of me? Where are the
people who aren't good at math, but still want to be Less Wrong?
There's a disconnect here. First time you mention math, out of nowhere
basically. FWIW I'm not good at math, and I'm here. More generally,
what does being good at math (crystallized rationality) have to do
with being less wrong? I would grant being *afraid* of math, and I'd
say it's hard to be a rationalist if you're afraid of math. Bad -
that's just a matter of not having spent enough time on it. I like
this quote: "Talent determines how fast you get good, not how good you
get. -- Richard Gabriel".
Cheers,
Laurent
Rasmus Eide
"a hybrid race of scientists and hippies" is probably the best
description of my family I've ever encountered. You just need to move
to Sweden. :p
More seriously thou, just go to the biology/ecology department and
pretty much anyone should be like that.
> Is plain talk low-status on LW?
It's low status by default, but if you point out this problem and/or
specifically state it's "introductory" in a specific article that
reverses.
John Salvatier
John Salvatier
Emile Kroeger
However, I have no idea who Xander is (beyond the info in your essay - a character in Buffy The Vampire Slayer that doesn't have superpowers). Also, I'm not really sure I understand "The typical progressive mindset prefers folk versions of just about everything. This way, they don't have to look closely enough at a problem to draw a line or make a judgement that might offend." - I can't think of many examples of "folk versions of things" - folk economics? folk litterature i.e. "lowbrow"? folk psychology? apart from maybe economics, I don't see what might offend.
Gabriel
reason, I've hit a brick wall with this post. My motivation has
(hopefully temporarily) vanished. If I can bring myself to write a
second draft soon, I'll do so with all of your comments in mind.
Really, I just want LW to not be so cognitively expensive. Really, I
just want RATIONALITY to not be so cognitively expensive so that I can
have more friends. Or maybe it isn't about rationality at all. Maybe
I'm just an anxious, paranoid person.
Obviously I need to do some thinking.
On Oct 15, 5:41 am, Emile Kroeger <flammi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Interesting essay, I can relate to "The thing is, I'm very grateful to LW
> for enabling me to be less deluded about my actual capabilities."
>
> However, I have no idea who Xander is (beyond the info in your essay - a
> character in Buffy The Vampire Slayer that doesn't have superpowers). Also,
> I'm not really sure I understand "The typical progressive mindset prefers
> folk versions of just about everything. This way, they don't have to look
> closely enough at a problem to draw a line or make a judgement that might
> offend." - I can't think of many examples of "folk versions of things" -
> folk economics? folk litterature i.e. "lowbrow"? folk psychology? apart from
> maybe economics, I don't see what might offend.
>
> On Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 2:45 AM, John Salvatier
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> > Also my criticisms are kind of vague, so it may be useful to IM or skype.
> > I'm jsalvatier on skype.
>
>
> >> I think this is well written. I've left some comments here:
>