#now one of my many complaints is i feel kind of betrayed by rationalists' failure to actually do empiricism well or in some cases at all. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

unopenablebox · 19 days ago

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Tell me more about the worst things about the rationalists? The point about “you are experiencing a feeling as though you’re having an insight” (sorry don’t have your exact wording in front of me) is sort of giving me a light bulb moment re: their whole thing

so... the answer is at least kind of "yes, i can do that", but in attempting to answer your question i found myself writing several thousand words of explanation about who i think "rationalists" even describes anymore/ever, why i've encountered them and what my background is, etc, so if you'd like to write back clarifying your own knowledge of/level of interaction with internet rationalism that might help me cut out some of the thousands of words of historical context. regardless i'll think about it and try to figure out which takes i think i'm actually qualified to air in public/which will be meaningful to anyone less immersed in weird rat history inside baseball than i am

#if you want to stay anon and don't want me to post your additional clarifications that's totally fine #it would just help me to know whether or not i have to explain ai safety stuff/hpmor/EA/etc if it's relevant to something #box opener #i will include one of the caveats now which is that. i have a certain deep sympathy for the like #basic rhetorical-style impulse that i think initially drew a lot of people in #there's a refreshing contrast in being in internet spaces where people are talking like they think reasoning should be based on evidence #now one of my many complaints is i feel kind of betrayed by rationalists' failure to actually do empiricism well or in some cases at all.#but i unfortunately do enjoy being in contexts where it's being paid lip service at minimum. it feels homey

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