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I pretty much agree with your characterisation of LessWrong (and i think Yudkowsky is a complete waste of time), but i found SSC to be much better. Part of the

by twic 6y ago

I pretty much agree with your characterisation of LessWrong (and i think Yudkowsky is a complete waste of time), but i found SSC to be much better. Part of the same scene, but much closer to reality. I wouldn't write off SSC for LW's failings. Unrelatedly, i think your description also applies to modern Continental philosophy / critical theory - it's far more a game to prove who has the biggest brain than it is a real attempt to do anything useful.

api 6y ago
Yes, I agree about a lot of critical theory too. There’s a lot of Chinese finger traps for the brain around. We fixate on this stuff like raccoons with shiny objects. One of my litmus tests is usefulness or potential usefulness. I define this broadly to include social and aesthetic stuff as well as utilitarian concerns. Even with a broad definition a lot of this brain wank just strikes me as useless and not really applicable to anything.