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I've come to learn that a lot of the rationalist crowd are really just fanfiction authors. That's fine - people should be able to do that - but I don't like how

I've come to learn that a lot of the rationalist crowd are really just fanfiction authors. That's fine - people should be able to do that - but I don't like how they're given the limelight on things that they generally have little expertise and hands-on knowledge with. I want to like them and want to have them engaged in discourse, but I find them so insufferable. Not to mention the sub-crowd of rationalists that is weirdly into eugenics. I wish the rest of the rationalist community would disown them loudly.

deleted 3y ago
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bobcostas55 3y ago
[flagged]
- jmopp 3y ago
  I love how you jumped straight from "people weirdly into eugenics should be disavowed" to "dysgenics is desirable". That is the epitome of black-and-white thinking if I ever saw it.
  - bobcostas55 3y ago
    If a third alternative existed that would be a meaningful objection.
    - LawTalkingGuy 3y ago
      The lines are being drawn such that counseling to abort fetuses with Down syndrome is called eugenics, rhetorically equal to Nazi racial purges. "In a 1985 book titled Should the Baby Live?, Singer and his coauthor warn their audience that “this book contains conclusions which some readers will find disturbing. We think that some infants with severe disabilities should be killed.” Why? In part because of the burden they’d place on society. This is eugenics of the darkest sort"* -- https://www.truthdig.com/articles/nick-bostrom-longtermism-and-the-eternal-return-of-eugenics-2/ https://www.truthdig.com/articles/nick-bostrom-longtermism-a... The funny thing is that these people are pro abortion. They fully support your right to abort a baby for any reason, even if you just want to go drinking, unless you're doing it because the baby is actually unhealthy. And then, oh no, you have to keep it.
sanderjd 3y ago
I'm not sure if it's coincidental and ironic or entirely intended by you, but I found it funny that my introduction to this crowd was a literal fanfiction written by Eliezer Yudkowsky.
- timmytokyo 3y ago
  I don't want to speak for GP, but I doubt it's coincidental. Many if not most people's first exposure to "rationalism" was via Yudkowsky's Harry Potter fanfic. There's a pretty decent rundown of rationalism's history in Extropia's Children [1]. [1] https://aiascendant.substack.com/p/extropias-children-chapter-1-the-wunderkind https://aiascendant.substack.com/p/extropias-children-chapte...
timmytokyo 3y ago
The "rationalists" are more like a strange AI cult than a scientific or philosophical program. (I always put "rationalist" in quotes when referring to this group of people, because based on the things these people believe, it's a total misnomer.) At this point they're not even really trying to hide it anymore, with their prophet, Eliezer Yudkowsky, wailing in the wilderness about the imminent end of humanity. We've seen similar eschatological belief systems in recent history and they don't usually end well.
- kneebonian 3y ago
  Reminds me of the reasonabilists from Parks and Rec > The Reasonabilists named themselves because they believe if people criticize them, it'll seem like they are attacking something reasonable.
- lvncelot 3y ago
  > I always put "rationalist" in quotes when referring to this group of people, because based on the things these people believe I always found it amusing that Roko's Basilisk[1], which was incepted in the LessWrong forum, was just a roundabout way of adding eternal damnation of your "soul" (or rather, the recreation of your consciousness) to the already hilariously pseudo-religious way of treating a potential AGI. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roko%27s_basilisk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roko%27s_basilisk (I know that Roko's Balisisk was not widely accepted and I don't want to paint all LessWrong users with the same brush here, but I still think it's a quaint example of where supposed "rationality" can take you.)

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bobcostas55 3y ago

[flagged]

jmopp 3y ago
I love how you jumped straight from "people weirdly into eugenics should be disavowed" to "dysgenics is desirable". That is the epitome of black-and-white thinking if I ever saw it.
- bobcostas55 3y ago
  If a third alternative existed that would be a meaningful objection.
  - LawTalkingGuy 3y ago
    The lines are being drawn such that counseling to abort fetuses with Down syndrome is called eugenics, rhetorically equal to Nazi racial purges. "In a 1985 book titled Should the Baby Live?, Singer and his coauthor warn their audience that “this book contains conclusions which some readers will find disturbing. We think that some infants with severe disabilities should be killed.” Why? In part because of the burden they’d place on society. This is eugenics of the darkest sort"* -- https://www.truthdig.com/articles/nick-bostrom-longtermism-and-the-eternal-return-of-eugenics-2/ https://www.truthdig.com/articles/nick-bostrom-longtermism-a... The funny thing is that these people are pro abortion. They fully support your right to abort a baby for any reason, even if you just want to go drinking, unless you're doing it because the baby is actually unhealthy. And then, oh no, you have to keep it.

sanderjd 3y ago

I'm not sure if it's coincidental and ironic or entirely intended by you, but I found it funny that my introduction to this crowd was a literal fanfiction written by Eliezer Yudkowsky.

timmytokyo 3y ago
I don't want to speak for GP, but I doubt it's coincidental. Many if not most people's first exposure to "rationalism" was via Yudkowsky's Harry Potter fanfic. There's a pretty decent rundown of rationalism's history in Extropia's Children [1]. [1] https://aiascendant.substack.com/p/extropias-children-chapter-1-the-wunderkind https://aiascendant.substack.com/p/extropias-children-chapte...

timmytokyo 3y ago

The "rationalists" are more like a strange AI cult than a scientific or philosophical program. (I always put "rationalist" in quotes when referring to this group of people, because based on the things these people believe, it's a total misnomer.) At this point they're not even really trying to hide it anymore, with their prophet, Eliezer Yudkowsky, wailing in the wilderness about the imminent end of humanity. We've seen similar eschatological belief systems in recent history and they don't usually end well.

kneebonian 3y ago
Reminds me of the reasonabilists from Parks and Rec > The Reasonabilists named themselves because they believe if people criticize them, it'll seem like they are attacking something reasonable.
lvncelot 3y ago
> I always put "rationalist" in quotes when referring to this group of people, because based on the things these people believe I always found it amusing that Roko's Basilisk[1], which was incepted in the LessWrong forum, was just a roundabout way of adding eternal damnation of your "soul" (or rather, the recreation of your consciousness) to the already hilariously pseudo-religious way of treating a potential AGI. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roko%27s_basilisk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roko%27s_basilisk (I know that Roko's Balisisk was not widely accepted and I don't want to paint all LessWrong users with the same brush here, but I still think it's a quaint example of where supposed "rationality" can take you.)