There’s a lot of mainstream animosity toward rationalists and EAs because news outlets like to portray them as crazy San Francisco doomer polycule vegans
Maybe I’m just a yeoman farmer, but I knew nothing about rationalists a year ago and I’m pretty sure 99% of my friend group knows nothing about rationalists. This is unfortunate because I think a lot of them would enjoy the writing in this movement. I read the news avidly and listened to economics/philosophy podcasts prior to finding LessWrong.
If the monicker has soured in the circles you care about, it can definitely make sense to find a new monicker. On the other hand, if you like the monicker and hope it catches on for the wider public, I think we still have a good shot of making it stick around in a positive way. I haven’t proven how much the public knows about “rationalists,” but I would say it’s easy to over-update based on the few public articles about it.
Maybe I’m just a yeoman farmer, but I knew nothing about rationalists a year ago and I’m pretty sure 99% of my friend group knows nothing about rationalists. This is unfortunate because I think a lot of them would enjoy the writing in this movement. I read the news avidly and listened to economics/philosophy podcasts prior to finding LessWrong.
If the monicker has soured in the circles you care about, it can definitely make sense to find a new monicker. On the other hand, if you like the monicker and hope it catches on for the wider public, I think we still have a good shot of making it stick around in a positive way. I haven’t proven how much the public knows about “rationalists,” but I would say it’s easy to over-update based on the few public articles about it.