“I’m a leader in small community x and I’m open to your sexual advances, so don’t be shy.”
And the problem with this is what, exactly? AFAIK, that’s simply the male equivalent to a cleavage photo.
This bit is quite similar to the rest of your comment: a denotative description with negative connotation, but lacking in any explanation for the connotation applied.
More precisely your criticism appears to all be of the form, “this is weird, and weird is bad.” There isn’t any explanation of “bad”, not even bad for whom or what goals, let alone how it is expected to be bad.
More precisely your criticism appears to all be of the form, “this is weird, and weird is bad.”
Less Wrong is already weird enough without the blatant weirdness in EY’s OKCupid profile. I’m seriously disappointed and worried by the fact that it’s still public, to be honest...
I think we’re all committing the typical mind fallacy by assuming that random other people are like us in that they’ll actually evaluate the ideas behind something instead of just superficially judging the people describing the ideas. Yes, we should try to get people to actually evaluate ideas as much as possible, but we should also try to appear as normal as possible for people who don’t instinctively actually evaluate ideas. See http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/01/dear-young-eccentric.html
As far as I can tell, a large part of the reason PR departments exist in the first place is to control superficial impressions. I think this sends a bad superficial impression (and possibly even a worrisome non-superficial impression, i.e. on reflection maybe we don’t want to have someone who would write what EY wrote as a high-status figure in the aspiring rationalist community).
And the problem with this is what, exactly? AFAIK, that’s simply the male equivalent to a cleavage photo.
The latter is a somewhat stronger signal in as much as it is hard to fake. You have to have cleavage if you wish to show it off in a crudely overt way. Writing that you have status requires nothing.
[A cleavage photo] is a somewhat stronger signal [than what EY wrote in his profile] in as much as it is hard to fake.
Push-up bras. Photoshop. Or even uploading a picture of someone else.
I can’t imagine someone with an IQ of 90 able to come up with what EY wrote. Even the lack of spelling or grammar errors would be unusual for such a person. And his position within SIAI is easily googleable.
I can’t imagine someone with an IQ of 90 able to come up with what EY wrote. Even the lack of spelling or grammar errors would be unusual for such a person.
Pjeby was referring to a specific, fairly simple sentence. The most complex part was the single comma. The sentence is rather less impressive than even moderately endowed cleavage displays.
I agree that the overall profile is a strong signal. If I recall correctly I described it in a cousin comment as an approximately optimal combination of signalling and screening given Eliezer’s strengths and weaknesses. Someone else attempting to convey the same message would require non-trivial amounts of intelligence and an awful lot of familiarity with Eliezer’s culture.
And the problem with this is what, exactly? AFAIK, that’s simply the male equivalent to a cleavage photo.
This bit is quite similar to the rest of your comment: a denotative description with negative connotation, but lacking in any explanation for the connotation applied.
More precisely your criticism appears to all be of the form, “this is weird, and weird is bad.” There isn’t any explanation of “bad”, not even bad for whom or what goals, let alone how it is expected to be bad.
Less Wrong is already weird enough without the blatant weirdness in EY’s OKCupid profile. I’m seriously disappointed and worried by the fact that it’s still public, to be honest...
I think we’re all committing the typical mind fallacy by assuming that random other people are like us in that they’ll actually evaluate the ideas behind something instead of just superficially judging the people describing the ideas. Yes, we should try to get people to actually evaluate ideas as much as possible, but we should also try to appear as normal as possible for people who don’t instinctively actually evaluate ideas. See http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/01/dear-young-eccentric.html
As far as I can tell, a large part of the reason PR departments exist in the first place is to control superficial impressions. I think this sends a bad superficial impression (and possibly even a worrisome non-superficial impression, i.e. on reflection maybe we don’t want to have someone who would write what EY wrote as a high-status figure in the aspiring rationalist community).
The latter is a somewhat stronger signal in as much as it is hard to fake. You have to have cleavage if you wish to show it off in a crudely overt way. Writing that you have status requires nothing.
Push-up bras. Photoshop. Or even uploading a picture of someone else.
I can’t imagine someone with an IQ of 90 able to come up with what EY wrote. Even the lack of spelling or grammar errors would be unusual for such a person. And his position within SIAI is easily googleable.
Pjeby was referring to a specific, fairly simple sentence. The most complex part was the single comma. The sentence is rather less impressive than even moderately endowed cleavage displays.
I agree that the overall profile is a strong signal. If I recall correctly I described it in a cousin comment as an approximately optimal combination of signalling and screening given Eliezer’s strengths and weaknesses. Someone else attempting to convey the same message would require non-trivial amounts of intelligence and an awful lot of familiarity with Eliezer’s culture.