Also, I knew a lot of nice, smart, sane people at my elite college, and I was friends with them, but there was always something missing. Rationality was a big part of my life long before I ever met other rationalists, and it was exhausting to have to re-explain AI risk, transhumanism, and the basic definition of rationality any time I wanted to talk to someone about the things I cared about.
It also wasn’t until I moved to the Bay community that I ever felt I was surrounded by people who were better than me. Growing up I was always the smartest kid in the room, and in college, I was more thoughtful and more altruistic than the people around me, and I was better at dealing with my own problems and directing my own actions than most adults I knew. As a result there were very few people for me to learn from, something that was disappointing and isolating for my entire life. That feeling has completely disappeared since I moved here; I’m always being pushed to become better by the people around me.
Thanks for sharing such a compelling personal story about what the rationalist in-person community means to you.
My experience is sort of opposite to yours. It sounds like prior to integrating with the rationalist community, you:
Had a well-developed set of compatible intellectual interests in rat-related topics
Lacked social confidence
By contrast, I:
Had social confidence
Lacked a well-developed set of intellectual interests in rat-related topics.
Rationalism online gave me room to develop my intellectual interests. I had a very low bar for my first post on LW. I’ve never seen participation in the rationalist community as the place where I’ll finally be able to “be myself.”
Instead, I view my future professional community of scientific researchers as fulfilling that role. Prior to COVID, I was able to attend the 2020 AAAS conference, where AI safety, the future of scientific research, and topics related to transhumanism were all heavily discussed. This was thrilling to me.
Lacking there, of course, was the deep moral and economic discussions and wide-ranging amateur scholarship that we enjoy here. To me, LW is sort of like a scientific water cooler conversation. Which is excellent (no sarcasm intended). Definitely not something I want to set as my #1 priority for optimizing, nor something that I can imagine very many people uprooting their lives to pursue.
But valuable nonetheless. Certainly lacking in the school system and among the vast majority of “smart nice sane people.”
I do find myself getting almost all my intellectual “inputs” from the internet, books, and coursework. The exceptions are my friends and family who have long-term professional careers or amateur scholarly interests. When they talk about those subjects, I often learn quite a bit. Much of my social satisfaction is due to my ability to extract this kind of conversation from my friends and relations. I expect that will grow as I am increasingly surrounded by fellow scientists and their social networks.
Also, I knew a lot of nice, smart, sane people at my elite college, and I was friends with them, but there was always something missing. Rationality was a big part of my life long before I ever met other rationalists, and it was exhausting to have to re-explain AI risk, transhumanism, and the basic definition of rationality any time I wanted to talk to someone about the things I cared about.
It also wasn’t until I moved to the Bay community that I ever felt I was surrounded by people who were better than me. Growing up I was always the smartest kid in the room, and in college, I was more thoughtful and more altruistic than the people around me, and I was better at dealing with my own problems and directing my own actions than most adults I knew. As a result there were very few people for me to learn from, something that was disappointing and isolating for my entire life. That feeling has completely disappeared since I moved here; I’m always being pushed to become better by the people around me.
Thanks for sharing such a compelling personal story about what the rationalist in-person community means to you.
My experience is sort of opposite to yours. It sounds like prior to integrating with the rationalist community, you:
Had a well-developed set of compatible intellectual interests in rat-related topics
Lacked social confidence
By contrast, I:
Had social confidence
Lacked a well-developed set of intellectual interests in rat-related topics.
Rationalism online gave me room to develop my intellectual interests. I had a very low bar for my first post on LW. I’ve never seen participation in the rationalist community as the place where I’ll finally be able to “be myself.”
Instead, I view my future professional community of scientific researchers as fulfilling that role. Prior to COVID, I was able to attend the 2020 AAAS conference, where AI safety, the future of scientific research, and topics related to transhumanism were all heavily discussed. This was thrilling to me.
Lacking there, of course, was the deep moral and economic discussions and wide-ranging amateur scholarship that we enjoy here. To me, LW is sort of like a scientific water cooler conversation. Which is excellent (no sarcasm intended). Definitely not something I want to set as my #1 priority for optimizing, nor something that I can imagine very many people uprooting their lives to pursue.
But valuable nonetheless. Certainly lacking in the school system and among the vast majority of “smart nice sane people.”
I do find myself getting almost all my intellectual “inputs” from the internet, books, and coursework. The exceptions are my friends and family who have long-term professional careers or amateur scholarly interests. When they talk about those subjects, I often learn quite a bit. Much of my social satisfaction is due to my ability to extract this kind of conversation from my friends and relations. I expect that will grow as I am increasingly surrounded by fellow scientists and their social networks.