I think using your stipulative definition of “supernatural” was a bad move. I would be very surprised if I asked a theologian to define “supernatural” and they replied “ontologically basic mental entities”. Even as a rational reconstruction of their reply, it would be quite a stretch. Using such specific definitions of contentious concepts isn’t a good idea, if you want to know what proportion of Less Wrongers self-identify as atheist/agnostic/deist/theist/polytheist.
OTOH, using a vague definition isn’t a good idea either, if you want to know something about what Less Wrongers believe about the world.
I had no problem with the question as worded; it was polling about LWers confidence in a specific belief, using terms from the LW Sequences. That the particular belief is irrelevant to what people who self-identify as various groups consider important about that identification is important to remember, but not in and of itself a problem with the question.
But, yeah… if we want to know what proportion of LWers self-identify as (e.g.) atheist, that question won’t tell us.
I think using your stipulative definition of “supernatural” was a bad move. I would be very surprised if I asked a theologian to define “supernatural” and they replied “ontologically basic mental entities”. Even as a rational reconstruction of their reply, it would be quite a stretch. Using such specific definitions of contentious concepts isn’t a good idea, if you want to know what proportion of Less Wrongers self-identify as atheist/agnostic/deist/theist/polytheist.
OTOH, using a vague definition isn’t a good idea either, if you want to know something about what Less Wrongers believe about the world.
I had no problem with the question as worded; it was polling about LWers confidence in a specific belief, using terms from the LW Sequences. That the particular belief is irrelevant to what people who self-identify as various groups consider important about that identification is important to remember, but not in and of itself a problem with the question.
But, yeah… if we want to know what proportion of LWers self-identify as (e.g.) atheist, that question won’t tell us.