Trying to figure out what’s being said here. My best guess is two major points:
Meta doesn’t work. Do the thing, stop trying to figure out systematic ways to do the thing better, they’re a waste of time. The first thing any proper meta-thinking should notice is that nobody doing meta-thinking seems to be doing object level thinking any better.
A lot of nerds want to be recognized as Deep Thinkers. This makes meta-thinking stuff really appealing for them to read, in hopes of becoming a DT. This in turn makes it appealing for them to write, since it’s what other nerds will read, which is how they get recognized as a DT. All this is despite the fact that it’s useless.
The post doesn’t spend much of its time making specific criticisms because specific criticism of this patronage system would indict OP for attempting to participate in it. This hampers its readability.
I’ll just post a twitter thread here that I wrote in response to criticism. Maybe this will clarify my goals/intentions
I want “nerds” to realize that we are not above performative attention-seeking behavior, that we can really easily slip into a failure mode of “write a blog post that embraces some high-minded ideal that no one disagrees with and then propose some law/policy/program that will supposedly increase this thing and then pat yourself on the back and move on”. I wanted to expose my own emotions and insecurities around really caring about science/progress/altruism/etc. while also really wanting people to read and praise my writing because I think other people struggle with this too. I want people reflect on the fact that writing =/= thinking and if you aren’t careful it’s easy to forget that. I wanted people to consider that explicitly trying to be innovative, creative, or smart might not work as well being as earnest as possible in your pursuit of curiosity, love, beauty, etc and that internet/social media can make it really hard to be earnest in your intellectual pursuits. I also just wanted to entertain and make people laugh; of course I was making arguments but I also view this essay as art (pretentious, I know)– I want people to know it’s okay to do both, not everything has to be a Very Serious Essay That Convinces You of Something. In fact, I would argue that there is a dearth of aesthetic sensibilities in the science/progress/EA space and that we all might benefit from a little more style, emotion, beauty, and humor.
Trying to figure out what’s being said here. My best guess is two major points:
Meta doesn’t work. Do the thing, stop trying to figure out systematic ways to do the thing better, they’re a waste of time. The first thing any proper meta-thinking should notice is that nobody doing meta-thinking seems to be doing object level thinking any better.
A lot of nerds want to be recognized as Deep Thinkers. This makes meta-thinking stuff really appealing for them to read, in hopes of becoming a DT. This in turn makes it appealing for them to write, since it’s what other nerds will read, which is how they get recognized as a DT. All this is despite the fact that it’s useless.
The post doesn’t spend much of its time making specific criticisms because specific criticism of this patronage system would indict OP for attempting to participate in it. This hampers its readability.
I’ll just post a twitter thread here that I wrote in response to criticism. Maybe this will clarify my goals/intentions
I want “nerds” to realize that we are not above performative attention-seeking behavior, that we can really easily slip into a failure mode of “write a blog post that embraces some high-minded ideal that no one disagrees with and then propose some law/policy/program that will supposedly increase this thing and then pat yourself on the back and move on”. I wanted to expose my own emotions and insecurities around really caring about science/progress/altruism/etc. while also really wanting people to read and praise my writing because I think other people struggle with this too. I want people reflect on the fact that writing =/= thinking and if you aren’t careful it’s easy to forget that. I wanted people to consider that explicitly trying to be innovative, creative, or smart might not work as well being as earnest as possible in your pursuit of curiosity, love, beauty, etc and that internet/social media can make it really hard to be earnest in your intellectual pursuits. I also just wanted to entertain and make people laugh; of course I was making arguments but I also view this essay as art (pretentious, I know)– I want people to know it’s okay to do both, not everything has to be a Very Serious Essay That Convinces You of Something. In fact, I would argue that there is a dearth of aesthetic sensibilities in the science/progress/EA space and that we all might benefit from a little more style, emotion, beauty, and humor.