LW could be considered a select group by discussion board standards. For example, posters who haven’t studied the rather large amount of presumed background knowledge are, to a decreasing but still significant extent, only reluctantly tolerated.
By that definition, restaurants are elitist because people with no knowledge of silverware and table manners are only reluctantly tolerated. Roads are elitist because drivers with no knowledge of traffic rules are only reluctantly tolerated. Grocery stores are elitist because only people with no understanding of trade and shoplifting laws aren’t tolerated. Is there any place you can go in the civilized world and be accepted regardless of whether you have knowledge relevant to that place? Even in jail, inmates are expected to know better than to drink out of the toilet and that food goes in their mouth. The mental ward might be the only place—but that isn’t a place of acceptance.
Let’s look at the dictionary definition for the word elitist, now, as it’s more detailed:
(of a person or class of persons) considered superior by others or by themselves, as in intellect, talent, power, wealth, or position in society: elitist country clubbers who have theirs and don’t care about anybody else.
catering to or associated with an elitist class, its ideologies, or its institutions: Even at such a small, private college, Latin and Greek are under attack as too elitist.
a person having, thought to have, or professing superior intellect or talent, power, wealth, or membership in the upper echelons of society: He lost a congressional race in Texas by being smeared as an Eastern elitist.
a person who believes in the superiority of an elitist class.
Reasons LessWrong isn’t automatically elitist, as relates to the above:
Regardless of whether LessWrong members have more or less talent, intellect, power, wealth or position, if they do not have a superior attitude about it, that doesn’t qualify them as elitist by definition 1.
Depending on whether LessWrong wants to be a place where everybody can learn or a place where only people thought to have “superior intellect or talent, power, wealth, or membership in the upper echelons of society” can join, it might be non-elitist.
If LessWrong defines itself as “A place where people who want to refine their rationality gather” then it’s not a group defined by “talent, power, wealth, or membership in the upper echelons of society”, it’s a place defined by common interest.
Do you believe that LessWrong is an elite class, and that they are superior? I don’t.
Is LessWrong Elitist:
By that definition, restaurants are elitist because people with no knowledge of silverware and table manners are only reluctantly tolerated. Roads are elitist because drivers with no knowledge of traffic rules are only reluctantly tolerated. Grocery stores are elitist because only people with no understanding of trade and shoplifting laws aren’t tolerated. Is there any place you can go in the civilized world and be accepted regardless of whether you have knowledge relevant to that place? Even in jail, inmates are expected to know better than to drink out of the toilet and that food goes in their mouth. The mental ward might be the only place—but that isn’t a place of acceptance.
Let’s look at the dictionary definition for the word elitist, now, as it’s more detailed:
(of a person or class of persons) considered superior by others or by themselves, as in intellect, talent, power, wealth, or position in society: elitist country clubbers who have theirs and don’t care about anybody else.
catering to or associated with an elitist class, its ideologies, or its institutions: Even at such a small, private college, Latin and Greek are under attack as too elitist.
a person having, thought to have, or professing superior intellect or talent, power, wealth, or membership in the upper echelons of society: He lost a congressional race in Texas by being smeared as an Eastern elitist.
a person who believes in the superiority of an elitist class.
Reasons LessWrong isn’t automatically elitist, as relates to the above:
Regardless of whether LessWrong members have more or less talent, intellect, power, wealth or position, if they do not have a superior attitude about it, that doesn’t qualify them as elitist by definition 1.
Depending on whether LessWrong wants to be a place where everybody can learn or a place where only people thought to have “superior intellect or talent, power, wealth, or membership in the upper echelons of society” can join, it might be non-elitist.
If LessWrong defines itself as “A place where people who want to refine their rationality gather” then it’s not a group defined by “talent, power, wealth, or membership in the upper echelons of society”, it’s a place defined by common interest.
Do you believe that LessWrong is an elite class, and that they are superior? I don’t.