I’m not really sure that creating a “perception of impartiality” is a community goal. It certainly isn’t what I care about. Mostly I think its just that there is a lot of value to the kinds of conversations that are possible here, and I think that talking about “normal” politics would do more damage to those conversations compared to the specific value that it would generate. And its not even that we don’t talk a lot about politics here, its just that we’re more likely to talk about them in a very abstract way...
I really appreciate articles about how to calculate the total expected value of a political action that coherently respects issues of self-reflective agency on all parties. My suspicion is that we’ll get less of the really good stuff if we talk about run of the mill political topics, and I think that would be sad. If this makes me “look impartial” so be it, but I don’t feel impartial and don’t particularly want to give that impression. Personally, I feel (and for that matter would not mind appearing) as though I’m simply partial to sanity and clear thinking because it is so rare and so useful, and I’m willing to accept certain costs or constraints to protect what I’m partial to.
I’m not really sure that creating a “perception of impartiality” is a community goal.
Agreed. However, it is one of my goals. One of the things I love about LessWrong is that there are very few political debates in the sense that most people recognize them, and this is a community norm that I would like to continue.
Upvoted for mindkiller link :-)
I’m not really sure that creating a “perception of impartiality” is a community goal. It certainly isn’t what I care about. Mostly I think its just that there is a lot of value to the kinds of conversations that are possible here, and I think that talking about “normal” politics would do more damage to those conversations compared to the specific value that it would generate. And its not even that we don’t talk a lot about politics here, its just that we’re more likely to talk about them in a very abstract way...
I really appreciate articles about how to calculate the total expected value of a political action that coherently respects issues of self-reflective agency on all parties. My suspicion is that we’ll get less of the really good stuff if we talk about run of the mill political topics, and I think that would be sad. If this makes me “look impartial” so be it, but I don’t feel impartial and don’t particularly want to give that impression. Personally, I feel (and for that matter would not mind appearing) as though I’m simply partial to sanity and clear thinking because it is so rare and so useful, and I’m willing to accept certain costs or constraints to protect what I’m partial to.
Agreed. However, it is one of my goals. One of the things I love about LessWrong is that there are very few political debates in the sense that most people recognize them, and this is a community norm that I would like to continue.