I agree with your conclusion, and I love your library allegory. It’s pretty clear that America fears strong emotions in general, and also that “our type” learns cached patterns of ritually approved of nonconformity.
That said, some may be balking, not at admiring someone hugely, but at forming nearly their entire manner of evaluating ideas from a single person, without independent sources of evidence that can label that person “trustworthy”. Anne Corwin reports fearing networks of abstractions that distance people from their own concrete experiences and root-level knowledge. Carl’s recent post is in part an attempt to say that many of the ideas you’ve expressed are supported by other, labeled-as-trustworthy sources, and folks who believe those ideas needn’t feel as though they’re putting all their error-catching eggs in one basket.
Other people may just fear changing their beliefs and actions, especially changing those beliefs and actions in a manner affected by an unknown person’s intent. When I ran into some pamphlets on critical thinking seven years ago, and I heard arguments that I should (gasp) only believe claims supported by evidence… the prospect of only believing what was supported by evidence felt like a frightening loss of control. “It’s a cult! It could take over my mind!” may just express fear at shifting which mental system (the “your choice” system, or this scary foreign “rationality/Eliezer” system) will control one’s future beliefs and actions.
These fears may also apply to peoples’ relationships to Paul Graham, I’m not sure.
I agree with your conclusion, and I love your library allegory. It’s pretty clear that America fears strong emotions in general, and also that “our type” learns cached patterns of ritually approved of nonconformity.
That said, some may be balking, not at admiring someone hugely, but at forming nearly their entire manner of evaluating ideas from a single person, without independent sources of evidence that can label that person “trustworthy”. Anne Corwin reports fearing networks of abstractions that distance people from their own concrete experiences and root-level knowledge. Carl’s recent post is in part an attempt to say that many of the ideas you’ve expressed are supported by other, labeled-as-trustworthy sources, and folks who believe those ideas needn’t feel as though they’re putting all their error-catching eggs in one basket.
Other people may just fear changing their beliefs and actions, especially changing those beliefs and actions in a manner affected by an unknown person’s intent. When I ran into some pamphlets on critical thinking seven years ago, and I heard arguments that I should (gasp) only believe claims supported by evidence… the prospect of only believing what was supported by evidence felt like a frightening loss of control. “It’s a cult! It could take over my mind!” may just express fear at shifting which mental system (the “your choice” system, or this scary foreign “rationality/Eliezer” system) will control one’s future beliefs and actions.
These fears may also apply to peoples’ relationships to Paul Graham, I’m not sure.