Thanks for writing this, sorry it took me a while to respond.
I think the question of “who is LessWrong for” is a really very reasonable question. I don’t have an amazing settled answer for you that I can state in terms of a level of rationality.
The following are all components of the answer. LessWrong is for:
People who will help this community perfect the art of human rationality.
People who will help this community make intellectual progress on [important] problems.
People who will help this community shape the world for the better, help the world not go extinct, solve Alignment.
Implicit in all these is that there’s a mission, and that to a large extent, LessWrong is for you if you will help that mission, and it’s not for your if you’ll detract from it. I can’t definitively say “and this is the bar above which you’ll be helpful vs not”, though it’s easier to look at someone’s particular contributions and judge.
There’s also a sense in which LessWrong is maybe the town hall for the Rationality community (that’s more than just the LW community), and so for anyone in that community. I (and Habryka who get most of this philosophy from) are not completely sure about that.
And personally, I would also like that LessWrong is for anyone who shares my/LW values, though in practice I think it might be hard to make that true in all cases, e.g. if trades off against the community being healthy and productive.
thanks for the reply. I’m working on a follow-up piece to this, but it is still in the oven. I am still thankful for the response. A town hall… is a much more educated guess than mine. I would love for the mission to be more specific on the how’s, but you are already working on it, which I appreciate.
I can imagine that some Rationalist people leaving, might also be a natural conclusion of crafting a space a certain way. Some of the ideas I have might be more for those on the frontiers, but it should also work for others as well. And are more focused on creating a healthy and productive space, in line with a set of goals and purposes.
Thanks for writing this, sorry it took me a while to respond.
I think the question of “who is LessWrong for” is a really very reasonable question. I don’t have an amazing settled answer for you that I can state in terms of a level of rationality.
The following are all components of the answer. LessWrong is for:
People who will help this community perfect the art of human rationality.
People who will help this community make intellectual progress on [important] problems.
People who will help this community shape the world for the better, help the world not go extinct, solve Alignment.
Implicit in all these is that there’s a mission, and that to a large extent, LessWrong is for you if you will help that mission, and it’s not for your if you’ll detract from it. I can’t definitively say “and this is the bar above which you’ll be helpful vs not”, though it’s easier to look at someone’s particular contributions and judge.
There’s also a sense in which LessWrong is maybe the town hall for the Rationality community (that’s more than just the LW community), and so for anyone in that community. I (and Habryka who get most of this philosophy from) are not completely sure about that.
And personally, I would also like that LessWrong is for anyone who shares my/LW values, though in practice I think it might be hard to make that true in all cases, e.g. if trades off against the community being healthy and productive.
I hope that helps some.
Hello Ruby,
thanks for the reply. I’m working on a follow-up piece to this, but it is still in the oven. I am still thankful for the response. A town hall… is a much more educated guess than mine. I would love for the mission to be more specific on the how’s, but you are already working on it, which I appreciate.
I can imagine that some Rationalist people leaving, might also be a natural conclusion of crafting a space a certain way. Some of the ideas I have might be more for those on the frontiers, but it should also work for others as well. And are more focused on creating a healthy and productive space, in line with a set of goals and purposes.
Kindly,
Caerulea-Lawrence