I actually had to struggle to get them to put in as many links as they allowed. They wanted links to Salon pieces, while I kept insisting on making more links to academic pieces. It’s always a trade-off when going to a popular source like Salon, and James is right, it is about as rigorous as one can get in a venue like Salon. These are the trade-offs that are required if one chooses to spread rationality broadly.
Nancy, I could have certainly made similar points about Sanders, although less emphatically. To some extent, all candidates are appealing to anger and fear, although Trump is the clearest and most strident example. This is why at the end of the article, I noted that “he is not the only candidate doing so. Whatever candidate you are considering, my fellow Americans, I hope you deploy intentional thinking and avoid the predictable errors in making your political decisions.”
Good question on checking whether I’m right. I didn’t go into this in depth in the source, due to space limitations, but I read quite a bit of primary sources of why people are voting for Trump. I have a scholarly background in studying emotions and deployed that methodology for studying this topic.
If you think my goal is to get people on Less Wrong to change their minds about Trump, you’re modeling me incorrectly.
I shared my goal in the post, namely to use topical news events—whether Trump or anything else—to promote rationality. If Trump is the button to push that gets rationality out there, then that’s the button I push.
I start twitching when emphatic statements are made about the motivations of large numbers of people. How can you check on whether you’re right?
This being said, Sanders is also appealing to anger and fear, and both candidates are also appealing to hope.
Gleb’s article is about as rigorous as a (non-famous) academic author can be to still get published in the popular press.
Um, no, unless your definition of “popular press” excludes things like the New York Times and the like. A random sprinkling of buzzwords is not rigor.
Would he be allowed to add a link or two for people who want more background?
I actually had to struggle to get them to put in as many links as they allowed. They wanted links to Salon pieces, while I kept insisting on making more links to academic pieces. It’s always a trade-off when going to a popular source like Salon, and James is right, it is about as rigorous as one can get in a venue like Salon. These are the trade-offs that are required if one chooses to spread rationality broadly.
Editors often remove links and usually don’t like there being too many.
Nancy, I could have certainly made similar points about Sanders, although less emphatically. To some extent, all candidates are appealing to anger and fear, although Trump is the clearest and most strident example. This is why at the end of the article, I noted that “he is not the only candidate doing so. Whatever candidate you are considering, my fellow Americans, I hope you deploy intentional thinking and avoid the predictable errors in making your political decisions.”
Good question on checking whether I’m right. I didn’t go into this in depth in the source, due to space limitations, but I read quite a bit of primary sources of why people are voting for Trump. I have a scholarly background in studying emotions and deployed that methodology for studying this topic.
Should we expect your Anti-Trump campaigning here until November, or what?
I will probably vote for Trump if he wins the Republican nomination, and I don’t think the article was anti-Trump.
I am not an American and I’ll not vote. I hate the intelligentsia’s attitude toward the man.
If you think my goal is to get people on Less Wrong to change their minds about Trump, you’re modeling me incorrectly.
I shared my goal in the post, namely to use topical news events—whether Trump or anything else—to promote rationality. If Trump is the button to push that gets rationality out there, then that’s the button I push.